Our 2019 in Books: Raquel Reyes

As 2019 comes to an end and we enter into 2020, we consider the reading that defined each of our years. In this piece, Creative Director Raquel Reyes looks at the multiple goals, obstacles, and genres that made up her year, and finally embracing the ultimate act of reading for pleasure.

Raquel at Busboys and Poets in Washington, D.C. by Olivia Gündüz-Willemin. All photos courtesy of Raquel Reyes.

“… My reading habits remain as unpredictable as ever, with large swaths of untouched time followed by entire novels or memoirs being consumed in a forty eight hour time span.”

I think a running pattern for all of us this year was simply to read more, whether that increase came in numerate goals, pleasure, or intellectual growth. In a way, for me it was all of the above. Looking at years past, my reading habits remain as unpredictable as ever, with large swaths of untouched time followed by entire novels or memoirs being consumed in a forty eight hour time span. I read all sorts of fiction, non-fiction, light-hearted comedies, classics, and some serious new favorites, and while I did set goals along the year in many ways, such as two per month, or no longer than a week on any given title, I couldn’t control everything. It certainly helped that I began reviewing more of my reads here in the early parts of the year, but writer’s block late in the summer put a stop to that, with my last review of the year dated a good five or six months ago. As for reader’s block, even a few good titles took me far longer than I had hoped, while others became abandoned entirely, but I kept on. 

“I decided to let the stress of reading go and simply enjoy the mood when it arrived.”

In the end, I decided to let the stress of reading go and simply enjoy the mood when it arrived. As usual, I added more and more to my personal library this year, though as I mentioned in my Summer Reading list, my local library (and the e-borrowing app that lets me support it) has a distinct hold on my heart. I wouldn’t be surprised to say that more than half of my total reading was founded in borrowed pages; my to-be-read folders only grow exponentially. Still, a few titles found their way to my hands either out of the dearth of my bookshelf or from the generosity of friends, and the rest will simply find their way soon, the muse willing. My goal for 2019 was to double my 2018 reading, and I more than succeeded, with a modest (but still huge for me!) thirty books read. In 2020, my goal is to increase that number by six (I like even numbers, and that rounds out to a neat three books per month), and for at least two-thirds to be books already on my shelf, if only to weed a few out and make room for more...

If I can say anything of my favorite reads from 2019, it was that they simply presented themselves when I needed them, and that’s all I ever really ask anyway.

In short, here are the books that made my year:

The Dynamite

Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

As is my New Year's tradition, 2019 kicked off with a thrilling romp that had me in a festive spirit well into January. I’m sure you’ve heard everything we have to say about this one by now, so I won’t drag on except to say if you haven’t already read it, why not? A satire on Instagram culture and twenty-something New York society, it follows a young woman as she makes all of the wrong decisions. For me what makes it are Burton’s lush aesthetic descriptions of moments and places, and while I have no interest in a scandal-ridden New York City living, she certainly has me wanting to visit one of these days.

The Heart Stopper

Famous Men Who Never Lived by K. Chess

I reviewed Famous Men Who Never Lived early in the year, and while I haven’t read it again since then, the moment that made me fall in love with this book still makes my breath catch whenever it reawakens in my memory, as well as the satisfaction of that moment within the story itself. Not the usual fare around here, being a science fiction tale, but science fiction is a genre I happen to love and not read enough of. Here’s hoping that changes in 2020.

The Love Story

The Glimpses of The Moon by Edith Wharton

I read a handful of romantic comedy — or what common knowledge refers to as beach reads to chick lit — novels this year. A genre that as a whole is constantly undervalued (but I’ll get into that later perhaps), it provided some escapatory reading for me in stressful moments of the year, as well as an easy way out of many reading blocks. Most took me less than three days, though the irony is that my favorite of all took me well over a month, and was entirely worth it. A lesser known classic by the queen of literature, The Glimpses of The Moon is known as her most comedic novel. A romance between two poor fools, it follows their adventures across Europe as newlyweds after marrying for convenience and realizing they have fallen in love, the one thing they’d promised not to do. 

The One I Wanted But Never Finished

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

I know it’s a tragedy I haven’t completely read this yet, and so to shame myself I’ve included it here. I started it at the tail end of one particularly ghastly cold in the spring (a shameful several months after I had even received my copy, a gift from Olivia in 20EIGHTEEN), thinking it would suit the atmosphere of my own hibernation, only to drop it the second I felt better, and despite loving what I had read so far. A new year’s resolution of mine is to not let books go unfinished, and as I was loving it when I started, I don’t plan to let another year without having read this one go by.

The One That Made Me Cry, Laugh, and Cry with Laughter

I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott

I’m glad that as a society we’re growing more and more open to memoirs or essays that collect the beauties of everyday life. I Miss You When I Blink stood out to me before I even knew what it was, with its title so painfully accurate to an emotion I still can’t describe, and I awaited its arrival like a kid on Christmas. Full of funny, poignant, heartfelt essays chronicling Philpott’s life with anxiety, parenthood, grief, and joy, I felt like I stumbled onto a mentor I didn’t even know I needed, telling me everything was going to be okay.

The Disappointment

The Age of Light by Whitney Sharer

I try not to besmirch titles or genres that aren't to my taste, but The Age of Light really didn’t help my tenuous interest in historical fiction. I suppose it’s not that I’d even call it a bad book, enjoying the lively descriptions of surrealist parties and 1920s Paris, but I was so severely disappointed by its overall storyline. Following a fictionalized history of photographer and muse Lee Miller’s early career in Paris, I had hoped for more of her, and not what I found, which was merely (as most historians are wont to characterize her for) a dramatic focus on her romantic relationships. The surrealist movement was never fair to its women, and I still hold out hope someone tells the story right someday.

The One Everybody Should Read

In The Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado

I received a copy of In The Dream House shortly upon its publication this past November and proceeded to read it over the course of a breathless forty eight hours. I still don’t have the words to describe it, but, along with the short story debut Her Body and Other Parties, Machado does nothing to prove she isn’t one of the greatest writers of our time. A memoir written in anthology format, it bends genres, perspectives, and theory in order to tell the history of a relationship gone terribly wrong. 

The Book Of The Year

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

I hesitated sharing this one because it seems to have made almost every bookstagram and publication’s list that I could see in the last few weeks, but also because it’s one of those titles I selfishly want to keep to myself. I inhaled my way through a library copy the week of its publication and immediately ran to my local shop for a copy of my own to reread. I adored this book. Patchett writes family dynamics more acutely than possibly any other writer, and while she never disappoints, The Dutch House hit me far harder than even I expected. I can’t wait to read it again, and for that there’s no doubt it was my favorite book of the year.

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Raquel Reyes is Creative Director at The Attic on Eighth. She enjoys styling photo shoots, dramatic hair accessories, and old fashioned cocktails.