2019 Book List and Recommendations


Welcome to the year 2020!
I don't think I'll ever get used to how futuristic that sounds!  Much to my consternation I realized while typing up this annual book list, that I haven't made an entry here on blogger since last January.  When I consider that, and my intentions for the various writing series that I intended on and my list of blog topics and ideas... it seems to me that the year flew by, although of course it did not.  It never does, we just perceive the time differently in relation to what we've got going on externally and internally.
As of the day I'm writing this, I have now finished my first year back at school, at Stony Brook University, where I'm working toward my Bachelors in Journalism.  You'll note that I've read a lot of non-fiction (or a lot more than usual for me) and much of it is of a more sober, academic nature.  I hadn't a lot of time to read as I was so entrenched in academia and so many of these books were experienced as audiobooks (all the Tom Robbins books, Pillars of The Earth, Figuring, Classic Scrapes by James Acaster, The Elegance of the Hedgehog, The Hunt For Red October and Bonfire Of The Vanities).  This offered me a nice opportunity to do all of the commuting and traveling and solitary outdoor work that I would occasionally do while drinking in the stories and knowledge (ok you know what the benefits of an audiobook are.
 I'm rambling now because it has been so long.... Below you'll find a book list.  I would honestly recommend all of these books although some with caveats (for certain entries, I suggest reading previous volumes first.  For Alice Isn't Dead, however, I recommend you listen to the audiodrama podcast that it originates from).   Not that it is a contest, but I am happy to see upon reflection that I averaged a book a week in 2019.  Please comment with your thoughts on any of these works or authors if you have read them, or with your own recommendations for what I ought to read in 2020!
Stay Present to enjoy and you'll enjoy, too, your present stay!
-Bruce "AllOne" Pandolfo



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