Before the wee one came along, I could crank out some crazy reading. But, alas, things have changed. My own personal challenge is at least 24 books a year.
2025
1 – Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
2 – Dylan Goes Electricc by Elijah Wald
3 – Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati
4 – My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar
5 – A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
6 – Yes, Please by Amy Poehler
7 – Athena’s Child by Hannah Lynn
8 – A Light in August by William Faulkner
9 – Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
10 – White Fang by Jack London
11 – The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
12 – Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler
13 – The People We Keep by Allison Larkin
14 – John Proctor is the Villain by Kimberly Belflower
15 – John Proctor is the Villain Broadway Review by Sarah Brandon
16 – Love, Pamela by Pamela Anderson
17 – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
18 – A Moveable Feasty by Ernest Hemingway
19 – The Complete Stories of Truman Copote
20 – Book Lovers by Emily Henry
21 – Post Office by Charles Bukowski
22 – My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman
23 – The Count of Monte Cristo – by Alexandre Dumans
24 – Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult
25 – Shakespeare by Michael Wood
26 – The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco (Martin Crimp, trans.)
27 – The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
28 – A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
29 – War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
30 – Ulysses by James Joyce
31 – Hemingway at Eighteen by Steve Paul
32 – Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
33 – Eugene O’Neill and the Tragic Tension
34 – The Family by Naomi Krupitsky
35 – Brooklyn by Colm Toibin
36 – Dating Dr. Dil by Nisha Sharm
37 – Out of my Mind by Sharon M Draper
38 – A Collection of Poems by Emily Dickinson
39 – 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
40 – A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
41 – The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
42 – Lady Macbeth by Ava Reid
43 – Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
44 – The Kamogawa Food Detectives by Hisashi Kashiwai
45 – The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore
46 – The Housemaid by Freida McFadden
47 – Brothers by Alex Van Halen
48 – The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore
49 – Forget Your Morals by Sarah Blue
50 – Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton
51 – The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Larie Gilmore
52 – The Pearl by John Steinbeck
2024
1 – The Boys by Ron Howard and Clint Howard
2 – The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff
3 – Killers of the Flower moon by David Grann
4 – The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit
5 – A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca
6 – How to Say Babylon by Safiya Sinclair
7 – Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton
8 – Improv Nation by Sam Wasson
9, 10, 11 – Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
12 – Meredith, Alone by Claire Alexander
13 – Men My Mother Dated by Brett Leveridge
14 – A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
15 – Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
16 – After Annie by Anna Quindle
17 – The Dead Romantics by Ashely Poston
18 – Eliza Hamilton by Tilar J Mazzeo
19 – Ariadne by Jennifer Saint
20 – Go Tell it on the Mountain – by James Baldwin
21 – In Such Good Company – Carol Burnett
22 – Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World by William Alexander
23 -Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
24 – The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington
25 – Mother of Pearl by Melinda Haynes
26 – Tennessee Williams by Dakin Williams and Shepherd Mead
27 – The Snow Hare by Paulla Lichtarowicz
28 – The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy
29 – Me and Shakespeare by Herman Gollab
30 – James by Percival Everett
31 – A Christmas Story by Truman Capote
32 – People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
33 – A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
34- Wicked by Gregory Maguire
35 – Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir
36 – The Little Black Fish by Samad Behrangi
37 – Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
38 – The Road by Cormac McCarthy
39 – Poor Unfortunate Soul by Serena Valentino
40 – The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier
41 – Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala
My Favorites (in no order): James, A Moveable Feast, Middlesex, The Road
2023
1 – A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood
2- Girl A by Abigail Dean
3- The Three of Us by Georgette Jones
4 – Lady Chatterly’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
5 – Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
6- In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
7 – It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
8 – The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport
9 – The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
10 – Be Transformed by Bob Schuchts
11 – The Ascension Lenten Companion Year C
12 – Night Thoughts by Wallace Shawn
13 – Solutions and Other Problems by Alli Brosh
14 – Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
15 – Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
16 – All About Me! by Mel Brooks
17- Dust & Grim by Chuck Wendig
18 – The Story of Edgar Sawtell by David Wroblewski
19- A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park
20- The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
21 – The Night Bus Hero by Onjali Q. Rauf
22 – Medusa Undone by Bella Poynton
23 – The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
24 – Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
25 – Saint Catherine of Siena by F. A. Forbes
26 – A Year of Positive Thinking by Cyndie Spiegel
27 – A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
28 – Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
29 – Hemingway’s Widow by Timothy Christian
30 – A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
31 – Archers’ Voice by Mia Sheridan
32 – The Program by Suzanne Young
33 – Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
My favorites:
The Three of Us by Georgette Jones/The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport/Medusa Undone by Bella Poynton/A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara/A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway/Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
2022
1 – That’s my Story and I’m Sticking to it by Spike Lee
2 – The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
3 – The Prophets by Robert Jones, Jr.
