7 Books I Loved Reading in 2019

A number of years ago, I let go of guilt that I wasn’t reading many books. You can only do so many things well in a given life chapter. I opted to focus my time on doing impactful work professionally and being a good partner to my husband and mom to my kids. I knew that some day in the future I would get back to reading more (and being more stylish with my clothes and canning foods, among many other things that I couldn’t prioritize).

That day came sooner than I expected. One of my favorite things about 2019 was getting into a groove with audiobooks from my local library via the Libby app. I previously loved listening to podcasts (and still do!), but found that listening to a great book made me much happier than podcasts. Once I figured out how to put my holds on pause in the app (otherwise I was finding myself with 3 or 4 books all at once with not enough time to listen to all of them!), I’ve been able to really dig in and enjoy fantastic literature while I’m driving, going for a walk, or making dinner.

Enjoying audiobooks so much also inspired me to read great hard copy books again, too, so I also enjoyed many of those. As a working mom of a 5-year-old and 3-year-old, though, the time spent with hard copy books is typically at bedtime. That sometimes means I only get through 3 or 4 pages each night (ha!) before I give in to sweet sleep, so that’s much slower-going for me.

Here are some of my favorite books this year, and below is the full list of 41 books that I had the privilege to read this year. Shout out to the Goodreads app for keeping track for me!

Which of these have you read? Any you suggest for me in 2020?

Top Seven, In No Particular Order:

• Becoming by Michelle Obama

• The Testaments (The Handmaid's Tale, #2) by Margaret Atwood

• Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

• The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

• Fledgling by Octavia Butler (currently reading Kindred, which already seems even better)

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

The Rest of the List, Most of Which I Very Much Enjoyed!

• On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

• Daisy Jones & The Six

• Start with Your People

• Nine Perfect Strangers

• Limitless: How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life

• I'm Not Dying with You Tonight

• Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, #1)

• The Turn of the Key

• Job Joy: Your Guide to Success, Meaning, and Happiness in Your Career

• The Tattooist of Auschwitz (The Tattooist of Auschwitz, #1)

• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

• Origin (Robert Langdon, #5)

• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption

• 7 Days of Christmas: A Season of Generosity

• City of Girls

• The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace: Empowering Organizations by Encouraging People

• The Mother-in-Law

• The Hate U Give

• The Immortalists

• Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

• Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows

• Wonder

• The Last Mile (Amos Decker, #2)

• Stretched Too Thin: How Working Moms Can Lose the Guilt, Work Smarter, and Thrive

• How to Be Successful without Hurting Men's Feelings: Non-threatening Leadership Strategies for Women

• Station Eleven

• How to Get Sh*t Done: Why Women Need to Stop Doing Everything so They Can Achieve Anything

• The Flight Attendant

• Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives

• The Fix (Amos Decker, #3)

• The Death of Mrs. Westaway

• The Lying Game

• The Woman in Cabin 10

• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

• Three Things I’m Loving Lately

• Progress Update: My 40 by 40 List

• Why Every Professional Needs a “Polish Week” Each Year

• An Annual Checklist for Managers

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