This year I broke a personal record: I read 160 books in one year. I use all sorts of tips and tricks to get through so many books, and you can read my book hacks here. Here is a list of all the books I found myself reading this year. If you are looking to read more in the new year, I can tell you which books to avoid and which ones deserve your time.
I’ve separated all of my books in 5 categories:
Fiction
Self Improvement
Memoirs/ Autobiographies
Faith
Other Non-fiction
In each section, I have ranked them from best to worst. I have also put a * next to books I highly recommend.
Fiction
Harry Potter(series)– J.K. Rowling*
Little Fires Everywhere– Celeste Ng*
Turtles All The Way Down– John Green*
Wonder– R.J. Palacio*
Auggie & Me– R.J. Palacio*
Cormoren Strike(series)- Robert Galbraith*
The Hate U Give– Angie Thomas*
The Help– Kathryn Stockett*
The Fault In Our Stars– John Green*
The Curious Incident of The Dog In the Night Time– Mark Haddon*
Peter Pan– J.M. Barrie*
The Great Gatsby– F. Scott Fitzgerald*
Animal Farm– George Orwell*
The Hunger Games(series)– Suzanne Collins
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe– C.S. Lewis*
The Lightening Thief(series)- Rick Riordan
The Magician’s Nephew– C.S. Lewis
The Perks Of Being A Wallflower– Stephen Chbosky
A Man Called Ove– Fredrik Backman*
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before(series)– Jenny Han
The Color Purple– Alice Walker
Series of Unfortunate Events(series)- Lemony Snicket
Safe Haven– Nicholas Sparks
The Notebook– Nicholas Sparks
The Princess Bride- William Goldman
Prince Caspian– C.S. Lewis
Anne of Green Gables– L.M. Montgomery
Matilda– Roald Dahl
The Penderwicks- Jeanne Birdsall
Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland– Lewis Carroll
Twilight Series– Stephanie Meyer
It’s Kind of a Funny Story– Ned Vizzini
Holding Up The Universe– Jennifer Niven
A Wrinkle In Time– Madeleine L’Engle
Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children– Ransom Riggs
The Horse and His Boy– C.S. Lewis
Charlotte’s Web– E.B. White
The Alchemist– Paulo Coelho
A Study In Scarlet– Arthur Doyle
The Sign Of Four– Arthur Doyle
Water For Elephants- Sara Gruen
Dumplin’- Julie Murphy
Self Improvement
You Are A Badass– Jen Sincero*
The Happiness Project– Gretchen Rubin*
Girl, Wash Your Face– Rachel Hollis*
Tiny Beautiful Things– Cheryl Strayed*
Big Magic– Elizabeth Gilbert*
Present Over Perfect– Shauna Niequist*
The Power of Habit– Charles Duhigg*
The Gifts of Imperfection– Brene Brown*
The Life Changing Magic Of Tidying Up– Marie Kondo*
The 5 Love Languages– Gary Chapman*
How to Stop Feeling like Sh*t– Andrea Owen*
Rising Strong– Brene Brown
Daring Greatly- Brene Brown
How To Win Friends and Influence People- Dale Carnegie
Happier At Home- Gretchen Rubin
Boundaries- Henry Cloud
Judgment Detox- Gabrielle Bernstein
Better Than Before- Gretchen Rubin
You Are A Badass At Making Money- Jen Sincero
Only Love Today- Rachel Stafford
The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck-Mark Manson
Smarter Faster Better- Charles Duhigg
Designing Your Life- Bill Burnett
How To Be A Friend To A Friend Who’s Sick- Letty Cottin
Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff- Richard Carlson
10% Happier- Dan Harris
The Little Book of Hygge- Meik Wiking
Treating People Well- Lea Berman
Who Moved My Cheese?- Dr. Spencer Johnson
Memoirs/Autobiographies
A Long Way Home– Saroo Brierley*
Tuesdays With Morrie– Mitch Albom*
It’s Not Yet Dark– Simon Fitzmaurice*
Shockaholic– Carrie Fisher*
The Princess Diarist- Carrie Fisher
Wishful Drinking- Carrie Fisher
When Breath Becomes Air– Paul Kalanithi*
The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo- Amy Schumer
The Glass Castle– Jeannette Walls*
Wild- Cheryl Strayed
Why Not Me?- Mindy Kaling
Believe Me- Yolanda Hadid
Everything Happens For A Reason- Kate Bowler
Troublemaker- Leah Remini
The Greatest Love Story Ever Told- Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally
As You Wish- Cary Elwes
Seriously… I’m Kidding- Ellen Degeneres
The Magnolia Story- Chip & Joanna Gaines
The Bright Hour– Nina Riggs*
Salt & Light– Michelle Young*
When They Call You A Terrorist- Patrisse Khan-Cullors
Talking As Fast As I Can- Lauren Graham
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?- Mindy Kaling
Hunger- Roxane Gay
What I Know For Sure- Oprah Winfrey
It’s Not Okay- Andi Dorfman
Yes Please-Amy Poehler
Whiskey In A Teacup- Reese Witherspoon
What I Know Now- Ellyn Spragins
Where Am I Now?- Mara Wilson
Faith
Mere Christianity– C.S. Lewis*
Love Does– Bob Goff*
When Bad Things Happen To Good People- Harold Kushner
Think Better, Live Better- Joel Olsteen
Have A Little Faith- Mitch Albom
Miracles For Friends- Karen Kingsbury
Other Non-Fiction
Seinfeldia– Jennifer Armstrong*
Asking For It– Kate Harding*
Food– Jim Gaffigan*
Thirst- Scott Harrison
The Library Book- Susan Orlean
#Donotdisurb- Jedidiah Bila
We Should All Be Feminists- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
I’ll Be There For You- Kelsey Miller
His Needs, Her Needs– Willard Harley
Bachelor Nation- Amy Kaufman*
Dad Is Fat– Jim Gaffigan
Adnan’s Story- Rabia Chaundry
Making Space- Thich Hanh
For Better:The Science of a Good Marriage- Tara Parker-Pope
Of Mouse and Men- Nicklaus Hopkins
It Takes One To Tango- Winifred Reilly
The All Or Nothing Marriage- Eli Finkel
The Five Love Languages Of Apology- Gary Chapman
Mandela’s Way- Richard Stengel
Triggers- Marshall Goldsmith
Chicken Soup For The Women’s Soul
I am gearing up for another great year of reading. Let me know what you recommend for my 2019 reading challenge!