4 – The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by Ayana Mathis
5 – Ghosted by Rosie Walsh
6 – Bernadette of Lourdes by Therese Taylor
7 – Entwined by Heather Dixon
8 – She is the Sun by Niccole Salm
9 – Improvisation on the Edge by Ruth Zaporah
10 – Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood
11 – You are the Team by Michael G Rogers
12 – My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
13 – An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff
14 – My Journey Back to God by Kristin Dickerson
15- Elektra by Jennifer Saint
16 – A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
17 – Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
18 – Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
19 – Kite Fighters by Linda Sue Park
20- The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
21- The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
22 – The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
23- Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
24 – Long Live the Pumpkin Queen by Shea Ernshaw
25- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
26 – Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen – Annabel Abbs
27 – The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
28 – The Ickabog by JK Rowling
29 – The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Gladys Malvern
30- Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents – by Lindsay C Gibson
31 – Staging Sex by Chelsea Pace
32 – Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
My favorites in no order:
My Policeman by Bethan Roberts
My Journey Back to God by Kristin Dickerson
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han
Miss Eliza’s English Kitchen – Annabel Abbs
The Four Winds – Kristin Hannah
2021
Book 1 – So, Anyway… by John Cleese
Book 2 – God’s Grandmother Saint Anne by Brian Kiczek
Book 3: Caste by Isabel Wilkerson
Book 4: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Book 5: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Book 6: Anna: Grandmother of Jesus by Claire Heartsong
Book 7: Circe by Madeline Miller
Book 8: The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle
Book 9: The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Book 10: The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Book 11: The Christian Homemaker’s Handbook by Pat Ennis and Dorothy Kelley Patterson
Book 12: The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton
Book 13: Good St. Anne by the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration
Book 14: From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks
Book 15: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Book 16: Excuse Me, Your Life is Waiting by Lynn Grabhorn
Book 17: Stephen Sondheim: A Life by Meryle Secrest
Book 18: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
Book 19: Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle
Book 20: A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
Book 21: The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Book 22: The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown
Book 23: Bob by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead
Book 24: Outlawed by Anna North
Book 25: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
Book 26: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab
Book 27: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
Book 28: Christmas with O. Henry by O. Henry by O. Henry
Book 29: The Christmas Pig by J. K. Rowling
Book 30: Christmas with L.M. Montgomery by L.M. Montgomery
Book 31: Christmas with Louisa May Alcott by Louisa May Alcott
Book 32: Christmas with Charles Dickens by Charles Dickens
Book 33: Ruby by Cynthia Bond
My favorites:
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle
A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
2020
Book 1 – Mrs. Miracle by Debbie Macomber
Book 2 – Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
Book 3: The Path Made Clear by Oprah Winfrey
Book 4: Other People’s Houses by Abbi Waxman
Book 5: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
Book 6: Dakota Born by Debbie Macomber
Book 7: Hidden Valley Raod by Robert Kolker
Book 8: Dakota Home by Debbie Macomber
Book 9: Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Book 10: Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout
Book 11: Always Dakota by Debbie Macomber
Book 12: Deacon King Kong by James McBride
Book 13: Buffalo Valley by Debbie Macobmer
Book 14: Mutts and Mistletoe by Natailie Cox
Book 15: How to Knit a Murder by Sally Goldenbaum
Book 16: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Book 17: I Wrote This For You by pleasefindthis
Book 18: Improvisation at the Speed of Life by TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi
BEST: Hands-down: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
2019
Book 1- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Book 2 – Becoming by Michelle Obama
Book 3 – One of us is Lying by Karen M McManus
Book 4 – The Guest Book by Sarah Blake
Slim pickings! Ok, the best was Becoming and The Silence of the Girls.
