2019 was an incredible year for reading + books! I managed to read just over 50 books this year, and goodness were there some truly exceptional books that I read this year. It always hard to narrow down my very favorites from the year, as there are so many great books out there! My library queue is already full of books that I want to read in 2020, and here’s a look back at some 2019 reads:

My top favorite books of 2019:

• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
• City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
• Educated by Tara Westover
• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Other wonderful, notable books from 2019 that I loved:

• The Alice Network
• The Dutch House
• Daisy Jones and the Six
• The Lost Girls of Paris
• The Secrets We Kept
• Becoming
• When We Left Cuba
• Station Eleven
• The Road Back to You
• Love and Ruin
• Lilac Girls
• The Coddling of the American Mind
• The Book of Essie
• Save Me the Plums
• The Last Days of Night
• A Man Called Ove
• The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living
• Bel Canto
• From Scratch
• A Well-Behaved Woman
• A Single Thread

I would highly, highly recommend any and all of the above books and thoroughly enjoyed each of them. And can I also give a quick shout-out to the library?! Y’all, I’ve loved the library since I was a little girl (I’ve been an avid reader and library-lover my entire life), and I can’t sing the praises of the public library enough. I’ve checked out almost countless books in my lifetime, and there’s such a happy feeling that washes over me the moment I step foot inside a library. Free books at your fingertips? Yes, please! If you don’t have a local library card or if you rarely use yours, please do yourself a favor and use it regularly!

Oh! And some dear friends and I started a book club this year! I’m not sure why it took me so long to start a book club here in Raleigh (though my articles club has been ongoing for over four years), and I had missed my DC book club so much. But this past year, we finally launched a Raleigh book club, and it’s become the highlight of every month. Many of the books on the above lists are ones we’ve read or will read next year in book club, and there’s little I love more than gathering with friends to discuss books, the characters, the stories, and the themes over great food and wine! If you’re local and would be interested in joining us, just shoot me a message — we’d love to have you.

Looking for more on books?! You can read a ton more previous blog posts of mine about books: my favorite books ever, all things books, let’s talk about books, best books of 2014, best books of 2013, the South’s best books and authors, and plenty more in my blog’s archives!

I’d love to hear: what’s the book that stands out to you most from this past year? Which book was your very favorite recent read? I’d love to know!