These yearly book recaps usually write themselves, but I struggled getting this one out. Because 2019 was a very gray year for me: drab, disappointing, creatively draining.
Which is the perfect set-up for a good reading year, really. When you can't catch a break, a book is the perfect break from reality. When you can't create, you consume. Books are my preferred coping mechanism for life, and I bring them along for all the good times too, so books and I got a lot of face time this year. Enough to break all my reading records.
And because I'm not enough of a book nerd already, I tracked my reading more extensively this year—so this blog includes blurry charts! I know you're all giddy with excitement.
Goal: 100
Books read: 101
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| A light reading month is a good indicator of a bad month. I'm looking at you, August. |
Some books I whiz through, some I take my time on (Hamilton, for example, took me months to get through), so the average amount of days I spent per book—11—isn't really indicative of how long it takes me to plow through a book. Especially considering how many pages I read per day—101. If you're picturing me spending every spare second with my nose in a book, that's not what's going on here. Most of my reading happens during my treasured bedtime reading hour, leaving me plenty of time to "have a life." Like watching Netflix and stuff.
Pages read: 36,575
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| Average # of pages per book: 362. |
I read more this year than I ever have, both in page count and book count. It was kind of an accident.
Longest book: Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon. 1,059 pages.
Shortest book: Emergency Skin, by N.K. Jemisin. 33 pages.
First reads: 87
Rereads: 14
Books not finished: 12
I'm proud of that number, though it probably should be higher. I'm still hesitant to abandon a book before I finish it because I think there's value in reading books that aren't really for you—sometimes. But that feeling when you toss aside a book you're not into? It's like dropping dead weight from your life.
Ratings
One of the best things about my Book Spreadsheet of Nerddom is that it allowed me to track my star ratings in half-star increments. Because sometimes you need to give a book 3.5 stars—simply rounding to 3 or 4 will not express your reading experience adequately.
Sadly, I did not hate any book enough this year to dole out my first 1/2 star.
Fiction vs. nonfiction
I've always been more of a fiction reader, but 24 nonfiction books isn't too shabby.
Male vs. female
I don't make an effort to read male or female, so it's always interesting to me to see what the numbers say in this category. Women won this year.
Where all these books came from
This was my favorite stat to track. It looks like I bought a lot of books this year, but this was a frugal book-buying year for me. A lot of those were rereads of books I've owned a while, and—this is the miraculous part—I actually made it to the bottom of my TBR (to be read) pile on my nightstand. Some of those books have been collecting dust for years, and before Christmas that spot was empty for a month. Super weird. Must buy more books.
I need to give a plug for libraries, too. The simple concept of enjoying a service without any money being exchanged doesn't happen much in this money-driven world, which is what makes libraries so great. Not all library systems are as great as Salt Lake County's (I am now a paying library-card carrier because SLC's system is a bajillion times better than northern Utah County's), but all libraries are doing a tremendous public service.
Favorite book, fiction: Circe, by Madeline Miller. This is one of those books that left me a little speechless; I loved the book, but, even months after finishing it, I'm not sure what to say about it. All I know is that it checks all my boxes for an excellent book: great writing, great characters, great story.
Favorite book, nonfiction: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, by Bill Bryson. My third Bill Bryson book, and probably his most famous. Bryson writes the kind of nonfiction I wish I could write: funny, informative, thought-provoking. He can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned.
Favorite reread: Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott. I didn't like this book the first time I attempted it. Or the second. It wasn't until after I graduated from college that this book finally spoke to me, and rereading it this year only made it more dear to me. It's one of the most intensely relatable books I've ever read and had me crying my eyes out several times. This book gets me.
If you've followed my book recaps in the past, you'll notice some new categories below. Some weird themes emerged in my reading this year, so I decided to highlight some of those rather than stick to my usual categories.
Libraries: You can take the book out of the library, but you can't take the library out of the book. That's my 2019 reading year in a nutshell. There were libraries that were portals to alternate realities, libraries that were evil, libraries that were forbidden. Books were stolen from libraries, long journeys were made to libraries, and the history of libraries was told.
But one of my favorite library stories came from Jojo Moyes' The Giver of Stars. Set in Kentucky prior to World War II, five women travel on horseback to deliver library books to residents living in remote areas. Because a library is more than a source of free books. Knowledge is power, and libraries are the great equalizers in the pursuit of knowledge.
18th/19th century: If I wasn't happily trapped in a library, chances are I was transported to the 18th or 19th century. For a while there it felt like I was taking a course on early American history, with texts ranging from David McCullough's 1776 to book 4 of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series to Octavia Butler's Kindred.
I finally took a ride on the Hamilton bandwagon as well, soldiering through Ron Chernow's massive biography that inspired the musical (still haven't listened to the soundtrack, though—sorry, Hamilton fans). Learning about Alexander Hamilton made me want to learn more about his wife, Eliza, which led me to My Dear Hamilton: A Novel of Eliza Schuyler Hamilton by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie. I love American history, and this book brought the American revolution to life better than anything else I've read. Those who framed our constitution were actually living the "let's invent our own government" game. It wasn't a class assignment or a hypothetical debate. It was real life. They would face very real consequences if they failed. Seeing the revolution play out through Eliza's eyes—a woman who knew 16 of the U.S. presidents—makes what the American experiment became seem all the more miraculous. America should not have become the great nation it is today. But it did. Despite the country's problems, we still have so much to be proud of, so much that's worth fighting for.
