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!
Yes, I’d say you had a wonderful reading year, Barbara. I haven’t done my final count for the year, but I may have read less this year. Being on the road so much (and doing the driving myself) to visit our granddaughter may have something to do with that. 🙂 I just read willy-nilly this year and really enjoyed the freedom, but I also have enjoyed the years where I read intentionally with a challenge. Trying to decide now how to read in 2019.
Hello, wow you read a lot of good books! I am hoping to set a new personal best of reading this year, completing 40 books! I am going to list my books soon as well (as soon as I get the time). You have some great books listed here. I think I will try some of those reading challenges this year too! Have a very happy new year!
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Interesting reading lists, especially among the classics and non-fiction; I have to admit I haven’t read Christian fiction in a long time. Enjoyed flipping through your lists though and though I’m trying to avoid adding to my wish lists some things did catch my eye (the reader’s curse). I too enjoy chipping away at the book’s on my shelf but I have to admit I’m ready to wade in to some of the new stuff too (so many books so little time). Anyway, happy new year; I hope you’ll stop by and peep my last book post of the year (I think) as well.
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congratulations on reading so many books last year!