I started a lot of books I didn’t finish this year; I finished a lot I wasn’t crazy about. Most notably at the end of the year, I started both My Education by Susan Choi and Arcadia by Lauren Groff. I had high hopes for both, but I had to quit in the middle both times. I read a lot about babies and birth this year. I read a lot of trash/fluff. I’ve got some stuff on reserve at the public library, so I have high hopes for this year. Ones in bold below are ones I really enjoyed for pleasure. Ones in italics are those I read for work, but also enjoyed.
I loved Call the Midwife, but I did not really get into the couple of episodes of the show that I watched. My other favorites were The Price of Salt, John Henry Days, and The Fault in Our Stars.
1. The Fault in Our Stars (John Green)
2. Mona in the Promised Land (Gish Jen)
3. The Interestings (Meg Wolitzer)
4. Pudd’nhead Wilson (Mark Twain)
5. Who Would Have Thought It? (Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton)
6. Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth (Ina May Gaskin)
7. Call the Midwife (Jennifer Worth)
8. Roughing It (Mark Twain)
9. A Tale for the Time Being (Ruth Ozeki)
10. The Squatter and the Don (Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton)
11. Waiting for Daisy (Peggy Orenstein)
12. The Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling)
13. Rock Springs (Richard Ford)
14. Critical Theory Today (Lois Tyson)
15. The Here and Now (Ann Brashears)
16. Bridget Jones: Mad about the Boy (Helen Fielding)
17. The Awakening (Kate Chopin)
18. The Price of Salt (Patricia Highsmith)
19. Annie on My Mind (Nancy Garden)
20. So Far From God (Ana Castillo)
21. In Another Place, Not Here (Dionne Brand)
22. Journey of the Sparrows (Fran Leeper Buss and Daisy Cubias)
23. Dedication (Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Krauss)
24. Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell)
25. Matter of the Heart (Emilly Giffin)
26. The Boxcar Children (Gertrude Chandler Warner) Read to Seamus
27. Where We Belong (Emily Giffin)
28. Rilla of Ingleside (LM Montgomery)
29. Travels with Charley in Search of America (John Steinbeck)
30. The Bean Trees (Barbara Kingsolver)
31. Something Blue (Emily Giffin)
32. To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
33. The Milk of Birds (Sylvia Whitman)
34. John Henry Days (Colson Whitehead)
35. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Jenny Han)
36. Guide to Breastfeeding (Ina May Gaskin)
37. Mother Tongue (Demetria Martinez)
38. Landline (Rainbow Rowell)
39. The Dew Breaker (Edwidge Danticat)
40. Baby Catcher (Peggy Vincent)
41. McTeague (Frank Norris)
42. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows)
43. Pocho (Jose Antonio Villarreal)
44. Singing at the Gates (Jimmy Santiago Baca)
45. Jacob Have I Loved (Katherine Patterson)
46. The Firm (John Grisham)
Academic Leigh Speaking 