and it cracks me up so much because, well, add an alarm clock (I'm old school... or just old) and a bunch of charging cables and that's my nightstand right now. Okay, always.
After not meeting my Goodreads challenge goal for the last few years, I blew through my list in 2018 and beat my goal by *drumroll please* 41 books. I had set the goal for 52 (a modest book a week) and ended up reading 93!
I get a lot of people in my real life that ask how I can keep up with all that and my answer is simple - I can't. I enjoy just about every book while I'm reading it. At almost 39 years old, with nearly 35 years of reading under my belt, I'm finally becoming one of those people who understands that you don't have to finish a book if you don't like it. So I can honestly say that I enjoy each book as I read it. That said, my favorites are the ones I can tell you about months later. If a book is just "meh" I won't remember much about it within a few weeks. That's actually one of the reasons I'm so thankful for Goodreads. It has saved me from a few re-reads over the years.
My list of favorites from last year is a LOT shorter than my list of books read. At the top is the one I spent all of 2018 recommending to like everyone I know. Seriously, I got annoying about it - Baby Teeth. If you like suspense and creepy kids, this is the book for you.
I also loved the latest Jack Reacher book, by Lee Child. And I've loved going through all the books in the Bosch universe, by Michael Connelly. I've got one left to go (and another season and a half of the show to get through) and I'm trying to stretch it out and savor it because I'm not sure when the next one comes out.
I thought Still Me, by Jojo Moyes was fantastic. I hadn't been such a fan of Me After You, but I feel like Still Me was the perfect end to Louisa's story.
I liked The Accidental Beauty Queen, by Teri Wilson a lot. It's mindless fluff, but who doesn't need that every once in a while? I miss what I think of as the golden age of chick lit a lot. Back in the mid to late 90s when we were all falling in love with Bridget Jones and Jane Green was just getting started with her fluffier books like Mr. Maybe and Jemima J (which, yes, I know, is problematic, but I can't help it, I still really love that book). The Accidental Beauty Queen (and to a lesser extent For Once in My Life, by Colleen Coleman) reminded me of those early books in a way that I haven't experienced in a long time. The last installment in the Bridget Jones series was so disappointing and Jane Green's books have gotten so much more serious over the years. These were a breath of fresh air.
I read all of Stephen King's Mr. Mercedes books and The Outsider this year and loved them. I'd gotten away from reading King over the last decade or so and I'm so glad I've found my way back. He's been one of my favorite authors since I was a teenager and he never ceases to impress me. His Twitter feed is also amazing.
Oh! I also finally read the Harry Potter series. I know. I know. I'm never going to be one of those people that lists them as their favorite books of all time, but I have to say, I'm glad I read them and I really enjoyed them a lot.
So those are my favorites for the year and hopefully I'll be back with more book recs before this time next year.
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