Books of 2019
My goal this year was to read 25 books. This was a very low number for me but in 2018 my migraines were so bad that I hardly read. That year I devoured true crime podcasts an arguably unhealthy amount. In 2019 I wanted to cut down on the gory murder and instead signed up for an Audible subscription. If I wasn’t going to read read books, I might as well spend my time listening to them.
Now I fully understand that the majority of people who listen to audiobooks consider it to be the same thing as reading them, especially if you have a disability. For me, I don’t find myself putting in as much effort to take in a story while I listen to it as when I do while reading one. Along the same lines, I could arguably also count the hundreds of hours I spent listening to podcasts, right? Or the weird YouTube obsession I started around May where I couldn’t do my makeup or take a shower without listening to Tana Mongeau or Shane Dawson ramble.
So my own prosperity’s sake, I’ve divided my list into two lists.
Books I Read in 2019
- Love and Ruin by Paula McLain (432 pages)
- Mercury and Me by Jim Hutton (211 pages)
- The Peacock Emporium by Jojo Moyes (400 pages)
- Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Marino Tamaki (289 pages)
- New Plant Parent: Learning the Ways of Plant Parenthood by Darryl Cheng (208 pages)
- Alone on the Wall by Alex Honnold (336 pages)
- Daydreams of Angels by Heather O’Neill (368 pages)
- A Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander #6) by Diana Gabaldon (992 pages)
- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid (355 pages)
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (496 pages)
- Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family (304 pages)
- The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2) by Philip Pullman (784 pages)
- Wicca: A Modern Guide to Witchcraft and Magic by Harmony Nice (240 pages)
- The Institute by Stephen King (576 pages)
- A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbiltsby Theresa Anne Fowler (560 pages)
- Clara’s Soldier: A Retelling of the Nutcracker by Brittany Fichter (164 pages)
- Witchery: Embrace the Witch Within by Juliet Diaz (243 pages)
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (516 pages)
- Carrie Fisher: A Life on the Edge by Sheila Weller (416 pages)
Total Pages Read: 7,890
Books I Listened to in 2019
- Somebody to Love: The Life, Death, and Legacy of Freddie Mercury by Matt Richards
- Outlander by Diana Galbadon*
- Stay Sexy and Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
- Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister by Anne Choma
- On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King*
- 11/22/63 by Stephen King*
- Darling Days: A Memoir by iO Tillet Wright
- Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashmir*
- The Real Wallis Simpson: A New History of the American Divorcee Who Became the Duchess of Windsor
- They Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy In A Storeby Cait Flanders
- The Other Windsor Girl: A Novel of Princess Margaret, Royal Rebel by Georgie Balock
- The Glitter and the Gold by Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern*
- On Writing by Stephen King (a second time)
*means that I’ve already read these books in previous years but wanted to experience the audiobook.
As you can tell, this was the year of non-fiction, especially biographies. I lucked out and loved 95% of this list, mostly because I started and abandoned a lot of books this year. How did anyone keep track of what they read before GoodReads??
My goal for 2020 is to read 10,000 pages. I got into a year long writing program at a writing institute in Red Bank, NJ where the goal is to write a 50,000+ completed 1st draft of a new novel. Since the class requires 14 hours of writing per week on top of my regular 40 hours a week job, I’m not sure how much actual reading I’ll get done. I did join a book club though! So I’ll at least have to read 1 book a month.
I have a stack of books I received as a gift or bought this year that haven’t been read yet and I plan on devouring them. The January book club pick was one I suggested actually, “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” by Alex E. Harrow so that will be the first read of 2020. After that I have “The Starless Sea” by Erin Morgenstern, “The Secrets We Kept” by Lara Prescott, and “David Bowie: A Life” by Dylan Jones taunting me from my nightstand.
Here’s to good books and lots of writing in 2020!
