This year I decided to use Goodreads to track my reading and do a reading challenge within their platform. My goal was to read 50 books this year and I wasn’t entirely sure I would make it. Having been at home for most of this year, I’ve read more than my goal of 50 books.
Friend me on Goodreads to see my shelf for 2021 and the shelves I’ve made for my kids. I am listing both books that you liked and books that you should try out soon.
Goodreads has helped me keep track of their reading over the last few months of the year and remember which series of books they enjoyed and which ones I have yet to order from the library. Since we still can’t go to our public library, this information helps me order the best books through the drive-thru library.
Here are my books of the year, sorted by category. I would love to hear if you’ve read any of these or if you’re hoping to read some of them.
Fiction books
I read a lot of fiction, especially dystopian fiction, science fiction, and thrillers. Here were my readings of the year.
- The silent patient by Alex Michaelides – recommended by a friend and I did NOT see the end coming. I love it when a book surprises me!
- Desert places by Blake Crouch – book one in a row, that row got very dark, but it sure kept me reading.
- Locked doors by Blake Crouch
- Break yourself by Blake Crouch
- Shining rock by Blake Crouch
- Troubled blood by Robert Galbraith – I’ve been waiting for her to release this for years and it was epic.
- Remaking by Blake Crouch
- Pine trees by Blake Crouch – I loved the Wayward Pines Show and wanted to know what happened in the end, so I decided to read the series this year!
- Unpredictable by Blake Crouch
- The last city by Blake Crouch – The ending of this series was amazing and annoying at the same time.
- Run by Blake Crouch
- Unconditionally by Blake Crouch
- Deadly white by Robert Galbraith – I reread most of the Cormoran Strike series this year in preparation for Troubled Blood’s release.
- Evil’s career by Robert Galbraith
- The song of Achilles by Madeline Miller – Not a book I picked, but a friend recommended it. This is one of the few books that has moved me to tears this year. So good, so beautiful.
- The silkworms by Robert Galbraith
- The scammers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- B.ZRK: Reloaded by Michael Grant – BZRK was a series I read years ago and I tried to remember which series it was so I could read it again. I finally found the books again (thanks go goodreads) and loved reading the story a second time.
- Circe by Madeline Miller
- The strangers by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- BZRK by Michael Grant
- Then she was gone by Lisa Jewell
- monster by Michale Grant – This is a sequel to Grant’s Gone series, and I think it’s been too long since I’ve read through Gone to really get the most of it, so I didn’t continue with the series. I plan on reading the Gone series again at some point and then tackling the Monster series.
- Magic for liars by Sarah Gailey
- Nowhere by Neil Gaiman
- The summer of broken things by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Children of exile by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Children of refuge by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- Children of the anniversary by Margaret Peterson Haddix – loved the end of this series!
- InterWorld by Neil Gaiman
- The silver dream by Neil Gaiman
- The wheel of eternity by Neil Gaiman
- Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix – I read this series to the last couple and wanted to reread the first to see if it was still suitable for my 10 year old.
- The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson – I would never read this classic!
- Notable ones by Margaret Peterson Haddix
- The fog by Stephen King
Work related
- Rocket fuel by Gino Wickman – a game changer at work!
- The one thing by Gary Keller
Christian
- Recovery from biblical masculinity and femininity by Aimee Byrd
- Jesus on Each Page: 10 Ways to Seek and Find Christ in the Old Testament by David P. Murray
- When people are big and God is small by Ed Welch – I love all of Ed Welch and this book was no exception.
- Even Better Than Eden: 9 Ways Bible History Changes Everything by Nancy Guthrie
- The things of the earth: Appreciate God by enjoying his gifts – by Joe Rigney – one of my all-time favorites of the year!
Non-fiction
- Gmorning, Gnight !: Little Pep speaks for me and you by Lin-Manuel Miranda – That was such a fun book!
- The Stony Road: Rebuilding, White Domination, and the Rise of Jim Crow by Henry Louis Gates Jr. – I’ve learned so much from this book and plan to get more of his history books so I can fill the massive gaps in my understanding of history and racism in this country.
- I’m still here: Black dignity in a world made for white by Austin Channing Brown – That was so good and eye opening. I enjoyed reading Stony Road and I’m still here together because one was a history book and the other was about the current experience of blacks in America from Austin’s point of view and it was extremely illuminating.
- A stolen life by Jaycee Dugard
With the children
These are books that I either read to the children or they asked me to read at the same time as they did as a “book club”.
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JKRowling
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JKRowling
- The hunt for the dark infinity by James Dashner
- The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner
- The secret of the water dragon by Tracey West
- The rise of the earth dragon by Tracey West
What were your favorite readings of the year? I would love to hear from you!