The Most Read Books of the 2019 Reading Challenge

Posted by Cybil on June 24, 2019
Who doesn't want to spend more time reading a great book? That's the idea behind our annual Goodreads Reading Challenge! It's simple: Every January readers set a goal of how many books they want to read that year, and we help you keep track of it. This year more than 3 million readers have joined the Challenge, pledging to read a total of 188 million books!


Now that we're halfway through the year, we thought it would be fun to see which books have been the most read of the 2019 Challenge. Topping the list is a memoir from a former First Lady of the United States, followed by some book club favorites and the reappearance of a boy wizard. We've also broken out the top nonfiction reads and the most popular classics of the year.

By the way: It's not too late to set a reading goal or even edit your current Challenge! Feel free to be inspired and add these books to your Want to Read shelf.


Overall Most Read Books So Far This Year

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Most Read Nonfiction So Far This Year

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Most Read Classics So Far This Year

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Comments Showing 1-50 of 255 (255 new)


dangerous at every speed we stan michelle obama winning on all fronts


message 2: by Juho (new)

Juho Pohjalainen I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year.


message 3: by AndreAKS (new)

AndreAKS Thomas More - Utopia


message 4: by Zohal (new)

Zohal Interesting that the Classics are all Dystopian


message 5: by Neide (new)

Neide Gomes I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!


message 6: by Melissa (last edited Jun 24, 2019 01:51AM) (new)

Melissa I'm currently reading "Josephine Baker's Last Dance"
by Sherry Jones, "The Bromance Book Club"
by Lyssa Kay Adams, "Written in My Own Heart's Blood (Outlander 8)" by Diana Gabaldon, and "Milady" by Laura L. Sullivan


message 7: by Shabbeer (new)

Shabbeer Hassan Cool to see HP still dominating lists!


message 8: by Cameron (new)

Cameron H Just started “Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich” by Norman Ohler; working on “The Children’s Blizzard” by David Laskin, and “Death Comes for the Archbishop” by Willa Cather; hoping to one day wrap up “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of ‘brainwashing’ in China” by Robert Jay Lifton (it’s good, but really dense and is written much more like the research notes of a study than a traditional nonfiction work).


message 9: by Abhishek (new)

Abhishek Kakhandki Just started Becoming . The most talked book of 2018


message 10: by Mayke ☕️ (new)

Mayke ☕️ Almost all of these are either on my to-read shelf or I have read. Lots of good books!


message 11: by Caitlin (new)

Caitlin Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

You actually can see this! Go to your Year in Books for whatever year you want to see: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_i...


Renate Deutsche Oma As a retired high school English teacher, I now prefer to support Indy authors. I now read for pure enjoyment and entertainment. Only read some of the above because of belonging to a local book club. What were the most read books in romance or mysteries?


message 13: by Libby (new)

Libby Kalisik I’m currently reading Good Omens


message 14: by Holly (new)

Holly Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

Your comment caught my interest, so I had to see what you've read. Quite honestly, there were more books on your list that interest me than anything I've seen on this one.


message 15: by Michelle (new)

Michelle Currently reading A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos, and am about to start reading a proof copy of Wolf Girl by Anh Do.


message 16: by Em (new)

Em Neide wrote: "I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!"

Educated is probably one of the hardest books to get through although not because it is bad. The graphics of it are just unimaginable but Westover really pushes it into your brain just how terrible her life was.


message 17: by Theresa (new)

Theresa Murtagh Lord of the flies.


message 18: by Paperback (new)

Paperback Prinsass Emily wrote: "Neide wrote: "I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!"

Educated is probably one of the hardest books to get through although not because it is bad. The g..."


I agree. Educated was brutal. I wanted to throw the book on the wall after reading it. So good and so heartbreaking....the gaslighting was so horrible!!!!


message 19: by Albert (new)

Albert The Honourable Schoolboy


message 20: by Rosalin (new)

Rosalin Mohapatra The Color Purple, Alice walker


message 21: by Lubna (new)

Lubna Where the Crawdads Sing is the most beautiful and poignant book I've read this year. Gorgeous, evocative writing.


message 22: by Melissa (new)

Melissa I am a strict wait for it to come out to paperback person- but I made an exception with Circe, and darn glad I did I adored it! So yeah tackled that one last year in hardcover format. But I have Becoming and Girl, Wash your Face on my Kindle waiting for me to get interested in trying the whole e-reader game. But I am a bath-tub reader, even though this is the brand new 'waterproof' kindle and I have only ever dunked two books in my life and one was kitty's fault I'm still skeptical...


message 23: by Laurent (new)

Laurent Lemagnifique Zohal wrote: "Interesting that the Classics are all Dystopian"

That's very interesting. But I am not surprised at all. Look at social media and the world we live in in 2019.


message 24: by Joanne (new)

Joanne Fate I'm listening to The Grapes of Wrath which I read in high school and still loving it.


message 25: by Cindy (new)

Cindy Matherne An American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt


message 26: by Lillian (new)

