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Reading Recap: 2019

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After struggling to finish reading sixty books last year, this year I set myself a realistic target of 30 books. I thought this would be pretty easy, but then again life has this habit of showing you the middle finger when you least expect it. 2019 has been a very busy year for me with high-demand work, a lot of travel, moving-in to the new house and managing a lot of other expectations. It has been a good year no doubt, but I did not find enough time to read. I did pretty decent and was able to complete reading 31 books this year. Yes, one more than the challenge. That happened in November and then I took a break from reading in December. I'm doing a book challenge this month on Instagram on my book handle @she_booked_it, so that's keeping me pretty busy. Do check it out here if you haven't already.

The first book that I read this year was the spill-over from last year, 'The Particular Sadness Of Lemon Cake'. While I'm a sucker for books revolving around food, this one turned out to be weird and stupidly unrealistic. The rest of the year, I read quite some good books and some great ones that made it to my list of all time favorites. I'll probably not talk about all the books I read this year, but I'll mention the ones I liked the most.

So, the best books that I read per month are:

January

1. Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng
2. Apple Tree Yard - Louise Doughty
3. The Woman In The Window - A. J Finn

February

1. The Forest Of Enchantments - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

March

1. Bring Me Back - B. A Paris
2. The Color Purple - Alice Walker

April

1. Ikigai - Hector Garcia Puigcerver

May

1. Men Without Women - Murakami
2. The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne

June

1. The Blue Umbrella - Ruskin Bond
2. I See You - Clare Mackintosh
3. When I Hit You - Meena Kandasamy

July

Was on a break from reading.

August

1. Little Women - Louisa May Alcott (A Re-read)

September

Was on a break from reading.

October

1. The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker
2. The Help - Kathryn Stockett

November

1. Where The Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
2. The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
3. Em And The Big Hoom - Jerry Pinto

December

On a break from reading.

Best Books I read in 2018

~ The Golem and the Djinni - Helene Wecker
~ Where The Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
~ The Help - Kathryn Stockett
~ The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas - John Boyne
~ Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng
~ The Woman In The Window - A. J Finn
~ The Color Purple - Alice Walker
~ When I Hit You - Meena Kandasamy

Books that left me disappointed in 2018

~ Newcomer - Keigo Higashino
~ The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters - Balli Kaur Jaswal
~ My Sister, the Serial Killer - Oyinkan Braithwaite
~ The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake - Aimee Bender
~ What Alice Knew - T. A Cotterell

Books that surprised me with the ending

~ The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides
~ Where The Crawdads Sing - Delia Owens
~ The Woman In The Window - A. J Finn
~ I See You - Clare Mackintosh

A book on my shelf that I wish I had read in 2019

~ All The Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr (Same as the one from 2018)
~ The Tattooist Of Auschwitz - Heather Morris

An unexpected good book that I read in 2018

~ Men Without Women - Murakami

Special Mention for the year 2018

~ Birthday Girl - Murakami

This was a summary of my reading in 2019. To know the entire journey, follow me on Goodreads here.

2020 will include a lot of reading and I have a list of books planned. I'm also coming up with something interesting on the reading front for next year, but you have to wait for my next post to know what it is.

How did reading fare for you in 2019?

Comments

  1. I like how you have summarized your reading this year. My year was a bit slow for reading. I had aimed for 12 books and I think I read that many. I think because I have not really reviewed all the books that I read. :) But yes I have been reading a bit more this last month. I guess everything depends upon your mood and phase. But super amazed at how many books you managed to read despite having such a hectic work schedule as you had this year.

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  2. That's quite an interesting reading list you have had this year.

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  3. A lot of these books I have read already... And have made a note of the few, I haven't. I think it's commendable that inspite of your busy schedule you were able to read so many books. I see you have The Tattooist Of Auschwitz - Heather Morris on your shelf but don't worry about not reading it yet, it somewhere fails in execution inspite of the true story it tells. It will disappoint you. The other one though, All The Light We Cannot See, you must read soon :)

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    1. Ah, I saw your list and I have to read 13 of your 14 favorites :P

      All The Light We Cannot See - I'll get to this soon.

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  4. Whoa this is a really impressive post Soumya and a great idea to put out all the books and reviews in one. I can see which ones I need to pick from here. I loved Celste NG - I read Little Fires everywhere and now this one is on my to pick list. Help is another one I want to read though I just adore the movie.
    Murakami is also on the list- damn you for increasing my TBR ;-)

    Much love and hugs for reading in 2020 XOXO

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    1. Thank you, Shalz! <3

      Hahhaha, we are resposible for each other's TBR pile I guess :P

      Looking forward to do the reading challenge with you in 2020.

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  5. Overall this has been a good reading year for me
    1. I read 57 books - more than I ever have read in a single year
    2. I made significant progress with my physical TBR - something I have never managed to do before
    3. I have read a LOT of non-fiction, which was one of my goals this year.

    Wishing you a great reading year 2020!

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  6. Wow. This is such a brilliant list. That's a lot of reading according to me. 😊 I really wanted to read atleast 24 this year, but I could finish only 14 this year. Anyway, I'm taking only 12-14 even as a challenge next year. Anything above that will give me an accomplished feeling.

    Also, you have a good collection. I had planned to start Anthony Doerr's All the Light you cannot see, but didn't. I've let it be for 2020. I've bought Murakami's Birthday Girl and Shalz gifted me The Palace of Illusions by Chitra. I wanted to buy Little Fires Everywhere this year, but I missed it. I'm waiting to read The boy in the stripes pyjamas next year. I have in store some good collection for next year. More on that in your challenge with Shalz.

    Your reading is very impressive Sou. All the best for 2020 reading challenge.

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    1. Thank you, Jay! My list for 2020 is pretty huge and I hope I get to complete it.

      Wishing you a good reading year for 2020.

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