2019 Year in Review

Happy New Year!

For my 2019 Year in review post, I decided to do something slightly different from past years.  In addition to listing out my favorite reads of the year (all of the books that fell into the 4 to 5 star categories for me), I also wanted to share actual stats from my reading log.  Thanks to Book Riot and the awesome customizable reading log template that they created, which I adopt and utilize to track my own reading, I am able to see exactly where I stand in various categories.  I started using this format a few years back and I like how easy it is to record what I’ve read, but most important of all,  I love being able to compare my reading stats to previous years and see how much I have a grown as a reader.

A few highlights I wanted to mention this year:

-          For my Goodreads challenge this year, I had committed to reading 55 books in 2019 and I ended the year with 61 books read, so I not only met my goal, I actually exceeded it!   This is a sticking point for me because last year (2018), I had pledged to read 60 books but came up short (I was only able to read 57 books).  

-          With 61 books read (and every single one reviewed), that is also a “personal best” record for me!  With that said, I have to say, for the record, that I only started keeping track of my reading 2-3 years ago, plus I didn’t take into account all the reading I did back in my childhood and school days.   Nowadays, with how busy my life and work are (some days, I am only able to squeeze in less than an hour to read), the fact that I am still able to read as much as I do is definitely a huge accomplishment  in my book (pun intended)!

-          When I compare my reading this year with last year, I realized that one reason I was able to exceed the goal was due to better focus for one, but also, I decided to forego nearly all book challenges and instead, make a conscious effort to manage my TBR and ARC lists. 

-          Speaking of ARCs, I am happy to report that I did a much better job keeping up with my list this year than I did last year insofar as I was able to read and review majority of the ARCs ahead of (or right on the day of) publication.  With that said though, I still have way too many ARCs than I am physically able to get to, so one of my goals this year will continue to be working through my ARC list and paring it down to a reasonable level.

-          In terms of reading experience, I’ve always been a huge advocate of reading widely as well as diversely, and for that reason, I try as much as possible to read across genres.  While this is not always easy given that there are some genres that I’m less keen on, I’m happy with the fact that I did a better job with this in 2019 and was able to give some books a try that I probably would not pick up otherwise.  For 2020, I hope to continue expanding on this and further diversify my reading.

Overall, I would say that I had a wonderful reading year, as there were a lot of books that I enjoyed reading and way fewer “duds” than previous years.  Ratings-wise – though this was not done intentionally, I noticed that this year, the books I gave 5 stars to were ones that impacted me hugely on an emotional level – essentially, they were ones that “broke” me to the point that I could not help continuing to think about the stories and the characters long after I finished reading the books.  The other thing I noticed is that I gave a lot more 4.5 star ratings than I did in previous years, mostly to books that I loved nearly as much as my 5 star reads, but had a tad bit less of that emotional “gut punch” element to it. 

So with all that said, here are the stats from my 2019 Reading Log:

Favorite Reads of 2019

Below is my list of favorite reads this year (in no particular order) – all of these books I rated 5 stars:

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly

Wunderland by Jennifer Cody Epstein

The Summer Country by Lauren Willig

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger

Daughter of Moloka’i by Alan Brennert

 **This one was actually 4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars.**

The following books I rated 4.5 stars, which for me means that they were all excellent books in their own right, it’s just that they didn’t give me the 5 star “vibe” due to a minor flaw or two:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Miracle Creek by Angie Kim

When We Left Cuba by Chanel Cleeton

The Scent Keeper by Erica Bauermeister

The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited by Louisa Lim

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri

Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin

Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

The Glittering Hour by Iona Grey

The following books I rated 4 stars but they were particularly enjoyable reads for me so I figured I would mention them as well (again, in no particular order):

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout

Cilka’s Journey by Heather Morris

The Stranger Inside by Lisa Unger

Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

The Last Widow by Karin Slaughter

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok 

Home Remedies by Xuan Juliana Wang

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

The Unwinding of the Miracle by Julia Yip-Williams

In Another Time by Jillian Cantor

Where Reasons End by Yiyun Li

My Real Name is Hanna by Tara Lynn Masih

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib

 

** Note:  To read my reviews for any of the above books, please click on the name of the book in the sidebar to the right of this blog.  Thanks!**