2019 book roundup

My goal every year is to read 100 books. This year, I read 61, almost half of which were in the first few months of the year (I read 27 books from January-April, then about 10 or so in each subsequent quarter). Being home with pneumonia for a few days is a great way to catch up on unread books.

This list only includes books I finished. There are dozens that I started but didn’t finish (often not even the first chapter) either because they were poorly edited or didn’t hold my interest or that I’m still convinced I’ll finish some day. I also didn’t include textbooks or journals that I read for school or work.

Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

4 (7%) were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult. Of the kids books, 2 were ones I’d read as a kid and was rereading as an adult.
1 (2%) was nonfiction and the rest were fiction. So much for my goal of trying to read more nonfiction books.
3 (5%) were single short stories, and 5 (8%) were short story anthologies.
I know the authors of 21 (34%) of the books. 4 (7%) share my publisher and 3 were by someone in my in-person writing group.
28 (46%) were in a series. 5 were the first book and I probably won’t read the rest in the series. 12 were in 3 series I binged within a week of starting the first books.
6 (10%) were from Amazon’s first read program, where they offer a free ebook to Prime members.
7 (11%) were from a different country besides US/Canada/Australia/Britain. 6 of those were part of the Around the World reading challenge, and 1 was one I picked up in India, where I generally buy all the English language books I can find.
18 (30%) were books I didn’t like enough to rate at least 4 stars or above. There were also 9 more I started but chose not to finish.
49 (80%) were ebooks. I’m buying print copies of all my Around the World challenge books, or this number would’ve been higher

Best books I read in 2018:

Yarnsworld series by Benedict Patrick. A dark, unique spin on fairy tales. I can’t recommend these enough.
Drawing Breath by Laurie Boris. A very emotional, realistic story about the (completely legal, platonic) relationship between a teenage girl and her high school art teacher who’s dying of cystic fibrosis.
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid. A scathing, lyrical take on the legacy of colonialism in Antigua.
Enchantress of Books and other stories by Alison McBain. A collection of fantasy short stories.
Winter Loon by Susan Bernhard. A coming-of-age story about a Minnesota teen whose life sucks.

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2019, how did you end up doing? What were your favorites? Anything you particularly disliked?