Reading Summary 2019

And just like that, it's 2020.  I'm starting off the year with my annual completed book list.  In 2019 I read 115 books and generally carried a constant compulsion to read. Though many works read were shorter books (short story collections, middle grade novels, etc.) this year I read far more pages than previously: 7,000 pages more than my previous highest.  

Yet the refrain in my mind is: read less, read more slowly, read more intentionally, reread.  

A few things that stick out in my reading stats* are:

• 70% of books read were written by women
• 35% of books read were middle grade or YA
• 59% of books read were physical books I already owned (45%) or owned Kindle books (14%)
• I had an increase in the number of short stories and essays read in 2019

*All statistics are based on percentages of total number of books read, so the picture can be slightly off considering that I read also quite a few short works this year.

Further posts may include some of my top 2019 reads and more specific details on standout titles, but for today it's the typical "date finished, title, author, book format."  Enjoy!

1. January 6: The Cutting Season by Attica Locke (Libby)
2. January 6: A Question of Yams by Gloria Repp, own book
3. January 10: Watership Down by Richard Adams (Libby)
4. January 14: Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver, own book
5. January 18: My Father’s Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett, own book
6. January 20: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler (Libby),
7. January 23: Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks (Libby)
8. February 3: The Mirror Crack’d by Agatha Christie, own book 
9. February 6: The Labours of Hercules by Agatha Christie, own book 
10. February 8: The War I Finally Won by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Libby)
11. February 13: Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley (Libby) 
12. February 21: The A.B.C. Murders by Agatha Christie, own book 
13. March 1: Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh (borrowed from V)
14. March 2: The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston (Libby)
15. March 3: George Washington Carver: Man’s Slave Becomes God’s Scientist by David R. Collins, own book
16. March 5: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson, own book
17. March 5: Riding the Pony Express by Clyde Robert Bulla, own book
18. March 5: The Secret of the Old Clock (Nancy Drew #1) by Carolyn Keene, own book
19. March 8: Outer Order Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin
20. March 11: Torches of Joy by John Dekker, own book
21. March 20: Evidence Not Seen: A Woman’s Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II by Darlene Deibler Rose, own book
22. March 23: Hudson Taylor: Founder, China Inland Mission by Vance Christie, own book
23. March 27: Soul Sisters: Women in Scripture Speak to Women Today by Edwina Gateley, own book
24. April 28: The BFG by Roald Dahl, own book
25. April 30: Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin (Libby)
26. May: Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cornelia Cornelissen, own book
27. May 2: Heidi by Johanna Spyri, own book
28. May 4: I’d Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel (Kindle)
29. May 7: Meet Me at the Museum by Anne Youngson (Libby)
30. May 9: The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, own book
31. May 12: Dirty Glory: Go Where Your Best Prayers Take You by Pete Greig, own book
32. May 13: Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee (Kindle)
33. May 15: A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, own book
34. May 17: Sing Down the Moon by Scott O’Dell, own book
35. May 19: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, own book
36. May 22: The Case of the Perfect Maid: A Short Story by Agatha Christie (Libby)
37. May 22: Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate (Libby)
38. June: Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro (Libby) 
39. June 3: Montana 1948 by Larry Watson (Libby)
40. June 7: Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (Libby)
41. June 14: In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri (Libby)
42. June 14: The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery, own book 
43. June 17: Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, own book
44. June 18: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr, own book
45. June 20: Plain Girl by Virginia Sorensen, own book
46. June 22: What We Were Promised by Lucy Tan (Libby) 
47. June 22: The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting 
48. June 27: Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan (Libby)
49. July 5: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger, own book 
50. July 9: Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Libby)
51. July 10: The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett (Libby)
52. July 13: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska, own book
53. July 14: The Revenge of the Baby-sat by Bill Watterson, own book 
