Books I Read in 2019

the results of having had my nose in a book for most of the year

2019-12-23

Here are all the books I read in 2019!

I don’t want to write any individual reviews here. Those are all on goodreads. I want to use this space instead to look at some patterns and trends.

Also, here’s the nifty little Year In Review page that goodreads made for me. Thanks, goodreads!

Numbers

Here’s some numbers.

• 83 Total Books

  • 19 Audiobooks
  • 27 Tangible Book: Mostly comics and D&D source books. I was surprised by this high number. I definitely consider myself an “eBooks only” kind of reader.
  • 37 eBooks

• 23,381 Pages

• 3 “Did Not Finish”: some books are boring, or terrible, and life’s too short to spend on bad books.

• Ratings: (Average rating = 3.6) I think I had started the year with this idea of only giving out 1 star or 5 stars. Create a “thumbs up / thumbs down” system. I didn’t stick to that. But I still think that the 5 star scale continues to be problematic. I just never know what a two or a four is supposed to be.

  • five star (great): 24
  • four star (more than good): 17
  • three star (good): 22
  • two star (less than good): 7
  • one star (bad): 4

Top Recommendations

These are the best books of the year.

Fantasy

• The Broken Earth Series

  Jemisin is my new favorite author. I cannot wait to read more of her.

• Gideon the Ninth

  Wacky, weird, and original

Nonfiction

• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams

  literally life changing

• Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic

  comprehensive overview of the US opioid epidemic.

Graphic Novel

• My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson’s

  quick read, very revealing

Comics

• Paper Girls

  If Stranger Things was about girls with paper routes, and had more time travel

Fiction

• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

  Hauntingly beautiful

• Beartown

  It was just really pretty. really, really well done.

Goals

Reading goals for 2019 and 2020.

2019 Goals

For the second year in a row, I set a goal to read 100 books, and then fell short of achieving that goal.

I might have hit 100 this year if I hadn’t taken a long hiatus this summer from reading any audiobooks. (I spent that time listening to a lot of podcasts instead of reading.)

2020 Goals

I’m going to set the same goal again next year, and hope that the third time is the charm! I think I can hit it because I project the following:

• I can usually read roughly one audiobook a week. If I do half of that, it’s still 26. So I’ll start off with estimating 25 as a lower limit and, let’s say 50 as an upper limit. (25 / 50)

• I can also usually read one comic book/graphic novel each weekend. I’ll give that the same 25/50 upper/lower bounds. (total: 50 / 100)

• One book every month for bookclub at work is another 12. (total: 62 / 112)

• I finish 1 - 3 books each year while vacationing (total: 63 / 115)

• And I read at least one other book every month or two, so that’s another 6 - 12. (total: 69 / 127)

The dead middle of that range is 98. Round up to 100 and call it a day! 2020 is gonna be my year, I can tell. I can feel it. The year of 100 books!

Books

Okay, here’s the list broken down into categories:

1. Fantasy
2. Sci-fi
3. Comics and Graphic Novels
   1. Superheroes and Comics
   2. Non-Superheroes and Graphic Novels
4. D&D Sourcebooks
5. Work Bookclub
6. Other Work Related Stuff / Professional Development
7. Fiction
8. Non-Fiction

Fantasy

Broken Earth is one of the best things I have ever read. Finishing the series is one of my highlights of the year. I want to recommend it to people who don’t even read fantasy.

Ratcatchers was another standout, and Gideon was so fresh and weird and unique and great.

• Broken Earth Series
  • The Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2), Jemisin, N.K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
  • The Stone Sky (The Broken Earth, #3), Jemisin, N.K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Ratcatchers Series
  • Priest (Ratcatchers #1), Colville, Matthew [ 4 of 5 stars ]
  • Thief (Ratcatchers, #2), Colville, Matthew [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1), Muir, Tamsyn [ 5 of 5 stars ]

The following books belong to a category that I don’t have a good term for. They’re just good old regular swords and sorcery fantasy books. Pulpy and tropey and, for the most part, just plain good fun.

• The Way of Shadows (Night Angel, #1), Weeks, Brent [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Beyond the Moons (Spelljammer: The Cloakmaster Cycle, #1), Cook, David Zeb [ 1 of 5 stars ]
• Eberron: The Dreaming Dark Series
  • The City of Towers (Eberron: The Dreaming Dark, #1), Baker, Keith [ 3 of 5 stars ]
  • The Shattered Land (Eberron: The Dreaming Dark, #2), Baker, Keith [ 3 of 5 stars ]

Sci-fi

Finally got around to reading Dune. Been meaning to since forever.

• Dune, Herbert, Frank [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Feed, Anderson, M.T. [ 2 of 5 stars ]

Comics and Graphic Novels

Superheroes and Comics

Spent a lot of time with Swamp Thing this year. I’ve always liked him, ever since I was a kid. The TV show came out (and was cancelled 😭) this year, so I was all smitten.

