Back in January, I kicked off my year with a resolution to read 12 books. I also wanted to lose 15lbs, become instagram famous and move to Hawaii to "influence" while drinking pina coladas on the beach for a living, but resolutions are designed to be unrealistic. Anyway, it was roughly 11.5 more than I read in 2016, 2017, and 2018 combined, so it felt kind of lofty. But then this year Duke became really self-sufficient (which is so cool) and maybe because I gave myself a numerical goal, I read a lot more than I thought I would. This year, I read 38 books and that included some new favorites, along with some hilariously bad stinkers. You can find my monthly reviews here, but for a more year inclusive version, welcome to my first annual Book Awards. 

THE BEST

Fiction - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsen
Obviously I'm about ten years late to this party, but the text aged well, I guess. I was so engaged, I read this in parking lots and through every lunch break and even at the indoor playground at the mall that I hate because it looks like it's never been cleaned, but Duke loves it and gives me hour long chunks to just reaaaad. 

Non-Fiction - On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King

Audio Book - Joyland - Stephen King
Classic King novel. If he's your cup of tea, this is a good-sized mug of it. 

Re-Read - The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck

Honorable Mentions (otherwise titled, highly recommended)

Joy in the Morning - Betty Smith

History of a Pleasure Seeker - Richard Mason

The Corner of the Oval - Beck Dorey-Stein
Non-fiction and one of my favorite reads this year. A White House stenographer writes about her years under the Obama administration, but  with a healthy dose of her personal life too. There's a lot of alcohol and Cape Codders, which I've been calling a "vodka cranberry, please" like an uneducated fool my whole life. 

THE WORST

Most Laughably Bad - Separate Beds - LaVyrle Spencer

I'm still mad at my Oma for recommending this book to me. It was so hilariously bad, I laughed at so many parts that weren't meant to be funny. Its only redeeming quality was that it got me through a 24 hour flu in February. 

The Struggle I Powered Through - Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda
This one has great reviews and it was well written. I just wasn't into it. 

The One I Gave Up On Soonest - My Coney Island Baby - Billy O'Callaghan

Great concept, epically slow execution. 

Most WTF - The Language of Secrets - Dionne Dixon

A plot twist in literally the last sentence of the book. I have still not recovered from this book.

The books I gave up on 

A Visit From The Goon Squad - Boring. 

The Aviator's Wife - Juvenile writing. 

The 19th Wife - Never gained steam. 

Little Bee - I couldn't get into it, looked up the plot online, and ruined it for myself. 

My Coney Island Baby - Sounded good, but the pick-up was slow. 

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You can see the full list of books I read this year HERE.

See you in 2020 for another big books goal. And I'm always open for recommendations!