My Favorite Books of 2019
I need books in my life like I need air. Reading provides me with much needed sanity and inspiration. I truly cannot imagine life without it.
My goal for 2019 was to read 50 books, but I slightly missed my goal. This was most certainly due to listening to podcasts during what would otherwise be reading time. Fortunately, I did come very close to my goal with 46 completed books. Better yet, I both started and ended the year with two of my favorite books of 2019.
My first book of the year was a novel - "All the Ugly and Wonderful Things" by Bryn Greenwood. This book challenged the boundaries of what most people may consider acceptable love. It will push you through discomfort and open your mind to thinking about love in an expanded way.
My last books of the year was also a fictional novel which is surprising since the majority of the books I read tend to be memoir. "The Giver of Stars" by Jojo Moyes was the kind of book where I would have given anything to stay close to the characters and have the book never end. This is a powerful story of five truly remarkable women who will both inspire you and break your heart. I would recommend this book to every single one of my girlfriends.
To fill in all of the books in between, here is my complete list of the 46 books I read in the order I read them in 2019. I read these books through a variety of formats including audiobooks, ebooks, and traditional paperback or hardcover books. My top twelve books of the year are bolded within the list and are also pictured below.
- All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
- Eleanor Olpihant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer
- Becoming by Michelle Obama
- Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
- Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir of Appalachia by Jennifer McGaha
- The Rules of Inheritance: A Memoir by Claire Bidwell Smith
- Why Not Me? By Mindy Kaling
- Well: Healing Our Beautiful, Broken World from a Hospital in West Africa by Sarah Thebarge
- Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap by Judy Goldman
- Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies about Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be by Rachel Hollis
- The Storyteller’s Secret by Sejal Badani
- The Light of the World: A Memoir by Elizabeth Alexander
- After You by Jojo Moyes
- Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah
- Still Me by Jojo Moyes
- No Happy Endings: A Memoir by Nora McInerny
- Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks
- Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
- The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed by Lori Gottlieb
- Necessary Lies by Diane Chamberlain
- Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain
- Running Home: A Memoir by Katie Arnold
- The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
- Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
- The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain
- Pretending to Dance by Diane Chamberlain
- The Midwife’s Confession by Diane Chamberlain
- The Unwinding of the Miracle: A Memoir of Life, Death, and Everything That Comes After by Julie Yip-Williams
- The Stolen Marriage by Diane Chamberlain
- The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
- It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War by Lynsey Addario
- All the Lost Things by Michelle Sacks
- Once More We Saw Stars: A Memoir by Jayson Greene
- Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land
- On Being Human: A Memoir of Waking Up, Living Real, and Listening Hard by Jennifer Pastiloff
- To Love and Let Go: A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Gratitude by Rachel Brathen
- The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
- I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death by Maggie O’Farrell
- Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom
- Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr.
- From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home by Tembi Locke
- Buried Deep by Margot Hunt
- The Year of Less: How I Stopped Shopping, Gave Away My Belongings, and Discovered Life Is Worth More Than Anything You Can Buy in a Store by Cait Flanders
- The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes
If you would like to be friends on Goodreads, you can request to friend me here. I love connecting with other avid readers!