2018 Reading List

Happy New Year!

As I start my new reading list for this year, I thought I’d share my reading list for 2018. I’ll admit, I didn’t meet my goal for the year of twenty-four books, closing out at only nineteen, but hey, I did a lot of things this year. To preface, this is a really random assortment of books. Some of these are re-reads, and a lot of them are books I’ve gathered at different thrift shops that I had never actually read before and decided to cross them off my list, such as Brave New World and Flowers for Algernon.

Here is my reading list for 2018, listed chronologically, along with my personal rating! I’ve also included a little blurb on some of the books.

 

1. Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica 2.5/5
2.  Two Girls Down by Louisa Luna – 1/5 I don’t remember much about this book, only that I really didn’t like the writing. So much so that I even included a little note on the reading list on my phone to remind myself – the title, and then “worst book ever” next to it.
3. White Oleander by Janet Fitch – 5/5 Nothing new here. I read this book every year and it’s my favorite ever.
4. Where You’ll Find Me: Risk, Decisions, and the Last Climb of Kate Matrosova by Ty Gagne 4.5/5 – I got this book as a gift and I am so glad I did. Hiking, the original photographs and the fact that it took place in the White Mountains were all combined to create a heart-wrenching read that had me thinking about it days after.
5. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng 2.5/5 – I thought this story was okay – very sad and haunting. What drove me kind of crazy was the way the author jumped from character to character. It was a little hard to follow.
6. Ms Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 2.5/5
7. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes 3.5/5
8. Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry 3/5
9. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold 3/5
10. Educated by Tara Westover 5/5 – I don’t even care if I’m the millionth person to rave about this book – it’s amazing and I wouldn’t change anything about it. It’s such an interesting story that really hit home for me, I think, because I grew up going in and out of public school and homeschooling. I felt like I could relate to a chunk of it.  I can see myself re-reading this one multiple times!
11. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins 2/5 – This will probably be the last Paula Hawkins book I read. Her stories are okay, but her writing is just very novice and young for me.
12. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks 3/5
13. House Rules by Jodi Picoult 3.5/5 – This isn’t a new Picoult book, but I did enjoy it. After finishing the book, I read the reviews online and many people complained it was too predictable… I guess I’m one of the few that wasn’t able to figure it out (lol). Still, I always appreciate good writing.
14. Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen 3/5
15. The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle 2.5/5 – I know a lot of people who loved this book, but it wasn’t for me. To be fair, I am extremely picky when it comes to romance novels. I often find them too cheesy for my taste, but in this case, I found Sabrina’s love interest, Tobias, to be incredibly lame. I literally couldn’t understand what she saw in him, so at that point, it was hard to enjoy the read.
16. Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown 3.5/5: Obviously, I need to read anything Brené Brown, as she is without a doubt a true idol of mine. This was probably my least favorite book of hers so far, but that’s probably because a lot of the subjects are new to me. All of her books encourage new ways of thinking and acting upon it, and Braving the Wilderness basically pointed out how much work I have to do! Definitely a fitting book for this day and age.
17. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley 3/5
18. The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn 4/5 – I loved this book and finished it in just a few hours. The short chapters make it super easy to read. The story line is a little familiar (think The Girl on the Train and The Woman in Cabin 12 – even the names are similar- regarding alcoholism, an unreliable witness, foggy memories) but I personally think this story was more realistic and written way better.
19. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty 3.5/5 – I really like this author. Her writing is always so relatable for the reader and she continues to come up with original ideas for stories. Not as good as Big Little Lies, in my opinion, but still a great read, and I’m excited to read more from Moriarty.

So there you have it, my reading list from 2018! I’ve already started off my reading list for this year with Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown, with Dark Places by Gillian Flynn on deck. My goal, once again, is twenty-four books by the end of this year.

Happy Reading!