2018
Book 1 – Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood
Book 2 – Grownup by Gillian Flynn
Book 3 – Shakespeare Star Wars 1 – Ian Doescher
Book 4 – The Magician’s Nephew – CS Lewis
Book 5 – Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman
Book 6 – Had I Known by Joan Lunden
Book 7 – Dodie Osteen book
Book 8 – A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
Book 9 – Perfect Little World by Kevin Wilson
Book 10 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Simon Stephens
Book 11 – Marlena by Julie Buntin
Book 12 – Lunar Abundance by Ezzie Spencer
Book 13 – Crystals for Everyday Living by Na
Book 14 – The Book of Chakra Healing by Liz Simpson
Book 15 – Any Man by Amber Tamblyn
Book 16 – The Mind-Gut Connection by Emeran Mayer
Book 17 – The Art of Healing with Crystals by Kac Young
Book 18 – Healing Handbooks: Crystals for Everyday Living by Bounty Books
Book 19 – Moon Magic by Diane Ahlquist
Book 20 – The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn
It was a tough year.
My favorites were Any Man and The Curious Incident of the Dog
2017
Book 1: When A Woman Inspires Her Husband by Cindi McMenamin
Book 2: Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Book 3: Say Goodbye to Survival Mode by Crystal Paine
Book 4: American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Book 5: Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance
Book 6: Praying the Bible by Donald S. Whitney
Book 7: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Book 8: The Life Giving Home by Sally and Sarah Clarkson
Book 9: How Not To Die by Dr. Michael Greger
Book 10: Some Women by Emily Liebert
Book 11: The Blossom Sisters by Fern Michaels
Book 12: Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
Book 13: Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Book 14: The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Book 15: The Most Dangerous Place on Earth by Lindsey Lee Johnson
Best of: Hillbilly Elegy, How Not To Die, Moloka’i, The Sun is Also a Star
2016
Book 1 – 33 Days to Merciful Love by Michael E Gaitley
Book 2 – The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren
Book 3 – Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber
Book 4 – The BFG by Roald Dahl
Book 5 – Paper Towns by John Green
Book 6 – Death is Like a Box of Chocolates – Kathy Aarons
Book 7 – Modern Lovers by Emma Straub
Book 8 – Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
Book 9 – Pieces of You by Tablo
Book 10- The Racketeer by John Grisham
Book 11 – The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis
Book 12 – The Girls by Emma Cline
Book 13 – Little Black Dress by James Patterson
Book 14- Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling
Book 15-Medical Medium by Anthony William
Book 16 – Loving Our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk
Book 17 – Lead by Kylie Scott
Book 18-All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
Book 19-Bunny, Bunny by Alan Zweibel
Book 20-You are a Badass by Jen Sincero
Book 21-The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Book 22-Having a Martha Home the Mary Way by Sarah Mae
Book 23-Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty
Book 24: The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo by Amy Schumer
Book 25: Looking for Alaska by John Green
Book 26: All At Sea by Decca Aitkenhead
The best? The BFG, All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, Bunny, Bunny ( this was a reread), Looking for Alaska.
