My Year in Books

Reading continues to enrich my life in so many ways. It brings me joy. It stretches my mind by teaching me new information and letting me see the world through the eyes of someone who looks and sounds different than myself. It helps me build empathy for others and, at times, helps me see myself in a different light. I continue to discover niches withing genres I didn't think were for me that I absolutely love. This year I got really into dark and creepy books, not necessarily horror, but dark. I laughed after a trip to the bookstore when I realized all the books I picked out were dark. Then the next time I went to a bookstore I ended up with all books with library or book in the title. I go through phases with my reading and it's fun to see where they lead me. Read past recaps here: 2021, 2020, 2019, and 2018. 

This year I read 51,272 pages across 171 books.
Last year I read 47,845 across 157 books.

In 2020 I read 56,782 pages across 186 books.

In 2019 I read 41,911 pages across 132 books.

In 2018 I read 38,074 pages across 128 books.

My shortest book was The Grownup by Gillian Flynn at 64 pages.

My longest book was The Winners by Fredrik Backman at 671 pages.

The average length of book was 299 pages. I was surprised by this, my average book length the last couple years was 305. I read a few novellas this year which I think brought it down.

The most popular book I read was The Book Thief by Markus Zusak with 4,445,833 other people reading it.

The least popular book I read was Days Are Beautiful by Andrea C. Neil with 78 other people reading it.

My favorite fiction book was Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng.

My favorite nonfiction book was The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton.

My favorite fiction audiobook was The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams.

My favorite nonfiction audiobook was Arrival Stories: Women Share Their Experiences of Becoming Mothers by Amy Schumer and Christy Turlington Burns (editors)

My favorite YA book was The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera.

My favorite YA audiobook was The Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Honorable Mention (how I read them in parantheses):

• The Winners by Fredrik Backman (book)
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (audiobook)
• What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey (audiobook)
• The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune (ebook)
• Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks (audiobooks)
• Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (book)
• Three Sisters by Heather Morris (book)
• How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior (book)
• Lore Olympus Series by Rachel Smythe (books, first graphic novel I have read on my own)
• The Emma Project by Sonali Dev (book, from the Rajes series and I loved all of them!)
• Circe by Madeline Miller (audiobook)
• The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones (audiobook)
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (book)
• We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby (audiobook)
• The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (audiobook)
• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (audiobook)
• The Book Woman's Daughter by Kim Michele Richardson (audiobook)

Favorite Children's Chapter Books:

• Willodeen by Katherine Applegate (book)
• From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (ebook)
• Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson (book)
• The Endling Series by Katherine Applegate (book, ebook, audiobook)
• Pax, Journey Home by Sara Pennypacker (ebook, I liked this even more than the first book)