2019- Year in Review

2019 was a great year for reading for me. I set a goal to finish 40 books and somehow made it to 52! Here is the list in the order I read them:

1. No Plot? No Problem! by Chris Baty
2. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
3. Cress by Marissa Meyer
4. Fairest by Marissa Meyer
5. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
6. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
7. Winter by Marissa Meyer
8. The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty
9. Believe Me by J.P. Delaney
10. Night of Miracles by Elizabeth Berg
11. You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
12. The Library Book by Susan Orlean
13. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence
14. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
15. Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor
16. I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
17. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
18. Educated by Tara Westover
19. The Wishing Thread by Lisa Van Allen
20. You are a Badass Every Day by Jen Sincero
21. The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King
22. The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
23. Blasphemy by Douglas Preston
24. The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert
25. Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
26. Utopia for Realists by Rutger Bregman
27. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert
28. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
29. How to Talk so Teens will Listen and Listen so Teens Will Talk by Adele Faber
30. Becoming by Michelle Obama
31. An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks
32. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
33. The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
34. The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler
35. The F*ck It Diet by Caroline Dooner
36. Molly's Game by Molly Bloom
37. It All Comes Back to You by Beth Duke
38. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld
39. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson
40. Before and Again by Barbara Delinsky
41. The Price of Time by Tim Tigner
42. The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
43. The Survivor's Guide to Family Happiness by Maddie Dawson
44. The Glass Ocean by Beatriz Williams
45. This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel
46. The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
47. The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
48. How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
49. Watching You by Lisa Jewell
50. Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
51. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman
52. The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell

Every year when I write this "In Review" post I am reminded why I keep this blog. It began as a way to keep up with and remember what I had read. If it also provides a list of suggestions for you, SmartGirl, then all the better. As I write these all in one place, I frequently say to myself, "Oh! I had forgotten that one!" or "Oh! That was this year? It seems longer ago than that." and often "Awww...I loved that one!"

I read a lot of really good books this year and it is always hard to pick a favorite, but I think the best book I read in 2019 was This Is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel.

Also in the sure-to-be-oft-recommended category:
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Educated by Tara Westover
and I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon

There are so many good books out there to read and I hope this list helps you add to your TBR list.
Happy reading and Happy New Year!

2018 Year in Review

I can hardly believe that 2018 is finished!

Here is a list of all the books I read this year:

1. The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

2. Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit

3. The Light of the Fireflies by Paul Pen

4. When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel

5. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

6. Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser

7. Evelyn, After by Victoria Helen Stone

8. Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp

9. The Party by Robin Harding

10. Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfferer

11. The Coincidence Makers by Yoav Blum

12. The Memory Box by Eva Lesko Natiello

13. The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

14. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

15. Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman

16. Relativity by Antonia Hayes

17. The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

18. The Immoralists by Chloe Benjamin

19. America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie

20. The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware

21. Dear Rachel Maddow by Adrienne Kisner

22. Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

23. A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy

24. Suicide Club by Rachel Heng

25. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

26. The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

27. The Best of Us by Joyce Maynard

28. Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak

29. Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

30. Good as Gone by Amy Gentry

31. A Lady in the Smoke by Karen Odden

32. The Night Before by Wendy Walker

33. I Work at a Public Library by Gina Sheridan

34. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

35. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

36. How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

37. And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

38. The Madwoman Upstairs by Catherine Lowell

39. The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

40. Hazards of Time Travel by Joyce Carol Oates

41. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

That is a respectable list, though I did fall ONE BOOK SHORT of my Goodreads reading goal. I really wish I had been able to squeeze in that last book, but I just didn't make it. Still, I read some really wonderful books. My top three most recommended books this year are:

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

Let Me Lie by Clare Mackintosh

and

Every Note Played by Lisa Genova

I highly recommend any of these three books as a great way to start your 2019 if you haven't already. What were your most recommended books for 2018?

Have you set your Goodreads goal for the year? I think I'll aim for 40 and see how it goes since life has gotten a little busier for me in the last few months.

Here is to a Happy New Year and may it be filled with love, peace, and good books!

2017 Year in Review

It is so hard for me to believe that 2017 is over! Where did the time go??

Here is a list of all the books I read in 2017:

1. A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

2. The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer

3. Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

4. Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

5. My Diary from the Edge of the World by Jodi Lynn Anderson

6. The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

7. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

8. The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsay Lee Johnson

9. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

10. The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman

11. The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

12. My Name's Lyman by Lily-Marie Taylor

13. The Last One by Alexandra Oliva

14. The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

15. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

16. The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin

17. We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

18. The Circle by Dave Eggers

19. The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond

20. Ramona Blue by Julie Murphy

21. All the Best People by Sonja Yoerg

22. Sisters One, Two, Three by Nancy Star

23. the perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

24. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia

25. The Odds of Loving Grover Cleveland by Rebekah Crane

26. The Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

27. The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

28. Falling into Place by Amy Zhang

29. Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown

30. Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick

31. Girling Up by Mayim Bialik, PhD

32. What Was Mine by Helen Kline Ross

33. Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

34. Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

35. The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

36. Something Like Happy by Eva Woods

37. The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittal

38. Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

39. The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

40. Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaria

41. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

42. Eligible by Curtis Settinfeld

43. Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper

44. La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman

45. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

46. Artemis by Andy Weir

WOW! Forty-six books isn't bad at all. It's funny how over the course of a year you can forget what you've read. Honestly, that's the whole reason I started this blog in the first place. I could never remember all these if I didn't have somewhere to write them down. And some of those books from the beginning of the year feel so long ago! I guess this year really was longer than I remembered.

