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2019 Reading Roundup: Flanuering Through the Stacks

2019 Reading was not quite as prolific as 2018 (which I didn't write a recap on because #moving), but contained quite a few stand-out books. I did manage to complete 42 books, plus a handful of magazines and tons of online articles/essays.

I didn't read as many off of my To Be Read shelves as I'd hoped: dammit, Instagram, I'm looking at you! Too many authors I follow, too many readers I'm friends with who keep recommending interesting books. Couple that with the browser tab I keep open to my local library account, which also links up with over 50 other library systems across the state, so I can simply place holds at any time... Look, I'm not saying I have a problem, I'm just saying it's reallllly easy to give into ordering a new-to-me book at any time. For 2020, I'm trying to keep lists of "books to read", either as a saved collection in Instagram or on paper in my planner, that I can reference after I've finished the current stack.

So the #theunreadshelfproject2020 has 64 titles on it. I've actually subdivided my reading chart into TBR and Library, to reinforce my own desire to read off my own shelves. My total goal for the year is 60 books read. Wish me luck.

On to the round up:

- I hesitate to nominate a "Top Number", but I will list these as being particularly impactful: Choose Yourself by James Altucher, Joyful by Ingrid Fettel Lee, The Courage to be Disliked by Fumitake Koga and Ichiro Kishimi, Do Less by Kate Northrup, Range by David Epstein, Boss Up by Lindsay Teague Moreno, and Don't Keep Your Day Job by Cathy Heller. These were ALL Instagram recs.

- Due to the changing nature of our family (I am still shocked every day to be expecting Kid #2), I also read and LOVED Like a Mother and Expecting Better.

- A couple of travel books got in there: The Yellow Envelope, Walking the Bible, and The Art of Flanuering.

- Fiction included: Less, Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race*, The Witch of Painted Sorrow, The Library of Lost and Found, Shadows, Noir, The Serpent's Secret, and The Forty Rules of Love (a novel about Rumi and Shams!), and The Saint Omnibus (so much better than ANY of the movies or the tv show. Natch. Although I am partial to the Val Kilmer version, because hello,
VAL KILMER.)

- Also fiction, but deserves special mention by author:
-- local Fayetteville author Shane Wilson's A Year Since The Rain. I read this steamy, magical realism novel, then promptly got pregnant. I'm not saying it's Shane's fault... but it is.
-- fave queer steampunk author Gail Carriger released the final in the Custard Protocol series, Reticence. So good. So sad to be done with the series.
-- fave not-just-YA author Catherynne Valente's crazy retro sci-fi novel Radiance.

As usual, other bits and bobs but those are the ones worth sharing. You can always follow my Instagram for reviews in real time.

I'd love to hear if you've read any of these! Leave a comment with your review if we read something in common.

*We discovered they'd made the first Mr. Lemoncello's book into a tv movie. Please give it a HARD PASS and just read the series. The movie was awful. Like, 1980s BBC tv series of Hitchhikers Guide awful. Like, did they even read the book or just the character list and highlights?

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