Books I Read in 2019

2019 was a year of “should reads”. As you might expect, most of the books a person is told to read end up disappointing. Eat and Run, though a “must read” for runners, did not inspire me. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and Ragtime (both read with my book club) may be great books, but they weren’t books I was excited to read.

On the other hand, I found a few hidden gems. Marathon Woman is a book I’ll return to again and again. Same for The Bell Jar, which felt at times as though it was written by my subconscious. I treated myself to another N.K. Jemison book and some silly Sarah J. Maas fantasy, as well as Life and Fate, an incredible piece of Russian literature. Lastly, I forced myself through Dark Money, which gave me a stomach ache but I’m ultimately grateful to have learned from.

Going into 2020 I’m planning on a lot more “fun” reading. But in the meantime, here are the ratings from 2019.

Rating System

If you’re unfamiliar with my rating system, here’s how it works:

• * I couldn’t finish reading it, I hated it so much
• ** I finished the book, but I wish I had the hours back I spent on it
• *** It was about as expected, glad I read it but I wouldn’t recommend it
• **** I really enjoyed reading the book, and would definitely recommend it to others
• **** I MUST OWN THIS NOW! ! I want to reread it over and over and over

Looking for past years? Here’s 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, and 2012.

Books I Read in 2019

• Heir of Fire, by Sarah J. Maas****
• Daemon, by Daniel Suarez***
• Absolute Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons*****
• Marathon Woman, by Kathrine Switzer*****
• Circe, by Madeline Miller***
• The Amber Spyglass, by Philip Pullman**** (re-read)
• Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann***
• Lirael, by Garth Nix****
• King of the Wyld, by Nicholas Eames***
• Deliverance, by James Dickey***
• Eat and Run, by Scott Jurek**
• Absalom, Absalom, by William Faulkner***
• Abhorsen, by Garth Nix***
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, by Dave Eggers***
• Appreciating Mom through the Lens of Alzheimer’s, by Don Pierce*****
• Life and Fate, by Vasily Grossman*****
• A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles****
• Reborn on the Run: My Journey from Addiction to Ultramarathons, by Catra Corbett and Dan England***
• Queen of Shadows, by Sarah J Maas***
• The Stranger, by Albert Camus***
• Zen Keys, by Thich Nhat Hanh***
• The Dispossessed, by Ursula K LeGuin***
• The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath****
• You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, by Sherman Alexie***
• Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee***
• Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been: Selected Early Stories, by Joyce Carol Oates***
• Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling*** (reread)
• Empire of Storms, by Sarah J. Maas***
• Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo***
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J.K. Rowling*** (reread)
• Running the World, by Becky Wade****
• Beneath a Scarlet Sky, by Mark Sullivan ***
• Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness, by Alexandra Fuller****
• Baker Towers, by Jennifer Haigh***
• Tower of Dawn, by Sarah J. Maas***
• Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas R. Hofstader***
• Hateship, Loveship, Friendship, Courtship, Marriage, by Alice Munro****
• Ragtime, by E.L. Doctorow***
• Stranger Things Happen, by Kelly Link***
• Last Night in Montreal, by Emily St. John Mandel***
• Kingdom of Ash, by Sarah J. Maas***
• The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith***
• River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, by Candice Millard***
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Baroness Orczy***
• Patriot Games, by Tom Clancy**
• Mr. Rosenblum Dreams in English, by Natasha Solomons***
• An Instance of the Fingerpost, by Iain Pears***
• Eleanor Olliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman***
• Wide Sargasso Sea, by Jean Rhys***
• Educated, by Tara Westover****
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by JK Rowling**** (reread)
• Story Genius, by Lisa Cron*****
• The Umbrella Academy Apocalypse Suite, by Gerard Way & Gabriel Ba***
• The Children’s Hour, by Marcia Willett***
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by JK Rowling**** (reread)
• Factfulness, by Hans Rosling****
• The Broken Kingdoms, by N.K. Jemisin***
• The Heart of the Matter, by Graham Greene***
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, by JK Rowling**** (reread)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, by JK Rowling***** (reread)
• Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou****
• Play It As It Lays, by Joan Didion****
• The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch***
• Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens****
• The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls****
• Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, by Jane Mayer***
• The Kingdom of Gods, by N.K. Jemison****