2018: A Reading Recount

In 2018, I opened the year by being pretty brutally honest about my lack of reading in 2017. I did improve in 2018, but not as much as I might have liked.

You can check out my updated 2018 reading list, but it suffices to say that I read 11 books this year. At least it’s double digits, right?

When I started thinking about my 2019 book list, a big part of me wanted to push for reading a book a week, completing 52 books in a year. But seeing that last year’s number was 11. . . that seems a little much.

So I decided to go for 50!

Last year, I learned some lessons from my reading list. For example, sometimes you have to let go of the list and embrace interesting books that drop into your life. I joined a book club (that I’ve yet to go to a meeting for, but I did join) and through that discovered two of my favorite reads of 2018: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Malloy and Rainbow Rowell’s Attachments, which I started reading on a plane ride home from Boston and finished the next day.

A random interview with Charles Frazier—I think on NPR?—got me interested in Varina, a novel about Varina Davis, the first lady of the Confederacy. I listened to that one, using the Nashville Public Library’s Libby app, which honestly is one of my favorite discoveries of 2018. Plus, Frazier threw in Mary Boykin Chestnut as a character. (Little known fact: I competed at the state level in National History Day competition in an individual performance as Mary Boykin Chestnut.) It was fascinating to me, and I binge listened to the last of the book in a parking lot, trying to finish up before the book returned to the library.

A couple Fiona Davis titles rounded out the year, quick reads that entertained me over the holidays. The Masterpiece and Dollhouse didn’t originally appear on my reading list, but I added them when books from my list were on hold through the library’s app. Davis writes historical fiction, which I enjoy, and both of these were set in New York City. While I think both had some issues, they were quick reads and mostly fun.

Now books I didn’t really care for. . . Elizabeth Strout’s My Name Is Lucy Barton (guys, I just didn’t get it) and Chris Bohjolian’s The Night Strangers. My Name Is Lucy Barton felt unfinished and dissatisfying while The Night Strangers had more plot development but the whole plot turned out to be stupid.

Which is sad because I enjoyed several of Bohjolian’s earlier works, like The Sandcastle Girls and Midwives.

All said and done, 2018 was a good reading year, but 2019 will be even better. I’ll be back with my 2019 Book List next week. I’m planning to include some books I didn’t finish in 2018, sneak in some to the top-rated or most-anticipated books and throw in a few classics. But I’ll also be leaving some room for those quick reads and book club picks I’d never have picked up if it weren’t for a recommendation, assignment or an interview.