I read 60-something books this year!

Reading is one of my favorite hobbies, but I’ve been known to take some of the fun out of it by slogging through books I’m not enjoying out of a stubborn sense of obligation, or because so-and-so loved it, or because I’m convinced it’ll get better (it rarely does.) One of my 2019 resolutions was to stop finishing books I don’t like, and I mostly succeeded.

My 10 Favorite Reads of 2019

1. The Last Season by Eric Blehm
2. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
3. Keep Going by Austin Kleon
4. Desert Solitaire (re-read) by Ed Abbey
5. Educated by Tara Westover
6. Becoming by Michelle Obama
7. The Anthropology of Turquoise by Ellen Melloy
8. How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan
9. The Emerald Mile by Kevin Fedarko
10. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb

You can also follow me on Goodreads to see my full 2019 list (minus a few I forgot – my tracking is somewhat sporadic.) It also shows what I read each year going back to 2016, what I’m reading now, and what’s in my TBR (to be read) pile.

Top Categories and Honorable Mentions

In 2019, I read a lot of non-fiction outdoorsy books. The Last Season (a love letter to the Sierra) and The Emerald Mile (a love letter to the Grand Canyon) made me fall even deeper in love with those places. I couldn’t put down American Wolf (a beautiful true story) or The Anthropology of Turquoise (beautifully written essays.)

I read all I could about the John Muir Trail. Suzanne Roberts’ memoir Almost Somewhere was relatable and fun. Tending the Wild was an eye-opening, fascinating look at native California. More tactical tomes like The Hungry Spork, the Sierra Nevada Field Guide, and Elizabeth Wenk’s official John Muir Trail Guide were invaluable in planning and appreciating the journey.

I revisited books that shaped me when I was younger, like Little Women (from gradeschool) and Desert Solitaire (from high school,) to make sense of who I was then and who I am today. The classics held up. I may start re-reading A Christmas Carol every year (in addition to my annual viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol, still the best Christmas movie of all time.)

I devoured Hunger and Thirst, two very different memoirs from two equally powerful women who, by sharing their very personal struggles and strengths, made me feel more comfortable in mine.

I savored and re-savored a lot of beautiful poetry. Naomi Shihab Nye, A.E. Housman, and the Songs for the Open Road collection remain some of my favorites to re-read. I also enjoyed new-to-me stuff by Charles Bukowski and Billy Collins.

I thought a lot about work and how to be happier while doing it, maybe because I started working for myself full-time this year. Deep Work, Work Rules, and No Hard Feelings all had great advice I highlighted and underlined and scrawled down on notes to self. Keep Going inspired me like woah and is short enough to flip through every few months when you need inspiration. I love everything Austin Kleon draws and writes.

I listened to some great audiobooks, mostly memoirs narrated by their authors like Michelle Obama’s Becoming, Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime, and Julie Andrews’ Home Work. (Tbh, Julie Andrews could narrate an audiobook and it would still be enchanting.) The Maybe You Should Talk to Someone audiobook wasn’t narrated by the author herself, but it sounded like it could have been and fully kept my interest. (I do listen to most audiobooks and podcasts on 1.5-2x speed, which is controversial but helps keep me from getting bored.)

I also started and didn’t finish several dozen more than what’s listed here, mostly fiction but also some well-reviewed and super popular books like Sapiens that I enjoyed at first but that I couldn’t slog through to the end. Other disappointments that I barely finished include Super Pumped, which I’d hoped would be like Bad Blood (which I loved) but was actually pretty poorly written, and To Shake the Sleeping Self, which I loved to begin with but was putting me to sleep by the end.

You’ll notice there’s almost no fiction on this list. Maybe it’s my Netflix and social media-addled attention span or desire for quick payoff (??), but I just don’t get caught up in fiction the way I used to, or the way I’m drawn to the kind of real-life, stranger-than-fiction narratives like Educated or The Last Season.

In 2020 I want to read more fiction, more books by people of color, and more “bucket-list books,” i.e. books that people generally agree you should read before you die. Like last year, I’m promising myself to throw away books I’m not enjoying.

Please send me your recommendations for 2020!