As a voracious reader, I’ve tried to find ways to effectively track what I read each year. I’ve used index cards, MSWord documents, hand-written notes. I have a tendency to discover books before they’re popular, fall in love with them, and then become disenchanted and embarrassed when Oprah makes them her book club pick. Let’s just agree: I found them first. And I can’t help it if my tastes run popular rather than deep…
I’m also including a rating scale (A-E with A being the best) so I’ll remember what I thought of them.
January
- Us Against You, by Frederik Backman (A)
- Camino Island, by John Grisham (C-)
- Ghosted, by Rosie Walsh (B-)
- Home Front, by Kristin Hannah (A-)
- Truth & Beauty, by Ann Patchett (B-)
- The Perfect Mother, by Aimee Malloy (C+)
- The Lost Girls of Paris, by Pam Jenoff (B)
February
- The Perfect Mother, by Aimee Malloy (C)
- The Most Fun We Ever Had, by Claire Lombardo (A)
- Have You See Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde (D)
- Red, White and Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston (A-)
- The Storyteller, by Jodi Piccoult (C-)
- Have You Seen Luis Valez, by Catherine Ryan Hyde (C-)
March
- Recursion, by Blake Crouch (B – fun concept set in the multiverse)
- The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes (D – interesting premise -horseback librarians in Appalachia during the TVA days, but hokey)
- The Light We Lost, by Jill Santopolo (B – a love story in the wake of 9/11, about timing and missed chances)
- When We Left Cuba, by Chanel Cleeton (C – romance loosely disguised as historical fiction – liked this Cuban history, but not so much the other stuff)
April
- Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo (C – fantasy/supernatural tale set among Yale’s secret societies)
- Ask Again, Yes, by Mary Beth Keane (B – well-written saga of an Irish-American family touched by tragedy in NY over the decades)
- Dear Mrs. Bird, by AJ Pearce (C+ – cozy story about a wanna-be reporter living in London during WWII)
- Normal People, by Sally Rooney (D – unlikely young love in Ireland, not much of a point)
- Disappearing Earth, by Julia Phillips (B – mystery in Russia, lots of loose ends)
- Faster, Smarter, Better, by Charles Duhigg (B – business book about agency)
- The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott (B – half in DC, spies getting Dr. Zhivago out of the USSR)
Currently Reading
- Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid
- Bunny, by Mona Awad
- Five Feet Apart, by Rachel Lippincott
- The Ten Thousand Doors of January, by Alix Harrow
- The Murmur of Bees, by Sofia Segovia
- The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, by Jan-Phillip Sendker
- Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottleib
- How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
- Scaling Leadership, by Bob Anderson
- The Last Days of Night, by Graham Moore
Among My All-Time Favorite Escapes
- The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon
- A Trip to the Stars, by Nicholas Christopher
- The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss
- Night Film, by Marisha Pessl
- Memoirs of a Geisha, by Arthur Golden
- Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (can’t stand her philosophy, but I like the book)
- Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
- The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen
- The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood
- Me Talk Pretty One Day, by Davis Sedaris
- From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konisburg
- Wonder, by R.J. Palacio
- The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
- A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara
- Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
Archives from Past Years:
- 2010 Reading List
- 2011 Reading List
- 2012 Reading List
- 2013 Reading List
- 2014 Reading List
- 2015 Reading List
- 2016 Reading List
- 2017 Reading List
- 2018 Reading List
- 2019 Reading List
pithypants 
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett Check it out. She writes her characters beautifully and this book had one heck of an opening scene. I myself just finished The Vampire Diaries and am reading Hoot by Carl Hiassen–nothing like choosing literature from the Young Adult section. Atlas Shrugged is going with me on my trip to Colorado next week though. It’s time. It’s past time.
Bel Canto has been on my must-read list for years, and yet I haven’t gotten to it yet – for shame! I’ll move it closer to the top. (Or maybe download it on Audible?)
I LOVE Carl Hiassen’s stuff for adults, and I can imagine him being clever for young adults.
You’ll enjoy Atlas Shrugged… though if you haven’t read The Fountainhead you might want to start with that – it’s more macro and Atlas is more micro, if that makes any sense.
Also – I’m really enjoying “Her Fearful Symmetry” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” if you’re looking for some fun reads. 🙂
Just finished Bel Canto. Really enjoyed it. Interesting premise and characters. Completely understand how the lines blur and while I didn’t expect a happy ending… Wow.
I wouldn’t download it–but then again, I usually save my audio books for stuff that’s not very well-written since I only half-listen while cleaning the house.
Is “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” part of a series? I keep almost grabbing it but then feel like it’s being marketed to me which I find annoying.
I have a City job exam tomorrow that requires much waiting and self-entertainment and “Atlas Shrugged” was on my docket. Now I’m going to have to scour my shelves for “The Fountainhead” or read one of my customer support books. Shoot, I don’t like that last idea. I might have to peek into the items brought by my friends last week for donation to Open Books. If they are eventually donated I’m not really stealing from the non-profit, right?
Not to be too much of a lit nerd, but Le Père Goriot by Balzac is fantastic (and you get to say Balzac a lot).
Excellent recommendation, Lee. I can’t wait to carry a little Balzac around with me!
I just ran across The Hunger Games the other day and was thinking, “Hmmm…might this be an interesting read…?”
Now I know!
Definitely fun teen sci-fi (I’m reading the second in the series now). There is a bit of a romantic story-line imbedded in it that might make guys roll their eyes, but I still wouldn’t go so far as to classify it as a chick-book. I’d be curious to know your take. Reminds me of something we would’ve read and loved in fourth grade.
I’ll have to take a look when I get a chance. I’m knee deep in Pride & Prejudice and The War of the Worlds right now. I kind of blew off the classics when I was a kid. Now it’s time to play catch up!
What an excellent idea! I hope you don’t mind if I do the same. Like people from my past I hear a book title and think it sounds vaguely familiar, but can’t quite place it…this list idea may be a good source of reference for myself.
I still have Middlesex waiting for me, not sure why it’s one of those I bought & just left on the shelf.
I started & never finished (2 times!!) Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. It was a good enough read and I’m not exactly sure why I never finished it…I think I’ve since donated it to GoodWill!
One book to movie I really loved was Born On the 4th of July. Gritty, well told account of a man’s return from the Vietnam war.
Congrats on becoming Freshly Pressed…that’s how I found you 🙂
Thanks for the shout out, and all means, steal-away. Interestingly, “Loving Frank” does a crazy-ass left turn in the last 5% of the book. I was luke warm on it over all, but it left me smacking my head, going “WTF?!” If you don’t already know the outcome, I’d recommend finishing it, just for the pay-off.
I, too, have not finished “Atlas Shrugged” or “Me Talk Pretty One Day.” And I haven’t finished “The Pillars of the Earth,” either, because OMG. We indeed have similar tastes. I shall reference this list often!
Wait You finished the ones I haven’t. Fail.
I hated The Road so much. I could never understand its critical acclaim. I thought it was horrible.
It actually made me wish the father was a cannibal and would eat his son. It was THAT frustrating.
Have you actually read Outlander yet? That whole series goes down as my favorite series of books ever. If you haven’t read it yet, just push through the first 60 pages or so until she goes. That is all. And let me know if you love it. And him. You can find me EVERYWHERE.
I started it earlier this summer and got distracted by a string of other books. I need to dig back into it. I keep finding it frustrating that she can’t get back to the circle of rocks to get home… thanks for the push to keep going.