Books Read 2019

The only thing I really keep up with is my Goodreads challenge (my profile) The goal for 2019 was 24 books. 2 a month. Between kindle, my bookshelf, my Audible subscription, and the library Overdrive app, I figured it was possible.

Twas. 32 completed (I finished the last one today, 12/31)

Around March? I realized I had only read women authors so I decided to let it ride. I haven’t missed much aside from Saeed Jones’ memoir and reading Good Omens since I loved the show so bad.

I think mostly I just realized how much women use reading as an escape from their lives. It was a common theme in a lot of the books. All the books? Is that not what books are for?

For measurement, a 3 means that I read it and wasn’t mad about it. A 5 means I probably have demanded you read it and shoved it at you online. All links go to Goodreads so you can read the synopsis.

Anyway, here’s the list.

Title: Rising Strong
Author: Brene Brown
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Reasonable motivation, Brene’s Netflix special

Title: Vox
Author: Christina Dalcher
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: General dystopia, Handmaid’s Tale

Title: Baby Teeth
Author: Zoje Stage
Rating: 2/5
Read This if you Like: Wasting your time, Boring horror

Title: Radiant Shimmering Light
Author: Sarah Selecky
Rating: 3/5
Read This if you Like: Hating positive vibes only gurus

Title: A Blade So Black
Author: LL McKinney
Rating: 3.5/5
Read This if you Like: Alice in Wonderland

Title: My Sister, the Serial Killer
Author: Oyinkan Braithwaite
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Good books OMG read this book

Title: Convenience Store Woman
Author: Sayaka Murata
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: Japanese minimalism, thinking that jobs are just jobs and not fulfilling

Title: Daisy Jones and the Six
Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Fleetwood Mac, full cast audio

Title: I’m Fine and Neither Are You
Author: Camille Pagan
Rating: 2.5/5
Read This if you Like: Whiny wives and boring husbands. Unfunny sitcom couples.

Title: All The Names They Used for God
Author: Anjali Sachdeva
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: mythical realism. Very good short stories.

Title: White Elephant
Author: Julie Langsdorf
Rating: 2/5
Read This if you Like: whiny white suburban people

Title: Circe
Author: Madeline Miller
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Greek Mythology, read this even if you don’t. I know I’ve told you to read this book already. Read it.

Title: Normal People
Author: Sally Rooney
Rating: 3.5/5
Read This if you Like: Reading what critics say you should read. Abrupt endings.

Title: Atheists Who Kneel and Pray
Author: Tarryn Fisher
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: Romantic Dramadeys

Title: Rosie’s Travelling Tea Shop
Author: Rebecca Raisin
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: Hallmark romance movies

Title: The Overdue Life of Amy Byler
Author: Kelly Harms
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: Romantic Dramadeys

Title: The Pisces
Author: Melissa Broder
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: Mythical sex. The Shape of Water.

Title: The Song of Achilles
Author: Madeline Miller (yes from Circe)
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Greek mythology. Having your heart ripped from your chest and shredded to bits.

Title: Love Warrior
Author: Glennon Doyle
Rating: 4.5/5
Read This if you Like: Brene Brown. Personal stories of overcoming addiction.

Title: I Miss You When I Blink
Author: Mary Laura Philpott
Rating: 3/5
Read This if you Like: Boring personal essays.

Title: A Wedding Thing*
Author: Shea Serrano and Laramie Serrano
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: cute, long form essays. Shea Serrano on twitter.
*this was a Kindle single and I didn’t know it was counting it as a book but it was so oh well

Title: Queenie
Author: Candice Carty-Williams
Rating: 3.5/5
Read This if you Like: Quarter life crisis. Black British life.

Title: Very Nice
Author: Marcy Dermansky
Rating: 3/5
Read This if you Like: white upper class people who think they are allies

Title: The Year of Magical Thinking
Author: Joan Didion
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: practical advise for overcoming grief, Joan Didion

Title: Holly Freakin’ Hughes
Author: Kelsey Kinglsey
Rating: 4.5/5
Read This if you Like: RomComs, Hallmark Romance

Title: The Wedding Party
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Rating: 3.5/5
Read This if you Like: The other Jasmine Guillory books, multi-racial RomComs.

Title: Red At the Bone
Author: Jacqueline Woodson
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Blackity black books. Well written multi-generational family dramas. Even if you don’t think you will like those, read this book anyway it is so good and a quick read.

Title: The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Author: Alix E. Harrow
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: Reasonable fantasy.

Title: Trick Mirror: Reflections on Self-Delusion
Author: Jia Tolentino
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: old millennial wokeness and complaining (gestures around this blog in a general sense)

Title: A Woman Is No Man
Author: Etaf Rum
Rating: 5/5
Read This if you Like: multi-generational family dramas (trigger warning for domesitc violence)

Title: Mouthful of Birds
Author: Megan McDowell
Rating: 2/5
Read This if you Like: short story collections cause you think well at least one of them will be good or memorable. Even if it’s just the one. The Twilight Zone.

Title: The Starless Sea
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Rating: 4/5
Read This if you Like: long, meandering tales of fantasy.

Here’s to filling up my To Be Read for 2020!