It's finally time to share with you all what my favorite books of 2019 were! As I logged off of BookTube a little over half way through the year, this list is probably more of a mystery than it has been in year's past, but I love curating this list each year and sharing what my top reads were. Before we dive in to my top reads of the year, I wanted to share some stats with y'all:
2019 Reading by the Numbers
-I read a total of 112 books and 38,459 pages, averaging at 343 pages per book.
-It took me an average of 3 days to finish a book.
-I averaged 9 books per month and 3,205 pages per month.
-I read the most books in June at 30 books, and I read the least books in March, August, and October at 4 books.
-I read the most pages in June at 8,350 and the least pages in March at 1,172.
-My average star rating was 3.8 (which is actually higher than I thought it would be!).
-The genre I read the most was Contemporary at 37 and the genre I read the least was Historical Fiction at 1.*
-The format that I read most of my books was Physical at 68 and the format I read the least was Kindle at 3.*
-The age group I read the most was Adult at 44 and the age group I read the least was Middle Grade at 4.*
-I ended the year with 7 books on my "Currently Reading" shelf.
*For those curious, here were some genres/formats/age groups I read 0 books from, but I just didn't count those for the sake of these stats!
I always think it's so cool to see how my reading year has turned out by looking at various statistics! I feel like I had a better reading year than I originally thought, and it's encouraging to see that I can still make time to read when the going gets tough. Crazy! For those that might be wondering, I've been using this tracking spreadsheet made by Sophie from Portal in the Pages for years. I've since modified it here and there to make it work for me, but I think this is a great base if you're looking for something to capture a lot of information about your reading. She has published newer versions of this sheet which might also work better for you so feel free to compare and find what fits your needs!
I also wanted to share my GoodReads Year in Books with you all, for those that are curious! I always love looking at the end of the year stats on GoodReads as well which automatically captures data that I don't usually track, as well as shows *all* of the books you read within a year. I think this end of year wrap up is the main reason why I participate in the GoodReads reading challenge every year. 😂
And without further ado, let's talk about my favorite books of the year! I tend to not cap my favorites list at any particular number so I usually end up with a weird number of favorite books. This year I had 12! I order this list in order of when I read each book because ranking them is just too difficult as they're all so different. Either way, I totally recommend you check out each and every one of these books because they are all incredible in their own ways!
Favorite Books of 2019
The Line That Held Us by David Joy - This book was SO TENSE. This is one of those books where you're in the shoes of a character that is up against a wall, and any misstep would mean his doom. I was on edge the entire time reading this and while it can get quite graphic at times, I could not look away. I have always said that if a book can make me react to the story in some kind of physical way, then it's a 5-star read, and this is a story that will make you tense up your entire body any make you feel sick to your stomach. And if you're a fan of thrillers, you'll love every second of it! If you're looking for a thriller that will keep the pages turning, check out The Line That Held Us.
The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman - You know how when you stumble across one of those books that you love so much that it sometimes gives you butterflies to think about? This is that book for me. I ADORED this story and these characters oh so much. My heart broke when their hearts broke, I swooned when they swooned - I felt every single emotions that these characters felt and I just wanted the best for them so much. I had no idea how much I would love this story but I truly did and I now need to read Practical Magic and every book ever written by Alice Hoffman. 😂
No Exit by Taylor Adams - This was another SUPER intense thriller which I could not put down. I love thrillers where the stakes are as high as they possibly can be over a short period of time, and this 100% fits that bill. There is truly no predicting what might happen by the end of this story and I feel like there were twists until the last 2 pages. I honestly felt a little out of breath by the time I turned the final page! If you're looking for something extremely gripping and fast paced with characters that you're not sure if you can trust, look no further. I highly recommend reading this in the wintertime as well, because it has a lot to do with getting snowed in and would make it that more scary! (Thought to be fair, I read this in the middle of May and was still just as spooked!)
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli - THIS IS SUCH A PERFECT YA NOVEL!!! Becky Albertalli is so good at creating such honest and accurate YA characters that handle problems the way a teen would actually handle a problem. I thought this book explored the ideas of high school friendships, romantic relationships, and sex in such an honest and true way. I remember being 16/17 years old and feeling the same ways that the main character Molly feels throughout this book. At the same time, Albertalli tells the story in such a way that I fully enjoyed reading this book at age 29 as well. I so wish I had The Upside of Unrquited in my hands when I was in high school, but I'm so glad that I had the chance to read it as an adult. 10/10 YA novel. Would recommend 100%!
Heartstopper vol. 1 & vol. 2 by Alice Oseman - Okay this is the *cutest* stinkin' graphic novel series I've ever read. I believe more volumes are going to be released, but even the first two books are so adorable that you could melt into a puddle and I practically did. This is an adorable love story between two high school boys and talks about their budding relationship in the somewhat scary environment of their all-boys school. This is an extremely lighthearted story but it still tackles some really tough topics like coming to terms with your sexuality, abusive relationships, and navigating what it's like to come out to your loved ones. I absolutely loved this series and I'm looking forward to any/all future installments!
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne - This book had been sitting on my TBR shelf for YEARS and I knew I was going to be so mad at myself for putting it off as long as I did. Lo and behold, I was right. I absolutely loved this heart wrenching book oh so much. It's a story of a little boy named Bruno who is the son of a high-ranking member of the Nazi military and his family lives right outside of Auschwitz, as his father is in charge of running the camp. He doesn't really understand what's happening, and because it's written in Bruno's perspective, he is telling the story in a way that a nine-year-old would understand it. He doesn't realize the atrocities that are being committed just over the fence. It's a heartbreaking story in all the ways you would imagine it to be, and if you haven't had the opportunity to read it yet, please do.
Recursion by Blake Crouch - BLAKE 👏 CROUCH 👏 IS 👏 SO 👏 GOOD! This is the second year in a row that one of his novels has wound up on my favorites list and he has officially sealed his status as an auto-buy author for me. Just like Dark Matter, this book was so cool. It had elements of both memory alteration and time travel. Crouch creates ideas and worlds that you just want to get lost in and it makes it so hard to put down. As soon as I finished this book I instantly bought a copy for my friends Erin & Cullen to enjoy because they also loved Dark Matter, and I also got Cassie hooked on both books this year as well. I can't wait for him to publish his next book, whenever that might be!!!
Bloom by Kevin Panetta & Savanna Ganucheau - Bloom was another one of those super adorable, so-cute-you-want-to-cry graphic novels about falling in love, making mistakes and learning from them, and also lots and lots of baking. 🥐 The story is very simple, but you see so much learning and growing from the main character, Ari, that it feels like you get to know him so well and you just want him to be happy. Through a tough year, I was really drawn to these super lighthearted graphic novels, and this one in particular made me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. This is a book you could easily just fall into and it will warm your heart right up!
Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emie Lang - One of my favorite things a book can do is take place over the course of a lifetime, and this one fit that bill so beautifully. We see the development of Weylyn Grey and his strange powers through the many people who crossed paths with him throughout his life. We see him struggle to maintain a normal life and be rejected by many, but so loved by a few core people across several decades. This is an incredible story of growth, acceptance, and both familial and romantic love, with many magical elements weaved throughout the story. I absolutely loved this book and if you're looking for a story that will totally sweep you away, you should pick this one up soon.
Recursion made it onto my Top Ten list as well, even though I only finished it right before New Year's. I loved that it ended up being about time loops, which I wasn't aware of before going in :)
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