This is the second part of my reading wrap up for 2019, which will focus on the books themselves that I read last year.
Yesterday I posted a blog about all the statistics linked to my reading, which if you’re interested in that side of things as well you can also read.
However, I’m going to speak about some statistics to do with the books I read, using Goodreads’ wrap up for the year, as well as picking out some of my favourite and least favourite books of the year. Obviously it’s all subjective, if I hated one of your favourite books I’m sorry, my dislike of it doesn’t mean it’s a bad book by any means.
If you’re interested in seeing all of the books I read, there’s a full list at the end of this post.
First of all, I read a total of 116 books, which is 36,858 pages, an average length of 317 pages per book, which is probably pretty average.
I read quite a lot of longer books this year, but I also picked up a fair few between 100 and 300 pages, so it makes sense that this is maybe a little on the lower side. I always find this statistic interesting because it’s the complete opposite from when I was a child, when the longer the books I was reading the better.
The shortest book I read was Mostly Hero by Anna Burns, which is one of the Faber Stories short stories, at only 60 pages, although my copy is actually slightly longer. The longest that I went for was The Executioner’s Song, which I actually listened to as an audiobook, because it’s 1,056 pages. Unsurprisingly, it took me months to read and my drive to work was dominated by Gary Gilmore for a very long time.
Interestingly, I gave both of them three stars and found them both quite average.
The most popular book I read was Animal Farm by George Orwell, which I read in April for the O.W.Ls readathon, with a huge 2,737,144 other people reading it worldwide.
In comparison, the least popular book was The Night Visitors by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V Hirst, with only 66 others reading it. This one I got as part of Dead Ink Books’ spooky book box which I ordered in Summer, and didn’t actually know much about it.
The highest rated book I read last year was Know My Name by Chanel Miller, a memoir written by the woman who was the victim in the Stanford Rape Case.
As you can see, I rated it five stars, which brings me on to….
My best books of the year
I’ve picked out a few of the books that I really enjoyed this year, which each year seems to get harder and harder to pick.
My absolute favourite book of the year was The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein. It’s a memoir following the life of Sandra Pankhurst, from her childhood as a young boy in Australia, to becoming transgender, working as a sex worker in the Red Light District, starting her own business as a trauma cleaner and everything in between. It’s a fantastic read, her story is fascinating and I’m endlessly interested in trauma cleaning as well so I was so engaged the entire time. Highly, highly recommend.
My other favourite is Know My Name by Chanel Miller, as I mentioned above, another memoir. Clearly non-fiction was going really well for me this year. It’s so well written, and absolutely heartbreaking. Chanel is an incredibly strong person, and this novel gives a really good insight into a ‘victim’s’ perspective of a court case, and the emotional toll a person goes through when faced with being in such a situation.
I wanted to leave this to two favourites only, but my other honourable mentions for the year are Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi and Lanny by Max Porter.
My worst books of the year
Unfortunately, there’s always a few books each year that I really don’t like. I think I did quite well this year to not actually have any more than one one star read, but I did have quite a lot of two star books.
My least favourite book of the year weirdly enough was also a non-fiction, and was On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming.
It’s billed as a kind of true crime mystery about her mum, who went ‘missing’ when she was a small girl. I thought that sounded really interesting and picked it up on that basis, but what it actually turned out to be was more a family history of half her family, and the fact that so many people knew about what happened to her mum but never said anything. Honestly I’ve blanked most of this out of my head because I disliked it that much and the only reason I finished it was because it wasn’t that long and I had it on audiobook. I’ve also seen quite a lot of reviews since where people seem to feel the same way as I do so it’s not just me, but I have also read quite a few reviews from people who have adored this, so maybe I just expected something that I was never going to get.
I can’t quite decide which other book I disliked the most out of the others I read, so here’s a selection that I really didn’t get on with: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, The Heavens by Sandra Newman, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys and Tangerine by Christine Mangan. It’s quite disappointing because I could continue to list far more than this, but I’m hopeful that next year will be better.
