Annual End of Year Book Survey | 2019

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🎉 Happy New Year, everyone! 🎉

I feel like I'm going to repeat a lot of what I said in the 2018 Annual End of Year Book Survey in this post. It has been quite a while since I last wrote a non-review post on this blog, mostly I just posted book reviews and some book tags. The year 2019 flew by really fast, just like all the previous years; and we're now officially in the year 2020! It's a new decade! It's going to be the beginning of a new season for me as well 🥰 Since I made this kind of post back in 2014 and 2018, I thought I'd do this fun survey again to sum up my reading journey throughout 2019. This survey consists of numerous questions about books that will be fun to answer. If you want to join in, you can copy-paste the questions from my blog and post your own! If you're doing this survey, please share the links in the comments below so I can check out some of your favorite books from 2019 😊. Okay, now let's start answering the questions! (*You can also click on the book titles I mentioned to see my review on it 😉)

Book Review: None Like Him by Jen Wilkin

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BOOK review
Started on: 18 December 2019
Finished on: 26 December 2019

None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing) by Jen Wilkin

Title: None Like Him: 10 Ways God Is Different from Us (and Why That's a Good Thing)

Author: Jen Wilkin
Publisher: Crossway Books

Pages: 163 pages

Year of Publication: 2016
Price: Rp 155,624 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 5/5

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"We humans must confess, 'I am because he is.' Only God can say, 'I AM WHO I AM'."

Human beings were created to reflect the image of God—but only to a limited extend. Even though we are able to share some important attributes with God (love, mercy, compassion, etc.), God has other qualities that we are not able to possess: such as unlimited power, knowledge, and authority. In this book, Jen Wilkin guides us on a journey to discover ten ways God is different from us. In the process, she highlights the joy of seeing our limited selves in relation to a limitless God, and how such a realization frees us from striving to be more than we were created to be.

Book Review: The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

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BOOK review
Started on: 2 December 2019
Finished on: 17 December 2019

The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

Title: The Fountains of Silence

Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel Books

Pages: 512 pages / 512 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2019
Price: Rp 148,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 5/5

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"Some were desperate to remember and others were desperate to forget. We all have our reasons."

In the year of 1957, Madrid was under the fascist dictatorship of General Francisco Franco. While tourists and foreign businessmen flood into the country under the welcoming guise of sunshine and wine, Spain is hiding a dark secret. Daniel Matheson, the son of a Texas oil tycoon, came to Madrid with his parents hoping to connect with the country of his mother's birth through the lens of his camera. During his stay at the Castellana Hilton hotel, he met Ana—a girl who's assigned to serve Daniel's family. Daniel has no idea that the condition of Ana's family reveals the lingering grasp of the Spanish Civil War. As Daniel went around, his photographs showed an incredibly dark side to the sunny Spanish city. He is backed into a corner of decisions to protect those he loves.

Book Review: Finding Chika by Mitch Albom

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BOOK review
Started on: 17 November 2019
Finished on: 27 November 2019

Finding Chika by Mitch Albom

Title: Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

Author: Mitch Albom
Publisher: Harper

Pages: 256 pages / 208 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2019
Price: Rp 271,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4/5

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"But none of us are assured of tomorrow. It's what we do with today that makes an impact."

Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. After her mother died, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Mitch Albom operates in Port Au Prince. At age five, Chika is diagnosed with a chronic illness and the doctor said she might only have a few months left to live. Mitch Albom and his wife, Janine, brought her to America, hoping that she can get the best medication and treatment. With no children of their own, Mitch and Janine took Chika in as a permanent part of their household, and their attachments started to grow. Finding Chika is a celebration of a girl, her adoptive guardians, and the incredible bond they formed—a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.

Book Review: The Financial Diet by Chelsea Fagan

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BOOK review
Started on: 18 July 2019
Finished on: 22 July 2019

The Financial Diet by Chelsea Fagan

Title: The Financial Diet

Author: Chelsea Fagan
Publisher: Regan Arts

Pages: 208 pages / 212 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2017
Price: Rp 239,487 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 3.5/5

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"Saving money isn't about depriving yourself. It's about deciding you love Future You as much as you love Today You."

The Financial Diet is a personal finance book for people who don't have any idea where to start about how to get good with money. Whether you’re in need a solution for overspending, struggling with debt, or just trying to figure out how to live on an entry-level salary, this book gives you tools to make a budget, understand investments, and deal with your credit. The writer, Chelsea Fagan, gathered a range of experts to help readers make the best financial decisions. She also knows that being smarter with money is not only about what you put in the bank, but it's also about the clothes you put in your closet, financial relationship habits, until the food you put in your kitchen.

Book Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

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BOOK review
Started on: 3 July 2019
Finished on: 17 July 2019

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Title:Where the Crawdads Sing

Author: Delia Owens
Publisher: G.P Putnam's Sons

Pages: 370 pages / 379 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2018
Price: Rp 392,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4.5/5
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"There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot."

At the age of six, Kya watched her mother abandon her and her siblings; leaving them with their abusive father. As time goes by, her mother never returned and Kya watched her older siblings leaving as well, due to their father's drinking and physical abuse. Throughout the years, Kya only went to school for a day and stopped going because everyone at school made fun of her. Without money and family, Kya learned to rely on herself, alone in the marsh—finding ways to make money and food to eat. She grows up with the prejudice of the townspeople of Barkley Cove who called her  "The Marsh Girl". Everything changed when two young men came into her life. After living by herself for so long, Kya craved companionship but on the other hand, she also fears abandonment that she's experienced at a very young age.