• Action Comics (1938-2011) #775, Kelly, Joe [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Swamp Thing
  • Swamp Thing: The Bronze Age Omnibus, Wein, Len [ 4 of 5 stars ]
  • Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan, Vol. 1, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 3 of 5 stars ]
  • Swamp Thing by Brian K. Vaughan, Vol. 2, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Lucifer, Book One (Lucifer, #1), Carey, Mike [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Trees, Vol. 2: Two Forests, Ellis, Warren [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Tom Strong, Book 1, Moore, Alan [ no rating / did not finish]
• Hulk
  • Immortal Hulk, Volume 1: Or is he Both?, Ewing, Al [ 2 of 5 stars ]
  • Immortal Hulk, Volume 2: The Green Door, Ewing, Al [ 3 of 5 stars ]
  • Immortal Hulk, Volume 3: Hulk In Hell, Ewing, Al [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Man-Thing, Stine, R.L. [ 1 of 5 stars ]

Non-Superheroes and Graphic Novels

Paper Girls was the best comic book series I read this year.

My Degeneration is the best graphic novel memoir.

• My Degeneration: A Journey Through Parkinson’s, Dunlap-Shohl, Peter [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Paper Girls:
  • Paper Girls, Vol. 1, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
  • Paper Girls, Vol. 2, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
  • Paper Girls, Vol. 3, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 4 of 5 stars ]
  • Paper Girls, Vol. 4, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
  • Paper Girls, Vol. 5, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• A Study in Emerald, Gaiman, Neil [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Saga: Book Three, Vaughan, Brian K. [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• FUN: Spies, Puzzle Solvers, and a Century of Crosswords, Bacilieri, Paolo [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Resident Alien Volume 3: The Sam Hain Mystery, Hogan, Peter [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Six Days in Cincinnati: A Graphic Account of the Riots That Shook the Nation a Decade Before Black Lives Matter, Dan P. Moore [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Snowden, Ted Rall [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Black Magick, Vol. 1: Awakening, Part One, Rucka, Greg [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Stumptown, Vol. 1: The Case of the Girl Who Took Her Shampoo, Rucka, Greg [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• LaGuardia, Okorafor, Nnedi [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Bushido: The Soul of the samurai [a graphic novel], Nitobe Inazō [ 2 of 5 stars ]

D&D Sourcebooks

I played a lot of D&D this year. And I DMed some, too.

• Xanathar’s Guide To Everything, Wizards RPG Team [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Ghosts of Saltmarsh (Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition), Wizards RPG Team [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes (Dungeons & Dragons, 5th Edition), Wizards RPG Team [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide, Kenson, Steve [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Premium 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Player’s Handbook, Wizards RPG Team [ 2 of 5 stars ]

Work Bookclub

I use bits of The Coaching Habit at work every day.

• The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever, Bungay Stanier, Michael [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Measure What Matters, Doerr, John E. [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Pink, Daniel H. [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Thaler, Richard H. [ no rating / did not finish ]
  
• The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty, Dixon, Matthew [ 3 of 5 stars ]

Other Work Related Stuff / Professional Development

• Sams Teach Yourself SQL™ in 10 Minutes, Forta, Ben [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Land of LISP: Learn to Program in LISP, One Game at a Time!, Barski, Conrad [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Cialdini, Robert B. [ 3 of 5 stars ]

Fiction

• Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, Clarke, Susanna [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Beartown, Backman, Fredrik [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• The Phantom Tollbooth, Juster, Norton [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Everything I Never Told You, Ng, Celeste, Santos, Marisa de los [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Gods of Jade and Shadow, Moreno-Garcia, Silvia [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• The Underground Railroad, Whitehead, Colson [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• The Monk of Mokha, Eggers, Dave [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• The Alice Network, Quinn, Kate [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Golden State, Winters, Ben H. [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Dorothy Must Die (Dorothy Must Die, #1), Paige, Danielle [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Greatest Enemy (David Rivers #1), Kasper, Jason [ 2 of 5 stars ]

Non-Fiction

Why We Sleep is probably my Best Book Of 2019. It’s INSANE.

• Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams, Walker, Matthew [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic, Quinones, Sam [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• District 13: The Drama on the Armed Conflict in Medellin, Colombia, Rendon, Yoni Alexander Rendon [ 5 of 5 stars ]
• Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story, Tobia, Jacob [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism, Sasaki, Fumio [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography, Idle, Eric [ 4 of 5 stars ]
• Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, Newport, Cal [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Let’s Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook, Amano, Hugh [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Dungeon Hacks: How NetHack, Angband, and Other Roguelikes Changed the Course of Video Games, Craddock, David L. [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living, Thames, Elizabeth Willard [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Harris, Kamala [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• Restore and Rebalance: Yoga for Deep Relaxation, Lasater, Judith Hanson [ 3 of 5 stars ]
• The Phoenix Project: A Novel About IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, Kim, Gene [ 2 of 5 stars ]
• Parlor Games: Amusements and Entertainment for Everyone, Finamore, Roy [ 2 of 5 stars ]
• Phish’s A Live One (33 1/3), Holland, Walter [ 2 of 5 stars ]
• Slow: Simple Living for a Frantic World, McAlary, Brooke [ 1 of 5 stars ]
• Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, Wolff, Michael [ no rating / did not finish ]