Twenty-six

I remember being amazed when my friend Doug would read 52 books in a year. A book a week? How is that possible?! In 2014, my goal was 50, and I exceeded it by 6. I did this by reading first thing in the morning, over lunch (usually), on my Kindle before going to bed at night, and really as often as possible (my TV watching has dropped considerably in the past few years, except for binge-watching shows on Amazon Prime). Some books were fluff, some were monsters (The Goldfinch! Over 700 pages, people!), some are worth a reread and some I’ve already forgotten completely.

(If I’ve done it correctly, these are affiliate links, so if you happen to make a purchase, I think I get a little something? Some of these are at a great price on Kindle right now.)

January
Happier at Home
The Alchemist
This is Not the Story You Think it is…
Crossing to Safety
Flight Behavior

February
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Gone Girl
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
The Fault in Our Stars

March
Where’d Ya Go, Bernadette?
The Inner Voice of Love

April
The Husband’s Secret
The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag
Wonder
Steal Like an Artist
A Red Herring Without Mustard
Wednesday Wars

May
The Sunset Limited
Sober Mercies
The Help
Congrats, By the Way

June
Me Before You
The Kite Runner
The Rosie Project
Veronica Mars
Delancey
100 Cupboards
Parnassus on Wheels
All is Grace

July
On Writing
Crazy Busy
The Lightning Thief
La’s Orchestra Saves the World
I am Half-Sick of Shadows
The Julian Chapter
The Nesting Place
Pastrix

August
The Magician’s Nephew
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
Speaking from Among the Bones
Prince Caspian
The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

September
Eleanor and Park

October
Longbourn
Rules of Civility
The Goldfinch
Breathing Lessons
The Age of Miracles
Chop, Chop

November
The Praying Life
Bossypants
Lizzy and Jane

December
Yes Please
All the Light We Cannot See
Mockingjay
Bittersweet

Fiction recommendations:
The Alchemist (beautiful)
The Flavia de Luce series (so fun)
The Fault in Our Stars (lived up to the hype and better than the movie)
Where’d Ya Go, Bernadette? (more than the fluff book I was expecting)
Wonder (one of the best books I read this year)
Wednesday Wars (a great YA book)
The Help (this was a reread, and I love this book so much)
The Kite Runner (a reread- if you haven’t read it, put it on the TOP of your list)
The Rosie Project (fun, and unexpected)
Parnassus on Wheels (fun and sweet)
The Goldfinch (so long, so brutal at times, but so good)
Breathing Lessons (a reread- this is the FIRST novel I remember being recommended to me, back in 10th grade, by my English teacher. I appreciated it much more this time around.)
The Age of Miracles (couldn’t put this one down)
Lizzy and Jane (just a good easy read)
All the Light we Cannot See (at the top of my list of best books I read this year)

Non-fiction recommendations:
This is Not the Story You Think it is…(so, so good)
The Inner Voice of Love (follow the instructions at the front of the book and read this one slowly)
All is Grace (read in conjunction with Brennan Manning’s Ragamuffin Gospel for the full experience)
The Nesting Place (motivation and freedom for caring for your home)

Joining the linkup with Modern Mrs. Darcy today!