I think my top three most recommended books were probably:

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer ,

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin ,

and

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown

There were a few in there that I didn't care for, but all in all I would say it was a good reading year. How was 2017 for you? Any reading goals for 2018? Are there any books in particular to which you are looking forward to reading? I have a huge stack of books on my bedside table and so many waiting on my Kindle that if I didn't get anything new all year, I don't think I'd run out of reading material. Here's to hoping we all make a little progress through our TBR piles. And to lots of new releases that keep us adding to that infinite stack!

Happy New Year, SmartGirls!

2016 in Review

1. The World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellows

2. Nest by Esther Ehrlich

3. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North

4. The Haunting of Sunshine Girl by Paige McKenzie

5. The Birth House by Ami McKay

6. Lost and Found by Emily Parkhurst

7. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

8. Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski

9. Slated by Teri Terry

10. The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks

11. The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald

12. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

13. The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman

14. Saving Fish from Drowning by Amy Tan

15. Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

16. Baby Catcher by Peggy Vincent

17. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell

18. A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

19. I Am Sophie Tucker by Susan and Lloyd Ecker

20. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

21. Talk to Me by Sonia Ellis

22. The Canterbury Sisters by Kim Wright

23. Girls, Drums and Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick

24. Repeat by Neal Pollack

25. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

26. Stuffocation by James Wallman

27. Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg

28. The Sound of Glass by Karen White

29. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

30. Scary Mommy's Guide to Surviving the Holidays by Jill Smokler

31. The Doctors Are In by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?

32. The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

33. The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

34. This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

35. Reading the Sweet Oak by Jan Stites

36. The League of Unexceptional Children by Gitty Daneshvari

37. Smoke by Catherine McKenzie

Well, what a year it has been! I read some books I really liked and some that didn't really speak to me as much. I had stretches of heavy reading and other times when I languished with a book for far too long. Personally, it was a bit of an upside down year with an unexpected move so that hampered my reading with busyness and feelings of distraction. I would still say that 37 books is a perfectly respectable number. Perhaps I will improve on it a bit in 2017, but I refuse to allow my reading to become about the number of books I complete.

In addition to the books I completed, I was also very proud of my success at my first reading challenge. Since the challenge was about tackling my TBR pile, I was able to count books that I read and also that I removed from the pile completely. I was able to remove FIFTY-NINE books from my TBR list. I was especially grateful for this when it came time for that move across the country. I enjoyed the challenge to stop ignoring the books I've had for so long and, as a bonus, I didn't purchase ANY books for myself in 2016. Between that and the fact that I only purchased one book in 2015, I have come to realize that I really don't need to own nearly as many books as I used to think that I did. I still love receiving them as gifts, but I find that I am less interested in buying them for myself. I have so many still to read and I have access to a wonderful library system, so perhaps I won't buy many in 2017, but I'm not making any promises.

Speaking of 2017, I am making a goal to read 45 books, but I won't stress about it too much. I will be more flexible about what I read and the source of those books. I will continue to only read what I enjoy and any books that aren't holding my attention will be quickly put aside. There are too many good books out there to read to waste any time with stinkers.

How was your reading year? Did you participate in any challenges? Do you have any goals for the year ahead? I'd love to hear all about it!

2015 Wrap Up

I can't believe 2015 is already over. I have to admit this was a difficult reading year for me. I had a hard time keeping focused and making the time to read. I have much higher hopes for 2016. 

The one bookish resolution that I had for the year was to not buy any books. Having moved this year, I was well reminded of all the books I have that still need to be read so I hoped I would be able to get through the two moving boxes full. I read a few, I got rid of some I was never really going to read, but I didn't make the dent in it I wish I had done. Instead, I borrowed a lot more from the library and I read a lot galleys on my Kindle. The only book I purchased was The Scorpion Rules at Texas Book Festival, which I really consider more of a souvenir, and so I feel entitled to claim the year as a success. I'm not sure yet of the resolutions I'll make for 2016, but I'm working on it. 

I read a few books this past year that I didn't really like, but I also read some that were really good. Here are my top five six (oops!):

1. Walking on Trampolines by Francis Whiting

This book surprised me with its depth and heart. It was so much more that I thought it would be and it is firmly on my To Be Reread list (because my to be read list isn't long enough).

2. Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone

Oh, this book cuts right to the bone on the topic of mental illness in young adults and I think it is one book that should be required reading.

3. The Martian by Andy Weir

This book brought science, innovation and imagination to the forefront of conversation. Add to that fact that it made me laugh so hard people looked at me funny and it was a complete win.

4. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Imagine waking up and having lost ten years of your memory. I recently also listened to the audio version and it was wonderful as well.

5. The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow

Erin Bow says everyone tells her they love Talis and I am no exception. I can't wait for the rest of this series.

6. Dumplin' by Juile Murphy

What a wonderful book about body acceptance and Dolly Parton love. This is another book that I recently listened to the audio version and it is one of the best I've heard. 

So how was the 2015 reading year for you?