2018 reading list

As has become tradition, I will share my reading list from last year. My notations after each book are as follows: M = mystery; F = fiction; NF = non-fiction; RA = read aloud (usually during tea time); YA = young adult. An asterisks after any book means that I particularly recommend it.

Ready? This list is 89 items long this year.

1. A Rule Against Murder - Louise Penny (M)*
2. Meddling Kids - Edgar Cantero (F)
3. The Brutal Telling - Louise Penny (M)*
4. Adopted: The Sacrament of Belonging in a Fractured World - Kelley Nikondeha (NF)
5. South Pole Station - Ashley Shelby (F)
6. Woolly: The True Story of the Quest to Revive one of History's Most Iconic Extinct Creatures - Ben Mezrich (NF-ish)
7. Bury Your Dead - Louise Penny (M)*
8. Flow: the psychology of optimal experience - Mihaly Csikzentmihaly (NF)*
9. Recipes for Love and Murder - Sally Anderw (M)
10. Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks - Dave Holderread (NF)
11. Smart Moves: why learning is not all in your head - Carla Hannaford (NF)*
12. Winter Holiday - Arthur Ransome (F-YA-RA)*
13. A Praying Life: connecting with God in a distracting world - Paul E. Miller (NF)
14. A Trick of the Light - Louise Penny (M)*
15. How to Speak Chicken: why your chickens do what they do and say what they say - Melissa Caughey (NF)
16. The Chicken Chick's Guide to Backyard Chickens: simple steps for healthy, happy hens - Kathy Shea Mormino (NF)
17. Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes - Eleanor Coerr (Hist. F-YA-RA)
18. Hachiko Waits - Leslea Newman (Hist. F-YA-RA)
19. Sister of my Heart - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (F)
20. The Beautiful Mystery - Louise Penny (M)*
21. The Grave's a Fine and Private Place - Alan Bradley (M)
22. The Invisible Library - Genevieve Cogman (F)*
23. The Heirloom Life Gardener: the Baker Creek way of growing your own food easily and naturally - Jere and Emilee Gettle (NF)
24. The Masked City - Genevieve Cogman (F)*
25. The Burning Page - Genevieve Cogman (F)*
26. Brain Food: the surprising science of eating for cognitive power - Lisa Mosconi (NF)
27. The Lost Plot - Genevieve Cogman (F)*
28. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett (F-YA-RA)*
29. Death in St. Petersburg - Tasha Alexander (M)
30. My Plastic Brain: one woman's year long journey to discover if science can improve her mind - Caroline Williams (NF)
31. Under the Egg - Laura Marx Fitzgerald (F-YA-RA)*
32. Great at Work: how top performers do less, work better, and achieve more - Morten T. Hansen (NF)
33. Imperium: a novel of Ancient Rome - Robert Harris (Hist. F)*
34. A Perfect Mess: why you don't have to worry about being good enough for God - Lisa Harper (NF)
35. From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler - E. L. Konigsberg (F-YA-RA)
36. The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree - Susan Wittig Albert (M)
37. The Frugalwoods: achieving financial independence through simple living - Elizabeth Willard Thames (NF) [This book annoyed me to no end.]
38. The Darling Dahlia and the Naked Ladies - Susan Wittig Albert (M)
39. A Death of No Importance - Mariah Fredericks (M)
40. Murder, She Knit - Peggy Ehrhart (M)*
41. The Darling Dahlias and the Confederate Rose - Susan Wittig Albert (M)
42. Return of the Sea Otter: the story of the animal that evaded extinction on the Pacific coast - Todd McLeish (NF)
43. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane - Lisa See (F)*
44. Enslaved by Ducks: how one man went from head of the household to bottom of the pecking order - Bob Tarte (NF)
45. Every Living Thing - James Harriot (NF)
46. Micro Mastery: learn small, learn fast, and unlock your potential to achieve anything - Robert Twigger (NF) [This book also annoyed me to no end.]