Here’s a full break down of all the books I read this year:
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata – 3 stars – e-book
- The Stranger in the Woods by Michael Finkel – 4 stars – e-book
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessa Moshfegh – 3 stars – physical book (library)
- Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – 4 stars – audiobook
- The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein – 5 stars – audiobook
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – 5 stars – physical book (library)
- All The Names They Used for God by Anjali Sachdeva – 3 stars – e-book
- My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite – 3 stars – physical book (library)
- Normal People by Sally Rooney – 5 stars – e-book
- The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell – 3 stars – audiobook
- Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
- Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak – 3 stars – audiobook
- The Dumb House by John Burnside – no rating – e-book
- Pure by Rose Bretecher – 4 stars – e-book
- Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen – 3 stars – e-book
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – 2 stars – physical book
- The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh – 2 stars – physical book
- Hot Milk by Deborah Levy – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
- Washington Black by Esi Edugyan – 4 stars – physical book
- Grief is the Thing With Feathers – 3 stars – audiobook (library)
- Emma by Jane Austen – 3 stars – physical book
- 69 by Ryu Murakami – 3 stars – e-book
- Ordinary People by Diana Evans – 3 stars – physical book
- Bottled Goods by Sophie van Llewyn – 4 stars – physical book
- 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – audiobook
- Tangerine by Christine Mangan – 2 stars – physical book
- Sadie by Courtney Summers – 4 stars – audiobook
- Praise Song for the Butterflies by Bernie L. McFadden – 4 stars – physical book (library)
- My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – audiobook
- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – 3 stars – physical book (library)
- Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
- The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – audiobook
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones – 3 stars – physical book
- Remembered by Yvonne Battle-Felton – 2 stars – physical book
- Animal Farm by George Orwell – no rating – physical book
- Where The Line Bleeds by Jesmyn Ward – 3 stars – audiobook
- Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 4 stars – physical book
- Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi – 3 stars – e-book
- Miracle Creek by Angie Kim – 4 stars – e-book
- Dying Light by Stuart MacBride – 4 stars – audiobook
- The Burning by Laura Bates – 3 stars – physical book
- The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah – 4 stars – audiobook
- Lanny by Max Porter – 4 stars – physical book
- Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – 4 stars – e-book
- Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig – 2 stars – physical book
- A Winter’s Promise by Christelle Dabos – 3 stars – physical book
- My Enemy’s Cherry Tree by Ting-Kuo Wang – 2 stars – physical book
- Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 3 stars – physical book
- The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami – 3 stars – audiobook
- After Dark by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – e-book
- Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami – 4 stars – audiobook
- Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand – 4 stars – e-book
- Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys – 2 stars – physical book
- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante – 4 stars – physical book
- After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 2 stars – e-book
- Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong – no rating – e-book
- Boundless by Jillian Tamaki – no rating – physical book
- Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki – physical book
- Saltwater by Jessica Andrews – 3 stars – e-book
- The Picture of Dorian Gray – 4 stars – physical book/audiobook
- Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay – no rating – physical book
- Water Shall Refuse Them by Lucie McKnight Hardy – 4 stars – e-book
- Chocky by John Wyndham – no rating – e-book
- The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides – 4 stars – e-book
- Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid – 2 stars – e-book
- Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa – 4 stars – physical book
- Honour Girl by Maggie Thrash – 4 stars – physical book
- History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund – no rating – physical book
- My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf – 4 stars – physical book
- Burial Rites by Hannah Kent – 2 stars – physical book
- The Executioner’s Song by Norman Mailer – 3 stars – audiobook
- Conversations With Friends by Sally Rooney – 4 stars – physical book
- My Life as a Rat by Joyce Carol Oates – 4 stars – physical book
- Beautiful Revolutionary by Laura Elizabeth Woollett – 2 stars – e-book
- When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of a Writer as a Young Wife by Meena Kandasamy – no rating – e-book
- 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in this Strange World by Elif Shafak – 4 stars – e-book
- Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo – 4 stars – e-book
- The Heavens by Sandra Newman – 2 stars – audiobook
- Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire – 3 stars – audiobook
- Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars – audiobook
- Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire – 2 stars – audiobook
- In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire – 2 stars – audiobook
- The Night Watch by Sarah Waters – 3 stars – physical book
- The Rabbit Girls by Anna Ellory – 3 stars – audiobook
- Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado – no rating – audiobook
- Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines by Nic Sheff – no rating – physical book
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness – 4 stars – physical book
- Sealed by Naomi Booth – 4 stars – physical book
- Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman – 3 stars – physical book
- Dracula by Bram Stoker – 2 stars – physical book/audiobook
- The Night Visitors by Jenn Ashworth and Richard V. Hirst – 3 stars – physical book
- Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller – 5 stars – e-book
- Sweet Sorrow by David Nicholls – 3 stars – audiobook
- Dead Mountain by Donnie Eichar – 3 stars- e-book
- Bunny by Mona Awad – 4 stars – e-book
- Women & Power by Mary Beard – no rating – physical book
- The Vegetarian by Han Kang – no rating – e-book
- The End of the Fucking World by Charles Forsman – 2 stars – e-book
- The Confession by Jessie Burton – 4 stars – audiobook
- Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness – 3 stars – physical book
- Educated by Tara Westover – 4 stars – e-book
- The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman – no rating – physical book
- Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky – 2 stars – physical book/audiobook
- Quicksand by Malin Persson Giolito – 4 stars – e-book
- Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami – no rating – e-book
- Mostly Hero by Anna Burns – 3 stars – physical book
- I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman – 2 stars – physical book
- Wind/Pinball: Two Novels by Haruki Murakami – 3 stars – audiobook
- The Giver by Lois Lowry – 2 stars – e-book
- On Chapel Sands by Laura Cumming – 1 star – audiobook
- The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness – 3 stars – physical book
- Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah – 4 stars – audiobook
- The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman – 3 stars – physical book
- The Overdue Life of Amy Byler by Kelly Harms – 3 stars – audiobook
- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout – 3 stars – e-book
Wonderful books you have read last year! You are a tough reviewer – I have to say that ☺️ But the wonderful thing about that is that if you rate a book 4-stars, it is a must-read, I think ☺️ (If you haven’t rated a book, how can we interpret it?) I want to read ‘Know My Name’. It sounds so wonderful from your description! Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your favourite books! Loved your post! Glad you had a wonderful reading year in 2019! Hope you have a wonderful reading year in 2020 too!