2015
Book 1 – Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline
Book 2 – Wild by Cheryl Strayed
Book 3 – After by Anna Todd
Book 4: – After we Collided by Anna Todd
Book 5 – After we Fell by Anna Todd
Book 6 – After Ever Happily by Anna Todd
Book 7 – Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Book 8: What the Best College Teachers Do by Ken Bain
Book 9: Steeped in Evil by Laura Childs
Book 10: The Miser by Molier
Book 11: Grey by EL James
Book 12: The Teenage Liberation Handbook by Grace Llewellyn
Book 13: Bitch Planet
Book 14: The Body Book by Cameron Diaz
Ok, so I didn’t meet my goal. That’s ok. So, the best? Anything by Anna Todd. I fell in love with the whole thing!
2014
Book 1 – Unsaid by Neil Abramson
Book 2 – Quilt or Innocence by Elizabeth Craig
Book 3: Women Living Well by Courtney Joseph
Book 4: And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Book 5: Amish Vampires in Space by Kerry Nietz
Book 6: Uncommon Marriage by Tony Dungy
Book 7: The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
Book 8: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Book 9: Divergent by Veronica Roth
Book 10: Left to Tell by Immaculee Illibagiza
Book 11: Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
Book 12: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Book 13: The Last Original Wife by Dorothea Benton Frank
Book 14: Lamb by Christopher Moore
Book 15: Interior Freedom by Jacques Philippe
Book 16: In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
Book 17: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel
Book 18: The Light in the Ruins by Chris Bohjalian
Book 19: The Chaperone by Laura Moriarity
Book 20: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Book 21: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Book 22: Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand
Book 23: The Giver by Lois Lowry
Book 24: If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Book 25: Tattoos on the Heart by Gregory Boyle
Book 26: What Alice Forgot by Lian Moriarty
Book 27: No Longer a Slumdog by KP Yohannan
Book 28: The Best Yes by Lysa TerKeurst
Book 29: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Book 30: How to Work and Homeschool: Practical Advice by Pamela Price
Book 31: Messy, Beautiful Love by Darlene Schacht
Book 32: The Girl Who Came Home by Hazel Gaynor
Book 33: Before Amen by Max Lucado
My best books for this year are in bold.
2013
Book 1: Greater by Steven Furtick
Book 2: Grace for the Good Girl by Emily P. Freeman
Book 3: The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Book 4: Let. It. Go. by Karen Ehman
Book 5: Because He Loves Me by Elyse Fitzpatrick
Book 6: I am a Prodigal by Darrell Vesterfelt
Book 7: Prayer by Richard Foster
Book 8: Tea with Jane Austen by Kim Wilson
Book 9: Making the Most of your Life by Various authors
Book 10: Pollyanna Grows Up by Eleanor H Potter
book 11: Messy Spirituality by Michael Yakoneli
Book 12: 31 Days to Great Sex by Sheila Wray Gregoire
Book 13: The Good Wife’s Guide by Darlene Schacht
Book 14: Anything by Jennie Allen
Book 15: A Million Little Ways by Emily P Freeman
Book 16: My So-Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife by Sara Horn
Book 17: Forevermore by Cindy Miles
Book 18: My So-Called Life as a Submissive Wife by Sara Horn
Best Books: yikes – none of these…
2012
Book 1 by George RR Martin
Book 6 Confessions of a Mega Church Pastor by Allen Hunt
Book 7 Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James Book
8 Fifty Shades Darker by EL James
Book 9 Fifty Shades Freed by EL James
Book 10 Bossypants by Tina Fey
Book 11 Reshaping It All by Candace Kirk Bure
Book 12 Mississippi Trial 1955 by Chris Crowe
Book 13 Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs
Book 14 One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp
Book 15 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Book 16 A Year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
Book 17 Surprised by Joy by C.S. Lewis
Book 18: A Song of Fire and Ice by George RR Martin
Book 19: Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White by Adam Hamilton
Book 20: ‘night Mother by Marsha Norman
Book 21: 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life by Crystal Paine
Book 22: We Killed by Yael Kohen
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