Lillian Christenson Reading “Mrs. Everything” by Jennifer Weiner and listening to Clint Hill’s “Five Presidents”


message 27: by Aca (new)

Aca Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

True, any titles to recommend?


message 28: by SueK (new)

SueK I am currently reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Interesting to see that I’ve read #1, 2 & 3 from the top 20 list, as well as several others. That doesn’t happen very often!


message 29: by Gloria (new)

Gloria City of Girls


message 30: by Tanja (new)

Tanja felix wrote: "we stan michelle obama winning on all fronts"

lmao true, I wish I could like comments


message 31: by Sally (new)

Sally I generally don't read best sellers. I'm not a lemming. I like to explore the bookstore. Sometimes the blurb will attract me. Sometimes the artwork on the cover. Because I read fiction, I don't want the story to end too soon, so I go for the fattest novels I can find. I read Atwood in school because I had to, otherwise I wouldn't have. I read all the Potter books when they came out. But I've not read anything else on these lists and I'm happy about that.


message 32: by Cendaquenta (new)

Cendaquenta The classics list is so very, very telling...

I'm kind of getting sick of these type of blog posts, though. There's about one "most popular books" article per week and it's the exact same books.


message 33: by Tawny (new)

Tawny Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

I've probably read the same ones


message 34: by Aca (new)

Aca Sue wrote: "I am currently reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Interesting to see that I’ve read #1, 2 & 3 from the top 20 list, as well as several others. That doesn’t happen very often!"
No it doesn't. If You want a challenge try Educated one of these day, and I will try Easy money.


message 35: by [deleted user] (new)

Currently reading Glass Beads by Dawn Dumont and The Cannery Row Murders by Sharon Rowse. I read mainly mysteries for entertainment and a list of most read crime fiction would interest me a lot more than this list.


message 36: by Lina (new)

Lina Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

Haha I would love to see the list of that as well.


message 37: by robyn (new)

robyn I just finished American Hippo and I LOVED LOVED LOVED it! It was so much fun!! I finished the audiobook of Lanny by Max Porter (I liked it and didn't like it, if that makes sense, which it probably does to us readers). I'm thinking Circe or Normal People. I've got the classics under my belt, but would recommend 1984 for sure.


message 38: by Richard (new)

Richard Dominguez Is there a list for the least read books of the year?


message 39: by Saige (new)

Saige I've either read most of these, or want to read most of them. Also, Michelle Obama is a queen and I'm so happy her book is popular.


message 40: by Melissa (new)

Melissa Terry I’m currently reading the sun is also a star, my sister Rosa, Sadie, the lost and the found, all of this is true,, and bonfire


message 41: by Roxane (new)

Roxane Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng should be on this list


message 42: by Neide (new)

Neide Gomes Emily wrote: "Neide wrote: "I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!"

Educated is probably one of the hardest books to get through although not because it is bad. The g..."


I see, did you like it?


message 43: by Neide (new)

Neide Gomes Christy wrote: "Emily wrote: "Neide wrote: "I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!"

Educated is probably one of the hardest books to get through although not because it..."


Ok, now I'm curious!


message 44: by Cheryl (new)

Cheryl Juho wrote: "I'd be far more curious to see the least read books - the ones only I have read this year."

Yes, I agree it would be interesting to see the lesser known books.


message 45: by Patricia (new)

Patricia Keeley Just about to fi ish An Anonymous Girl...really enjoyed it.


message 46: by Bill (new)

Bill The fact that Harry Potter is still dominating this list means that some people need to expand their reading lists/genres and check out what else is available in the world of literature and non-fiction....


message 47: by Elyse (last edited Jun 24, 2019 11:53AM) (new)

Elyse From this list, the books I read this year:
Where the Crawdads Sing, The Silent Patient, Circe, Crazy Rich Asians, An Anonymous Girl, The Wicked King, I'll Be Gone in the Dark

From this list, the books I've previously read:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Hate U Give, Born a Crime, The Handmaid's Tale, Animal Farm, 1984, Fahrenheit 451 (an all-time favorite of mine)

The rest are on my TBR and I own most of them. Except I took Rachel Hollis off my list because of plagiarism (https://www.christianitytoday.com/wom...) and AJ Finn for being a con artist (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/20...)

And finally, I'm currently reading:
Wicked Fox, Anchor Leg, and listening to The Troop


message 48: by Victoria (new)

Victoria Emily wrote: "Neide wrote: "I really want to give Daisy Jones & the Six, Circe and Educated a try. Great list!"

Educated is probably one of the hardest books to get through although not because it is bad. The g..."



Eh I doubt it, there is plenty of books about slavery, war and concentration camps out there


message 49: by Caroline (new)

Caroline I've read The Library Book which was very good.

Am currently reading:
Mort - Terry Pratchett
Ark Baby - Liz Jensen
A Little Book of English - David Crystal
The Big Kahuna - Janet Evanovich

Also about to start
The Binding by Bridget Collins


message 50: by Teresa (new)

Teresa Mcdougald I'm reading my lovely wife and Ghosted both are great reads


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