We love December for an opportunity to slow down and look back at all the awesome things that happened to us throughout the year. This is the time to catch up on goals that we haven’t yet achieved and wrap up our personal bests (like these Top-10 TV shows of 2019 we really loved). Here are the 2019 book favourites from our focus editors.
Dee Collins
1984, George Orwell
This book might have been published 70 years ago but its relevance to today’s world never seems to fade. 1984 gave us a new vocabulary with terms such as Big Brother, doublethink, newspeak, thought police and thought crime – words that we often hear today.
The dystopian novel follows the life of Winston Smith, a low-ranking member of ‘the Party’ who is disillusioned by their omnipresent eyes and the ominous ruler, Big Brother, who controls every aspect of people’s lives – what they read, speak, say and do – with the threat that if they disobey, they will be sent to the feared Room 101. The general population, who are distracted by gossip tabloids and sex-filled movies, seem to be unaware that news articles and books are being rewritten by the Ministry of Truth. Even though the people exist in squalid living conditions with shortages of food and clothing, the propaganda redefines the past as a pitiful time and harks on about how the current government is doing a great job of rebuilding a great nation.
For me, the dystopia that Orwell describes feels all too familiar. The themes of mass media control, government surveillance and control, the abuse of language for political purposes, a world in which Big Brother is always listening in and watching – we’ve certainly come across so many examples of that recently: Alexa, Facebook, Smart TVs and mobile phones – and the notion that complete control of an entire nation under a totalitarian state is absolutely conceivable.
Orwell’s novel is a warning to us all not to be complacent in speaking out and highlights the importance of resisting oppression, mass control and government over-reach.
While you’re ordering this book online, do yourself a
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
First published in 1951 by Nobel Prize winner, John Steinbeck, East of Eden is an epic and tragic saga that follows the destinies of two intertwined families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons.
East of Eden tells the story of how the families offspring inadvertently re-enact the fall of Adam and Eve and the rivalry of Cain and Abel. The themes of good and evil, self-identity, reasons for love and the consequences of love’s absence make this book a masterpiece. Oprah Winfrey said that this might be one of the best novels she’s read, which, in my opinion, says a lot.
The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World, Melinda Gates
Melinda Gates writes a great inspirational book about her experience with world-wide projects to empower women and how she’s making her own mark, outside of her husband’s influence. She shares inspiring stories about women who are working to escape oppression and reminds us of the importance of supporting and valuing society’s least considered members which, in turn, affects their families, the economy and humanity as a whole
Stillness Is the Key, Ryan Holiday
At times, we can all be overwhelmed with the pace of life and the long hours that we work. Entrepreneurship is often glamorised and associated with success and status but people don’t see the 80-hour weeks, sleep deprivation and stress that many go through in this modern tech and mobile-driven society, which is always competing for our time.
Holiday draws on Zen and Buddhist philosophies as well as a wide range of history’s greatest thinkers – Confucius, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche and Thich Nhat Hanh – and recommends stillness as a source of creative genius, happiness, inspiration and fulfilment. He says that stillness should not be seen as inactivity but rather, a doorway to self-mastery, discipline and focus. By calming down our lives and blocking out time in our daily calendars to be still, we’ll experience better productivity and happiness.
This is a great book but reading it isn’t enough – it requires the discipline to be still, every day – something I’m trying to work on!
An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
The fact that this book was recommended by Bill Gates, chosen by Oprah for her book club and received praise from Barack Obama meant that I had to get my hands on a copy. It certainly isn’t a subject matter that I would usually explore but I was intrigued and, by the end of it, saddened at the outcome as a result of miscarriages of justice.
The beautifully written novel tells the tragic love story of an African-American man and his wife, Roy and Celestial, whose lives are ripped apart after he is convicted and imprisoned for rape, a crime he did not commit.
While race and the injustices of the legal system are major themes of this novel, it is more about the far-reaching consequences and different viewpoints of the characters that draw you into the novel.
Roy has worked hard to dig himself out of a working-class background,; he’s earned a scholarship to college and has future plans for a family with his artist wife, Celestial. A trip back home to Louisiana sees Roy in the wrong place at the wrong time and accused and convicted of rape and, as their lives are turned upside down, a love triangle develops between Roy, Celestial and Celestial’s best friend, who has loved her from the start. As you feel their pain permeating through the pages you wonder if, at the expense of another man’s suffering, Andre finally has a chance to win over Celestial.
Kseniia Spodyneiko
Eggshell Skull, Bri Lee
We’ve already written about this book, earlier in the year. To me, it’s definitely the best book of 2019! So raw, so honest, so brave.
Written by a young Aussie, who worked as a judge’s associate at the Queensland District Court for a year, this book uncovers the terrifying injustices towards sexually abused women, happening in court way more often than
What inspired me the most, is that Bri didn’t simply watch, she found the strength to open up about her own traumatic childhood experience and bring her abuser to court. But she didn’t just bring him to court, she also wrote a book. And, she didn’t just write a book, she kept on fighting and managed to bring about actual change to the Queensland District Court laws towards sexual abuse and consent recognition.
While the book is full of pain and shock, the
Germinal, Émile Zola
Naturalism has long been my
In 2019, I re-read Germinal for the third time and still managed to find new meanings in the deep social and political commentaries of its main heroes – meanings that were too hard to understand outside of the historical context I probably didn’t know to an
The book describes the violence, poverty
Use Your Words: A Myth-Busting, No-Fear Approach to Writing, Catherine Deveny
A must-read for everyone who writes! Not necessarily books, but articles, speeches, Instagram captions, secret diaries, even emails.
Catherine Deveny is a well-known Australian comedian and writer. With
This book is so inspiring and so beautifully written, it actually gave me the confidence to finally start writing my own book… which, truth be known, I’m completely stuck with at the moment, so
One Million Followers, Brendan Kane
Yet another publication we’ve already mentioned but this book is hands down the most informative social media-related read ever and so totally deserves a spot in my Top-5! Mainly because it gives a whole new perspective on how to treat Facebook advertising. For Brendan, it’s not about promoting your brand in the first place but about gathering impressive data about your existing and potential audience in just a few hours. He has discovered and tested ways to launch new products, expand your audience and tailor your brand’s message according to the new information that will cost you 10-20-50 times less in terms of time and money than the traditional ways most businesses still use.
If you
Broken: A traumatised girl. Her troubled brother. Their shocking secret, Rosie Lewis
Rosie Lewis is a foster parent and a single parent with two of her own kids and one adopted child from Great Britain. She’s seen a lot of
She’s written a number of books about the children she’s looked after throughout the years of being a foster parent and Broken is not even the first in the series but it’s the one that was available at Tauranga Library. Beautifully written, with love shining through the text, this is a very captivating, yet disturbing read.
Broken is the story of nine-year-old Archie and his five-year-old sister, Bobbi. At the beginning, Archie is alarmingly calm and polite, while Bobbi is an aggressive, uncontrolled mess. It took Rosie a long time and loads of self-control and patience to disclose the truth about what was really going on in their family and the truth is very shocking.