Weird diseases: Yep, this was a real thing this year, probably because I read a lot more sci-fi than normal (including eight Orson Scott Card books—there's some weird stuff going on in the Enderverse). But my favorite veered more on the dystopian side of the scale: Karen Thompson Walker's The Age of Miracles. The rotation of the earth starts to slow down, slowly elongating the 24-hour day Earth has provided so faithfully, causing lots of social, economic, and physical ramifications. Really cool concept, and very well written. Walker wrote another "weird disease" book this year that's also quite excellent: The Dreamers, about a sleeping epidemic. Loved them both.
Business/self-improvement:
This is a very general overview of the genres I read in 2019. One anomaly is the self-help/business category at a whopping 8.9%. I don't read many books in this category because they all tend to be the same, but in an effort to make some career changes I read a bunch of them. And guess what, they didn't change my life. But I did appreciate how some of them helped me get out of my head a little and see the world differently. Honorable mentions are The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (a dumb recommendation because I think I'm the only person on the planet who hadn't already read it) and Radial Candor for those working the 9-to-5 grind.
Nerdiest book: Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, by Keith Houston. Yes, I read a book about punctuation. And I liked it. Being an editor only enhances my interest in nerdy subjects, and this one was a really cool way to look at the small things that helped shape history.
And, that's it for this year. I read many more books that deserve a shout-out, so pay extra attention to the bolded titles below.
All the 2019 books:
- The Last Unicorn, Peter S. Beagle
- Behold the Sword Maiden: A Storyteller's Introduction to the Heroine's Journey, Dorothy Cleveland & Barbara Schutzgruber
- Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
- 1776, David McCullough
- God Is Out to Get Us: At All Costs—the Life of Abraham, Carol Bond Wagner
- The Knockoff, Lucy Sykes
- Harry's Trees, Jon Cohen
- The One-in-a-Million Boy, Monica Wood
- Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High, Kerry Patterson
- From Tolerance to Equality: How Elites Brought America to Same-Sex Marriage, Darel E. Paul
- Unsheltered, Barbara Kingsolver
- Lacks Self-Control: True Stories I Waited Until My Parents Died to Tell, Roy Sekoff
- The Winter of the Witch, Katherine Arden
- The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker
- The Summer Dragon, Todd Lockwood
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Power Lessons in Personal Change, Stephen R. Covey
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman
- Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style, Benjamin Dreyer
- I'll Be Your Blue Sky, Marisa de los Santos
- Ghosted, Rosie Walsh
- Saints: The Standard of Truth, 1814–1846, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Homegoing, Yaa Gyasi
- The Library Book, Susan Orlean
- Rapunzel's Revenge, Shannon Hale
- Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity, Kim Scott
- Once Upon a River, Diane Setterfield
- The Hypnotist's Love Story, Liane Moriarty
- Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, Ed Catmull
- Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, and Other Typographical Marks, Keith Houston
- Delicious!, Ruth Reichl
- Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, Helen Simonson
- Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card
- Speaker for the Dead, Orson Scott Card
- The Prodigal Tongue: The Love-Hate Relationship Between American and British English, Lynne Murphy
- Xenocide, Orson Scott Card
- Children of the Mind, Orson Scott Card
- Logan Likes Mary Anne!, Ann M. Martin
- Circe, Madeline Miller
- Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, Brené Brown
- Why We Dream: The Transformative Power of Our Nightly Journey, Alice Robb
- The Dreamers, Karen Thompson Walker
- Field Notes on Love, Jennifer E. Smith
- Let Me Lie, Clare Mackintosh
- The Book of Dreams, Nina George
- The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding, Jennifer Robson
- In the Night Wood, Dale Bailey
- How Women Rise: Break the 12 Habits Holding You Back from Your Next Raise, Promotion, or Job, Sally Helgesen
- The Accidental Beauty Queen, Teri Wilson
- Recursion, Blake Crouch
- Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
- The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact, Chip & Dan Heath
- The Golden Hour, Beatriz Williams
- This Must Be the Place, Maggie O'Farrell
- The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution, Peter Hessler
- Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir, Ruth Reichl
- Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty
- Time After Time, Lisa Grunwald
- Evvie Drake Starts Over, Linda Holmes
- Voyager, Diana Gabaldon
- Drums of Autumn, Diana Gabaldon
- The Mother-in-Law, Sally Hepworth
- Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor
- A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, Bill Bryson
- The Clockmaker's Daughter, Kate Morton
- Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo, Obert Skye
- Ella Enchanted, Gail Carson Levine
- Kindred, Octavia Butler
- Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
- Frankenstein, Mary Shelley
- Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow
- Me Before You, Jojo Moyes
- After You, Jojo Moyes
- You Have Arrived at Your Destination, Amor Towles
- Still Me, Jojo Moyes
- If I Could Only Tell You, Hannah Beckerman
- Summer of the Monkeys, Wilson Rawls
- Ender's Shadow, Orson Scott Card
- Shadow of the Hegemon, Orson Scott Card
- Shadow Puppets, Orson Scott Card
- Shadow of the Giant, Orson Scott Card
- One Plus One, Jojo Moyes
- Summer Frost, Blake Crouch
- Something Wicked This Way Comes, Ray Bradbury
- I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years, Bill Bryson
- Nothing to See Here, Kevin Wilson
- The Non-Obvious Guide to Emotional Intelligence, Kerry Goyette
- Fate of the Fallen, Kel Kade
- The Giver of Stars, Jojo Moyes
- My Dear Hamilton, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
- The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings
- One Day in December, Josie Silver
- Starsight, Brandon Sanderson
- Emergency Skin, N.K. Jemison
- The Masked City, Genevieve Cogman
- Love Walked In, Marisa de los Santos
- Ink and Bone, Rachel Caine
- A Return to Christmas, Chris Heimerdinger
- Christmas Bells, Jennifer Chiaverini
- The Two Towers, JRR Tolkien
- Stepsister, Jennifer Donnelly