54. July 15: Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan (Libby)
55. July 25: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, own book
56. July 28: Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen (Libby)
57. August 1: The Hidden Staircase (Nancy Drew #2) by Carolyn Keene, own book
58. August 3: The Bungalow Mystery (Nancy Drew #3) by Carolyn Keane, own book
59. August 4: The Mystery at Lilac Inn (Nancy Drew #4) by Carolyn Keane, own book
60. August 12: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (Kindle), own book
61. August 9: Why I am Not Going to Buy a Computer by Wendell Berry, own book
62. August 12: Agatha Christie: Short stories: 
1. "The Case of the Middle-Aged Wife"
2. "Sanctuary"
3. "The Affair at the Victory Ball"
4. "The Edge"
63. August 17: Agatha Christie and the Eleven Missing Days by Jared Cade (Libby)
64. August 21: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller (Kindle)
65. August 22: The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (Libby)
66. August 27: Home by Marilynne Robinson, own book
67. August/September: The Man and the Sparrow (Library) 
68. September 2: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, own book 
69. September 11: The Read-Aloud Family by Sarah Mackenzie (Kindle)
70. September 12: Window Poems by Wendell Berry, own book 
71. September 12: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary, own book
72. September: The Secret of Shadow Ranch (Nancy Drew #5) by Carolyn Keene, Mildred Benson, own book
73. September: A Long Cat Tale by Karel and Josef Capek, own book
74. September 23, 2019: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher (Libby)
75. September 23: The Case of the Caretaker: A Short Story by Agatha Christie (Libby)
76. September 30: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (Libby)
77. October 4: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (Libby)
78. October 9: They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie (Libby)
79. October 10: J.R.R. Tolkein: A Life Inspired by Wyatt North (Kindle)
80. October 15: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston L (Kindle
81. October 15: Strong Poison by Dorothy L. Sayers, own book
82. October 19: Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie, own book
83. October 25: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling (Illustrated edition), own book
84. October 25: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (Kindle) 
85. October 29: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling (Illustrated edition), own book
86. October 31: The Small Rain by L. M. Montgomery (Kindle)
87. November 3: Fantastic Beasts - the Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling (Libby)
88. November 6: Short Stories from Hogwards of Heroism, Hardship, and Dangerous Hobbies by J. K. Rowling (Kindle Unlimited)
89. November 7: A Severed Wasp: A Novel Madeleine L’Engle (Kindle Unlimited)
90. November 7: The Curtain Island Mystery by L. M. Montgomery (Kindle Unlimited)
91. November 10: The Red Pony by John Steinbeck (Libby)
92. November 12: The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (Libby)
93. November 12: The Lifegiving Home: Creating a Place of Belonging and Becoming by Sally Clarkson (Kindle)
94. November 12: Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists by J. K. Rowling (Kindle Unlimited)
95. November 14: The Horse and His Boy by C. S. Lewisown book
96. November 17: "The ‘Teen-Age Girl" by L. M. Montgomery (Kindle Unlimited)
97. November 22: The Man Upstairs and Other Stories (Golf Stories #0.5) by P. G. Wodehouse (Kindle Unlimited)
98. November 24: The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in its Proper Place by Andy Crouch (Kindle Unlimited)
99. November 28: The Green Ember (Kindle Unlimited) by S. D. Smith
100. December 8: Slow Motion by Dani Shapiro (Kindle)
101. December 10: Triggers by Amber Lia and Wendy Speakeown book
102. December 11: The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlsonown book
103. December 11: R.U.R. and The Insect Play by Karel and Josef Capek, own book
104. December 12: Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo (Libby)
105. December 15: Louisiana’s Way Home by Kate DiCamillo (Libby)
106. December 18: Christmas at The New Yorker: Stories, Poems, Humor, and Art (Kindle)
107. December 20: Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson (Libby)
108. December 21: The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling (Libby)
109. December 23: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (Kindle)
110. December 23: The Story of Madame Curie by Alice Thorne, own book
111. December 23: Christmas with Anne of Green Gables: and Other Stories by L. M. Montgomery (Kindle)
112. December 25: Swimming in the Sink: An Episode of the Heart (Libby) by Lynne Cox
113. December 26: Ellen Foster by Kaye Gibbons, own book
114. December 29: A Vintage Christmas: A Collection of Classic Stories and Poems, Edited by Thomas Nelson (Kindle)
115. December 30: Kilmeny of the Orchard by L. M. Montgomery (Kindle)