2018 Yearly Recap

At the end of last year, I decided not to keep track of the number of books I read this year because I didn't want to feel obligated to read more and more. And it turns out that I read just as many as I did in 2017, almost exactly. I am kind of surprised by that, but it makes me happy. I read a TON in the first half of the year, but not as much in the last quarter. I don't know what it is about the holiday season, but I feel so busy that I can't let myself sit down and read (or at least that's how it was this year).

But in looking back at the books I read this year, I'm super happy about everything I got to read and listen to. There were some really, really good ones. I re-read a lot of classics that I loved (all of the Betsy-Tacy books, and I'm in the middle now of all the Anne of Green Gables ones) and I've found that those are the ones I gravitate to when I am in the need of comfort or just being comfortable.

It's interesting--most of these books that made the list (other than the obvious classics) were audiobooks that I listened to from the library. Thank you, Frisco library!

Best Fiction: My Plain Jane, The Great Alone, Unequal Affection, Dark Matter

Best Classics: Anne of Green Gables, Rebecca, Emily of Deep Valley, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Best Non-fiction: Educated, 1776, Shoe Dog, The Read-Aloud Family

Best YA/middle-grade: Okay for Now, The War that Saved My Life, Echo

Best children's/read-alouds: All-of-a-Kind Family, all of the Betsy-Tacy books but particularly Betsy's Wedding and Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown, James and the Giant Peach


I have several goals for this year. We are talking about going to England in August for our tenth anniversary, so I want to read a lot of British books and histories. I can't wait. I also want to re-read a bunch of Shakespeare's plays as well, and some Jane Austen? And I'm going to continue working my way through some favorite series, including Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter (as both of those are British series, they fit in well with my other goal). So many good things to look forward to for this year.