I’ve never kept track of the books I’ve read, but last year I decided to, just because I was curious just how many books I read in a typical year. Well, that kind of backfired because by keeping a list, I made myself read more.

I assumed it was around 100 books a year, and I wasn’t too far off. By New Year’s Eve, I’d finished 90. I’ll bet my actual yearly average is closer to 75.

 

What were some standouts? In order of when I read them, though I should warn you that I don’t remember the ones from the beginning of the year so much. So don’t ask why I liked the first third of the list.

Also, I was going to link to all of these on Amazon, but man, I’m kind of lazy. I really need to use GoodReads instead this year.

1. Kitchens of the Great Midwest – I don’t remember why I liked it, I just remember that I did.
2. A Homemade Life – I love food memoirs. This one by Molly Wizenberg is great, in the manner of Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone, which I could read over and over again. Also you need to start listening to her podcast, Spilled Milk.
3. Delancey – see above
4. The Improbability of Love – I also can’t remember exactly why I loved this one, but I do remember looking at the author’s other books afterwards, so I must’ve liked it a lot.
5. The Lake House – I really enjoyed the twist at the end of this one. You may notice I read several books by Kate Morton after this. I basically plowed through her catalog, but with diminishing returns. Some of them were kind of heavy, and they all seemed to have some kind of twist. And a twist isn’t really a twist if you’re looking for it.
6. Eleanor and Park – A reread. I absolutely adore this book. I wasn’t sure if I could count rereads, but Elizabeth assured me it’s okay.
7. Orphan Train – You know, just a good read. (In other words, I don’t remember it very much.)
8. The Shift – A really interesting nonfiction book about one single shift in the life of a nurse. Neat to read. Also exhausting. Nurses FTW!
9. Ready Player One – A cool sci-fi book about Virtual Reality.
10. I’ll Give You the Sun – This is a YA book that Megan recommended. It was kind of weird, but I totally fell in love with it.
11. The Nest – I enjoyed this. It was the hot book earlier this year.
12. Eligible – Loved this retelling of Pride and Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld. I read a bunch of her books this year.
13. The Very Picture of You – I have a thing about popular British fiction (I’m avoiding saying chick lit.) It’s very comforting and appeals to the Anglophile in me. I know it’s not great literature. And I’m not going to apologize for it. But you can tell I’m feeling defensive, eh? I need to get over it.
14. The One You Really Want – See #13.
15. Wild Designs – See #13
16. Lab Girl – A lovely memoir about a female scientist. You’ll learn a lot about trees.
17. The City of Mirrors – The third book in The Passage trilogy and by far my favorite.
18. Pillow Talk – See #13
19. American Wife – I was in love with this book, and then about 75% into it, I realized it was a loosely fictionalized version of Laura Bush. I felt kind of foolish, but I still liked it a lot.
20. A Place for Us – See #13
21. The Nightingale – I’m not a big history buff, but this was a really interesting story that took place during WWII. I learned a lot about what happened in France. And I sobbed like a damn baby at the end.
22. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Well of course.
23. Truly Madly Guilty – Another reliably good Liane Moriarty book.
24. Sushi for Beginners – See #13 (another re-read. I love Marian Keyes.)
25. The Girl with the Lower Back Tattoo – Actually an audio book. Does that count? Well, I’m convinced it was 1000x more enjoyable to hear Amy Schumer read it to me anyway. Plus, my library only had the audiobook. Annoying.
26. Who Do You Love – I got into a Jennifer Weiner kick after re-reading some of her older stuff. I liked this one.
27. The Light Between Oceans – I was told I was going to sob at this one, but I didn’t. Which is good because I thought the ending was going to be devastatingly sad, but it was okay. Whew. I tried to watch the movie on the plane but I just couldn’t get into it, though. Also I didn’t really want to watch this story.
28. Brooklyn – Now I want to watch the movie.
29. Hungry Heart – Essays by Jennifer Weiner. I like her.
30. Paris for One – Short stories by Jojo Moyes. A quick read. I love her books.
31. Before the Fall – I read this before we flew home from England. It’s about a plane crash. But, you know, a small plane crash, so that’s okay.

Well look at that. I must love you after all. I added links to Amazon. And I don’t even get referral fees for that. So you are very welcome.

Some more notes:

• Back in July, I wrote this post about books I’d enjoyed over the course of the first half of the year. There are more books listed there.
• I don’t think I bought any of these books. Maybe one or two. Yay for our library having ebook lending!

What were your favorite books that you read in 2016? Obviously, lots of my books were written before 2016, so feel free to recommend older stuff.