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Wow! What a fruitful time to spent by reading all of that in a year!
Thank you! It has been fun to read so many beautiful memoirs and magical stories. 🙂
Dang girl! I read 60 this year. I probably could have made it to 100 but I had a break around Julyish.
That’s amazing! What are a few of your favorites?
I’m writing a post about it. It’ll be up on Friday but I did read Cold Mountain this year and it is my all time favorite book now. I can’t wait to read Charles Frazier’s other books.
Awesome! Can’t wait to read it:) I’m gonna add Cold Mountain to my list
Wow. All in one year? That’s amazing!
I wish I could do the same. 😄
But anyway, check out my latest read, review on my blog. It was an amazing book I got on hold of.
Thank you for sharing this with us. 😌
Awesome! I’ll go check it out:)
Great list! I definitely want to read some of those this year. I’ve read a good number of those and agreed on your top recommendations!
Check out my book recommendations on http://www.baileypetrucelli.wordpress.com under the About me tab 🙂
I highly suggest Eating Animals, the China study, and the Four Agreements too!
Love your suggestions! I’m gonna add The Four Agreements to my list. I have heard really good things about it!
Thank you for the reccomendation. I just quit cable and I am looking for some good reads. Love your suggestions. The body keeps score looks like a good one.
Thanks for this amazing list!
You are an intrepid reader and I applaud your courage to venture into such an array of subjects!
Keep reading! Keep sharing!
And Happy New Year! ❤️
Congrats to you for reading 160 books. Leisurely reading is actually one of my goals. Since becoming a student, I don’t read as much. I’ve already purchased a book and started reading. At my current place in life, I love anything Christian/self improvement.
What a great list! I’m getting ready to read Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World (nonfiction) with my students this January. You should definitely add it to your 2019 list if you haven’t read it yet.
Wow this is such an impressive list! Congrats on reading so many books and I’m glad so many of them are recommended! 😊
I am so impressed by 160 books! My 2017 resolution was to read 1 book per month and I felt really good about myself that I read 20 by the end of the year. Then I had a baby in February 2018, and I’ve probably read 2 books this whole year…unless you count kids books. I was thinking of making another goal for 2019, so maybe I’ll start with some from this list!
wow! I need to catch up and add what I haven’t read from your list. This is a solid reading list.
I am in awe that you read so many books this year!! I need to check these out for myself!
Thank you so much Clair!:) Let me know which ones you end up reading!
So many books !! Great recommendations!
Thank you so much!
I LOVE to read. Thus, I’m always looking for my next “fix.” I was glad to see some on your list that I’ve already read (like the HP series). I’m bookmarking this post and will be set for 2019!
That’s great! Let me know which ones you end up reading:) I will read Harry Potter again this year, no doubt;)
HI Jubilee,
You have a lot of great picks on here! 🙂 I will have to look you up on Goodreads. The Harry Potter series is my all time favorite! I picked up a copy of Girl, Wash Your Face based on your recommendation.
I highly recommend Caraval by Stephanie Garber. Here is a link to my review
https://www.teacher-librarian-forlife.com/2018/04/09/caraval-2/
Happy Reading!
Christina
Hi again Jubilee! This time I’ve nominated you for Sunshine Blogger Award! Congrats and Happy New Year! 🙂
Thank you so much Mel!
You’re very welcome 🙂
How are you able to read so many books!!! I’ve only made it to 20 this year!!!!
Wow that is a lot of reading, kudos to you! I wish I had the time to catch all of those, but so glad you have a best of list to narrow the field.
Glad to see other avid readers out there. I was able to read 310 books in 2018!
WOW! That is incredible! What was your favorite book from last year?
Choosing just one favorite book from over 300 is impossible, but I’d narrow it down to Ten Days in a Mad House by Nelly Bly and the Paper Magician series by Charlie N. Holmberg.