I wanted to read more in 2015, so I challenged myself to read 25 books by the end of the year. (50 seemed too lofty of a number because I would need to read at least a book every week.) After reading 25 books in less than six months, I upped the ante to 50. By October, I reached my goal and kept right on reading.
I’ve learned a lot this year. In fact, I’ve probably learned more this year than I have in any other year of my life. I don’t have plans to read a specific number of books in 2016, but I do plan to read with the same intensity that I have this year. It’s almost as if I’ve found a long lost love, and you’d be crazy to think I’d let that love go now.
Here is a list of the 72.
bold = favorite
- She’s Not There by P.J. Parrish
- The Big Bloody Book of Violence: The Smart Person’s Guide for Surviving Dangerous Times: What Every Person Must Know About Self-Defense by Kris Wilder & Lawrence Kane
- A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton
- Yes Please by Amy Poehler
- Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
- The Trials of White Boy Rick by Evan Hughes
- You Are Not So Smart by David McRaney
- The Secret Life of Pronouns: What Our Words Say About Us by James W. Pennebaker
- Liespotting by Pamela Meyer
- Columbine by Dave Cullen
- Year of Yes: How to Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun, and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes
- Ugly Love by Colleen Hoover
- Losing Hope by Colleen Hoover
- Hopeless by Colleen Hoover
- Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham
- Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver
- The Murder House by James Patterson
- The Murderer’s Daughter by Jonathan Kellerman
- I Didn’t Come Here to Make Friends: Confessions of a Reality Show Villain by Courtney Robertson
- The Stranger Beside Me: Ted Bundy The Shocking Inside Story by Ann Rule
- The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcolm
- My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni
- After the First Death by Robert Cormier
- An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
- Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
- The Hand That Feeds You by A.J. Rich
- You Can’t Lie to Me by Janine Driver
- You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
- Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
- You Can Read Anyone by David J. Lieberman
- That Night by Chevy Stevens
- Breathing Black by Piper Payne
- Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
- The Stranger by Harlan Coben
- Never, Never: Part Two by Collen Hoover
- The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us from Violence by Gavin de Becker
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- The Sociopath Next Door: The Ruthless Versus the Rest of Us by Martha Stout
- Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline
- The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
- Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony by Jeff Ashton
- Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
- The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
- My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga
- Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape by Jenna Miscavige Hill
- You by Caroline Kepnes
- Looking for Alaska by John Green
- My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
- The Devil You Know by Elisabeth de Mariaffi
- Paper Towns by John Green
- Champion by Marie Lu
- Prodigy by Marie Lu
- Legend by Marie Lu
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
- The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
- Spy the Lie by Philip Houston
- Always Watching by Chevy Stevens
- Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot by Bill O’Reilly
- Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
- Eden Close by Anita Shreve
- Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
- The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
- Defending Jacob by William Landay
- Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger
- Dirty Rush by Taylor Bell
- The Substitute by Denise Grover Swank
- Never, Never by Colleen Hoover
- American Sniper by Chris Kyle
- Requiem by Lauren Oliver
- Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
- Delirium by Lauren Oliver
A few notes about some of my favorites...
You by Caroline Kepnes
This was my absolute favorite of the 72. It’s written from a second person point of view---which sounds incredibly strange but worked well for this particular storyline. A word of caution: This book will NOT be for everyone. The language is vile and the protagonist is a creepy, unsettling, and disturbing human being. In other words, it’s dark and twisty. If you don’t like dark and twisty, you definitely won’t like this book.
“Before you, there was Candace. She was stubborn too, so I’m gonna be patient with you, same way I was patient with her. I am not gonna hold it against you that in that old, bulky laptop computer of yours you write about every thing in the world except me. I am no idiot, Beck. I know how to search a hard drive and I know I’m not in there and I know you don’t even own anything resembling a notebook or a diary. One possible theory: You write about me in the notepad on your phone. Hope remains.”
The Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
I read all 352 pages in one day; I couldn’t put it down.
The Precious One by Marisa de los Santos
This book gave me alllll the feels..... loved it!
The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker
I strongly believe that every person on this planet should read this book... but especially women. It’s packed with insightful and life-saving information about predicting violent behavior, trusting your intuition, recognizing the warning signs, reading body language, and the methods that criminals use to make us vulnerable and/or easier to attack.
Other Notes:
I recommend every book written by Liane Moriarty or John Green.
Columbine was truly eye-opening. I’ve read a lot about (& thus, know a lot about) the details surrounding a number of mass murders. I was surprised to learn that much of what (I thought) I knew about Columbine was actually inaccurate information misreported by the media.
Beyond Belief will make you lose any respect you might still have for Tom Cruise. How anyone on this planet with half a brain can believe one iota of that Scientology crap is beyond my comprehension. SERIOUSLY.
You may have noticed that several books on my list are about lie detection (4, to be exact---it’s incredibly fascinating to me). So, don’t even think about pulling a fast one over on me, buddy... I’ll see right through you.