Books I Read in 2019

In 2019 I decided to do something my sister has done for many years: record the books I read.  So I bought a little Moleskine and started jotting down titles each time I finished a book. 

I was coming out of severe depression and anxiety, and was seeking to rebuild my mind. Reading was a way forward. Reading offered small tangible goals and gratifying results. I had the pleasure of completing tasks and the benefits of thoughts that were not my own filling up the desolation of my mind. These authors became helpers and companions on the healing road.

So here is my reading list of completed books from 2019. I start a lot more books than I complete, but having the little notebook in which to record titles really motivated me to finish more books in 2019 than I had in a long time!

 

Books I Read in 2019 (in order of completion, with year published)

Humble Roots by Hannah Anderson, NF, 2016

You Who? (why you matter and how to deal with it) by Rachel Jankovic, NF, 2019

Man in The Dark by Doug Wilson, FIC, 2019

A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, NF, 1961

Eve in Exile (the restoration of femininity) by Rebekah Merkle, NF, 2016

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte, FIC, 1847

A World On Fire by Michelle Ray, FIC, 2019

Wholly Unraveled by Keele Burgin, Memoir, 2019

When God Becomes Real by Brian Johnson, NF, 2019

These Clouds Ye So Much Dread by Hannah K. Grieser, NF, 2017

1984 by George Orwell, FIC, 1961

The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery, FIC, 1926

A Tangled Web by L.M. Montgomery, FIC, 1931

Educated by Tara Westover, Memoir, 2018

Home by Marilynne Robinson, FIC, 2009

Glorious Weakness by Alia Joy, Memoir, 2019

The Diary by Eileen Goudge, FIC 2015

The Bird in the Tree by Elizabeth Goudge, FIC, 1940

Herb of Grace or Pilgrim’s Inn by Elizabeth Goudge, FIC, 1948

The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge, FIC, 1953

Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, FIC, 2012

A Tree Grow In Brooklyn by Betty Smith, FIC, 1943

The Popish Midwife by Annelisa Christensen, FIC, 2017

Keeping Place (Reflections on the Meaning of Home) by Jen Pollock Michel, NF, 2017

Lyddie by Katherine Patterson, FIC, 1991

Green Dolphin Street by Elizabeth Goudge, FIC, 1944

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, FIC, 1868

Mama’s Bank Account by Kathryn Forbes, FIC, 1943

Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather, FIC, 1927

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, FIC 1813

Hannah Coulter by Wendell Berry, FIC, 2004

 

Books I loved but didn’t finish: The View From Rock Bottom (Discovering God’s Embrace in Our Pain) by Stephanie Tait, 2019; Clementine (The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill) by Sonia Purnell, 2016

The oldest book I completed: Pride and Prejudice, 1813

Most impactful book: Educated

Most beautiful prose: Death Comes for the Archbishop

A book that may have changed my life: Green Dolphin Street

The book I savored the longest: Hannah Coulter

A book that made me cry: Green Dolphin Street

A book that made me laugh: Mama’s Bank Account

An author I know in real life: Stephanie Tait

A favorite new-to-me author: Elizabeth Goudge

Favorite fiction I read for the first time: Death Comes to the Archbishop, Green Dolphin Street

Favorite non-fiction I read for the first time:  Humble Roots

Favorite books I have read multiple times: A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, Home, Pride and Prejudice

My least favorite book of the year: Eve In Exile

Total completed: 31