At the beginning of 2019, I set a goal to read 52 books in 52 weeks. I’ve been keeping you updated over on Instagram with monthly and quarterly updates on my reading. Now that the year is winding down, I wanted to get a full recap over to you!

HOW I MANAGED MY READING:

I was on the road near-constantly in 2019, so physical books weren’t always an option for me. When I moved back to Chicago, I got a Chicago Public Library card and downloaded most of my books free to the Amazon Kindle app on my phone. (Want to know how - LakeshoreLady breaks it down in this blog post.) In the past couple of months I have also discovered the Library Extension for Chrome which shows you if a book is available via the library when you’re browsing on Amazon (saving more money!). If you have a library card, you also have access to the Hoopla Digital app which further extends the availability of ebooks and other digital media. I also took advantage of Amazon’s FirstReads program for Prime members - you get one free ebook per month from a pre-selected list! Finally, for the times I did carry around a physical book, I got a book sleeve to keep it protected no matter where I was.

WHAT I ACTUALLY READ:

I ended up exceeding my book goal and read a total of 63 books this year. Below are the books I read as well as some brief thoughts on whether I would read them again, etc.

Still Me (below) took me through the end of Q1. This quarter was a hodgepodge of books across genres but a major theme was books either based on or actually about real life events, closely followed by financial planning books. My “must reads” from this quarter were Bad Blood, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, I’m Fine and Neither Are You, and I Am Net Worthy. My “would skips” from this quarter were Capital Gaines, The Brave Ones, and Dave Ramsey’s book.

Reset (above) took me through the end of Q2. This quarter was again a hodgepodge of books across genres but a major theme was again books either based on or actually about real life events (are we surprised?). My “must reads” from this quarter were The Farm, A River in Darkness, Where The Crawdads Sing and American Spy. My “would skips” from this quarter were The Lie, Into The Storm, and Wolfpack.

The Man Who Played With Fire (above) took me through the end of Q3. This quarter stuck much more closely to one genre (fiction - specifically coming of age / YA-ish novels) with a few outliers near the end of the quarter. My “must reads” from this quarter were Blindspot, Behold the Dreamers, The Rabbit Girls, and The Grave Tender. My “would skips” from this quarter were Everything Is Figureoutable, Financially Forward, and The Book of The Unnamed Midwife.

American Duchess (above) takes me through to present day (near the end of Q4). This quarter was all over again, but some major themes for the year include YA novels, books about WWII (specifically concentration camps), and business development books. This quarter also saw four “textbook” style books due to the start of my doctorate degree. My “must reads” from this quarter were The Unwanted, American Royals, The Dressmaker’s Gift, and The Testaments. My “would skips” from this quarter were Holly Banks Full of Angst, I Owe You One, and Shopaholic To The Stars.

I will update this post by the end of the year with everything I read. If I had to pick one book that really profoundly stood out to me in some way, it would be The Unwanted. It is a fascinating read on the Jewish emigration from Europe due to Hitler/the Nazi party’s actions and it closely examines US immigration policy at the same time. It’s interesting to read about what was happening 80 years ago as we find ourselves in a time of immigration concerns being front and center today.

I also was really intentional this year about reading books from all over the (literal) map and from all kinds of authors. Books like A River In Darkness and The Rabbit Girls really shook me out of my comfort zone and were provocative and reflective books. Books like The Dressmaker’s Gift and Behold the Dreamers reminded me of the power of diverse stories. Almost any book listed above is worth picking up and giving a shot!

Update: After writing this post and hitting “publish” on December 16th, I continued to read through to the end of 2019. The row above represents the final three books I read this year, for a total of 63 books read in 2019 (an average of 5.25 books / month or 1.21 books / week).