I like to read with some intentionality rather than picking books up at random through the year, but I also need flexibility for the unplanned. I enjoy chipping away at the books already on my shelf and Kindle app, but it’s fun to get in on the buzz of a favorite author’s new release or a book currently making the rounds. This year I felt that I hit the perfect reading balance between all those factors. Some of the reading challenges I participated in helped me read with purpose, but I left room this year to incorporate new finds or whims along the way.

I’ll probably finish a couple more books before the end of the year, but I wanted to get my list finished in time for Semicolon‘s last Saturday Review of Books, in which we can post our end-of-year book lists. Today I’ll share all the books I read this year: tomorrow I’ll choose the top 10 or 12 or so. The titles link back to my reviews.

Classics:

Adam Bede by George Eliot

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ by Lew Wallace

The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

He Fell in Love With His Wife by Edward Payson Roe

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne

The Man Who Was Thursday by G. K. Chesterton

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

Villette by Charlotte Bronte

Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls

Nonfiction:

Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne by Douglas V. Mastriano

Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery by Eric Metaxas

Classics of British Literature by John Sutherland was not a book, but a series of lectures about British literature. But since a PDF of his lectures was also provided, and I consulted them frequently, I’m going to count this as a book.

Come Back, Barbara by C. John Miller and Barbara Miller Juliani

Conscience: What It Is, How To Train It, and Loving Those Who Differby Andrew David Naselli and J. D. Crowley

Daily Light on the Daily Path compiled by Samuel Bagster, not reviewed, read yearly for decades now.

Drawing Near to the Heart of God: Encouragement for Your Lifetime Journey by Cynthia Heald

Finding Christ in Christmas by A. W. Tozer

Full Assurance by Harry A. Ironside

Gospel Meditations for Mothers by Chris Anderson, Joe Tyrpak, Hannah Anderson, and others

Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped in His Own Body by Martin Pistorius

Helen Roseveare: On His Majesty’s Service by Irene Howat

Heaven Without Her: A Desperate Daughter’s Search for the Heart of Her Mother’s Faith by Kitty Foth-Regner

The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine N. Aron

Homebody by Joanna Gaines

Invincible Louisa by Cornelia Meigs, a biography of Louisa May Alcott

More Than These: A Woman’s Love for God by June Kimmel

Overcoming Your Devotional Obstacles: 25 Keys to Having Memorable Devotions by John O’Malley

Reading People: How Seeing the World through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything by Anne Bogel

Reclaim Your Life from IBS: A Scientifically Proven Plan for Relief without Restrictive Diets by Melissa G. Hunt

Reshaping It All: Motivation for Physical and Spiritual Fitness by Candace Cameron Bure

The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering by Vaneetha Rendall Risner

A Small Book About a Big Problem: Meditations on Anger, Patience, and Peace by Edward T. Welch

A Spectacle of Glory: God’s Light Shining Through Me Every Day by Joni Eareckson Tada

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Susie: The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon, Wife of Charles H. Spurgeon by Ray Rhodes, Jr

30 Days of Hope When Caring for Aging Parents  by Kathy Howard

Trust: A Godly Woman’s Adornment by Lydia Brownback

Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible With Both Our Hearts and Our Minds by Jen Wilkin

Christian fiction:

Anchor in the Storm by Sarah Sundin

Another Way Home by Deborah Raney

The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay

Back Home Again: Tales from the Grace Chapel Inn by Melody Carlson

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate

Borders of the Heart by Chris Fabry

The Christmas Bride by Melanie Dobson

The Christmas Heirloom: Four Holiday Novellas of Love through the Generations by Karen Witemeyer, Kristi Ann Hunter, Sarah Loudin Thomas, and Becky Wade

Coming Unglued by Rebeca Seitz

Emma’s Gift by Leisha Kelly

Florian’s Gate by Davis Bunn

Fly Away by Lynn Austin

Hidden Places by Lynn Austin

I’ll Be Home For Christmas: Four Inspirational Holiday Novellas by Lenora Worth, Belle Calhoune, Jill Kemerer, and Allie Pleiter

The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron

Homeless for the Holidays by P. S. Wells and Marsha Wright

Julia’s Hope by Leisha Kelly

Looking Into You by Chris Fabry

The Lost Castle by Kristy Cambron

The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin

My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay

My Father’s House by Rose Chandler Johnson

The Pattern Artist by Nancy Moser

Perfect Piece by Rebeca Seitz

Scrapping Plans by Rebeca Seitz

Sins of the Past by Dee Henderson, Dani Pettrey, and Lynette Eason

Someday Home by Lauraine Snelling

The Song of Sadie Sparrow by Kitty Foth-Regner

Tea With Emma by Diane Moody

Twelve Days at Bleakly Manor by Michelle Griep

When the Morning Glory Blooms by Cynthia Ruchti

Other Fiction:

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book VI: The Long-Lost Home by Maryrose Wood

Little Blog on the Prairie by Cathleen Davitt Bell

A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society By Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Mozart’s Sister by Nancy Moser

I dipped into, but did not read completely Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal by the editors of Reader’s Digest, The Christian Writer’s Market Guide-2018 edited by Steve Laube, Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White.

I laid aside two books I had started, but found enough objectionable content that I did not want to finish.

By my count, that’s 78 books. I’ll have to double check, but that may be a record! Usually I am in the 50-60 range.

It’s been a wonderful year for reading!