47. The Hangman - Louise Penny (M)
48. How the Light Gets In - Louise Penny (M)*
49. The Lost for Words Bookshop - Stephanie Butland (F)
50. The Gallery - Laura Marx Fitzgerald (F-YA-RA... but I didn't read it out loud to the end, just to myself. the pacing and editing were pretty dreadful)
51. A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder - Dianne Freeman (M)
52. The Long Way Home - Louise Penny (M)*
53. A French Affair - Katie Fforde (F)
54. The Nature of the Beast - Louise Penny (M)*
55. Surviving the Applewhites - Stephanie S. Tolan (F-YA-RA)*
56. A Secret Garden - Katie Fforde (F)
57. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan (F) [If you want to see the movie, you should read the book]
58. Unthinkable: an extraordinary journey through the world's strangest brains - Helen Thomson (NF)*
59. The Big Book of Kombucha: brewing, flavoring, and enjoying the health benefits of fermented tea - Hannah Crum & Alex LaGory (NF)
60. Fermented Vegetables: creative recipes for fermenting 64 vegetables and herbs - Kristen Shockey & Christopher Shockey (NF) [Yes, sometimes I read cookbooks as I would a book]
61. Fermented: a beginner's guide to making your own sourdough, yogurt, sauerkraut, kefir, kimchi, and more - Charlotte Pike (NF)
62. A Great Reckoning - Louise Penny (M)*
63. Tip of the Iceberg: my 3,000 mile journey around wild Alaska, the last great American frontier - Mark Adams (NF)
64. Glass Houses - Louise Penny (M)*
65. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH - Robert O'Brian (F-YA-RA)*
66. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty (F)
67. Water Buffalo Days - Huynh Quang Nhuong (NF-YA-RA)
68. A Murder in Time - Julie McElwain (M)
69. Training Horses the Ingrid Klimke Way: an Olympic medalist's winning methods for a joyful riding partnership - Ingrid Klimke (NF)
70. China Rich Girlfriend - Kevin Kwan (F)
71. The Prisoner in the Castle - Susan Elia MacNeal (M)
72. The Ranch by the Sea - Helen Oakley (F-YA-RA)
73. The Third Nero - Lindsey Davis (M)*
74. Mystery in the Channel - Freeman Wills Crofts (M)
75. The Happiness Curve: why life gets better after 50 - Jonathan Rauch (NF)
76. Pandora's Boy - Lindsey Davis (M)*
77. The Dowry Bride - Shoban Bantwal (F)
78. Spy School: are you sharp enough to be a KGB agent? - Denis Bukin & Kamil' Guliev (an odd combination of fiction and non-fiction)
79. Kingdom of the Blind - Louise Penny (M)*
80. Shepherds Abiding - Jan Karon (F)
81. The Desert Vet: how a city boy became a Bedouin nomad and spent thirty years caring for a menagerie of camels and other exotic creatures - Alex Tinson (NF-RA)
82. Sins and Needles - Monica Ferris (M)
83. Knitting Bones - Monica Ferris (M)
84. Thai Die - Monica Ferris (M)
85. Midwest Foraging: 115 wild and flavorful edibles from burdock to wild peach - Lisa M. Rose (NF)
86. Good King Wenceslas - Mildred Corell Luckhardt  (Hist. F-YA-RA)*
87. Blackwork - Monica Ferris (M)
88. Buttons and Bones - Monica Ferris (M)
89. Threadbare - Monica Ferris (M)

And there you go. It was kind of a Louise Penny year, which was definitely worth it. I also started and stopped reading nine books this year. A few of the ones I did finish I kind of wished I had stopped earlier on so I didn't feel the need to finish them. And that last string of mysteries there at the end of the list, I don't recommend. I'll write more about that little spurt tomorrow.

I think an average of 7 1/2 books a month is pretty good, though I would love to have enough reading time to get it up to 10 books a month.

Comments

Carla said…
How about elaborating on what was so annoying about a couple of those books? Was it the writing or the content?

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