12 Books I’m Excited to Read This Year

Hello, my name is Echo and I love to read. I am a member of 2 book clubs and I have been a member of goodreads.com since 2009. Last year my reading goal was 24 books, which I surpassed by 10 books. I don’t typically pick out all the books I want to read at the start of the year, but I have been listening to Anne Bogel’s podcast What Should I Read Next, checking out other bloggers recommendations, and taking a long hard look at the winners from the 2018 GoodReads Choice Awards and I have created a list of at least 12 books I am excited to read this year. If you have read any of these books let me know your thoughts in the comments. (Especially if you have strong feelings about them because I don’t want to waste my time if it absolutely horrible).

12 Books I’m Excited to Read This Year:

The Outsider by Stephen King: This will be the first ever Stephen King book I’ve read. I typically wouldn’t mess around with any of his books because SCARY is not really my cup of tea. I can do suspenseful (The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, etc.) but not scary. Devil clowns, people who go psycho and try to murder their whole family, not usually my thing. But this book won the GoodReads Choice Award in the Mystery/Thriller category.

Here is a brief synopsis for the book from Goodreads: “An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.”

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn: Remember how I told you I enjoy a good suspenseful novel? Well, this is proof that I will not leave a thriller off my list. Plus this book took 2nd place on the GoodReads Choice Awards for Debut Author with 36,000 votes. The only thing I worry about is that this book will be similar to The Girl on the Train. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads: “Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, a mother, their teenage son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble—and its shocking secrets are laid bare.”

Becoming by Michelle Obama: I want to read this book so bad! Well, actually I want to listen to this book so bad! Michelle Obama actually reads the book herself (which is one of my favorite things when an author reads their own book.) But I am not the only person who wants to read this book because I am 158th on the hold list and of today there are 236 holds. This might be one I have to purchase from Audible.

No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame by Janet Lansbury: I have really been enjoying reading books to help make me a better mom. I’ve read a few and LOVED the No Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson, I am currently working on a review of this book, it was so good. But I am excited to start this book. M is now 20 months and I have used a lot of the principles from No Drama Discipline and I am excited to add to my toolbox some more strategies. And even though I was a preschool teacher for 11 years it doesn’t mean that I actually know what I am doing with my own child (that sounded bad, but you know the saying “it’s different when they are your own?” Well that is so SO true.) It will be nice to read another parenting book and just give myself a few more tools to help with the #toddlerlife.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton: When I read the synopsis of this book I was pretty excited to pick it up. And of course, I ran across it on Goodreads.com when they first put out the voting for the Choice Awards. This book was up in 2 different categories: Debut Authors (only received 2,747 votes 14th out of 20) and Mystery/Thriller (received 5,979 votes, 11th out of 20). But again you know how much I love a good thriller. Here is the Goodreads synopsis: “Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. Understood? Then let’s begin… Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others…” Doesn’t that sound so good!

Time’s Convert by Deborah Harkness: Oh man do I love me some Deborah Harkness. The All Souls Trilogy is probably one I am always recommending because it is SO good! Harkness does such a great job with character development and setting the stage that you just completely fall in love with her stories. I think it should be noted here that she is so amazing because she is actually is a historian so her books are based on things that actually happened. AMAZING! Anyway, back to this book, The Time’s Convert is kind of like a spin-off of the original All Souls Trilogy. Marcus (the main character in this book) is Matthew’s (from the All Souls Trilogy) “son”. In the last book, The Book of Life Marcus meets Phoebe Taylor. This book, Time’s Convert, is about Marcus and Phoebe falling in love and exploring the options of immortality.

Educated by Tara Westover: Another Goodreads Choice Winner in the Memoir/Autobiography category. And of course, as a previous teacher, I am very interested in reading this book. Tara is born to survivalists and so her whole life they never went to the doctor or to school. But Tara is determined to educate herself. She learns enough Math and grammar to get accepted to Brigham Young Univesity where she studies history and sees the world for the first time. It is considered “a coming of age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers.”

The Weight of Him by Ethel Rohan: This is going to be a tear-jerker, I just want to start off by saying I will probably put this on my list and totally chicken out of reading it for fear of breaking my heart. I have had this book on my list for over a year, I first heard about it from the What Should I Read Next Podcast. Billy is 400 pounds and he LOVES food, food has always been there for him. But then his son Micheal takes his own life. Billy decides to make a difference in the name of Michael’s memory and decides to do a public weight-loss campaign to raise money for suicide prevention. This dramatic campaign appalls his family, they want to greave and move on quietly and privately. This book is described as “a big-hearted novel about loss and reliance that moves from tragedy to recrimination to what can be achieved when we take the stand of our lives.”

I Shall Be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe: Another book I heard about from the What Should I Read Next podcast that I still haven’t read yet.  I can’t say for certain why I haven’t picked this book up yet. I mean it is historical fiction, not my favorite genre, but the story sounds so interesting I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet. The story is set during the Civil War and is about a strong woman who decides she doesn’t want her husband to go off to war without her. She cuts her hair off and signs up as a Union soldier. The thing that really makes me want to read I Shall Be Near to You is the fact that it is inspired by over 250 documented account of women who fought in the Civil War while disguised as men.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green: Another GoodReads Finalist in Fiction and Debut Author (24,000 votes 5th out of 20 in Fiction/4,309 votes 11th out of 20 in Debut Author). This is a little bit sci-fi but I love the themes the book deals with, which is why I want to read it. April and her friend are the first people to upload a YouTube video about the giant sculpture, called a Carl, that just randomly appears one day. April is an overnight viral sensation because she is not the only person to see the Carls, they are all over the world.

Less by Andrew Sean Greer: This book is to even out the thrillers, historical fiction, and heavy books for something a little lighter. Basically, Less is a funny satire love story. Even the synopsis on Goodreads is funny: “Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there: he will turn fifty. Through it all, there is his first love. And there is his last.”

The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall: This is a Middle-Grade novel that is constantly recommended by Sarah Mckenzie of the Read Aloud Revival Podcast. She talks about with so much love that I just have to finally read it. M is too young to read middle-grade right now, but I don’t care, this is going to be for me. It sounds like such a cute story. Here is the synopsis from Goodreads: “The Penderwick sisters busily discover the summertime magic of Arundel estate’s sprawling gardens, treasure-filled attic, tame rabbits, and the cook who makes the best gingerbread in Massachusetts. Best of all is Jeffrey Tifton, son of Arundel’s owner, the perfect companion for their adventures. Icy-hearted Mrs. Tifton is less pleased with the Penderwicks than Jeffrey and warns the new friends to stay out of trouble. Is that any fun? For sure the summer will be unforgettable.”

Alright, there you have it 12 books I am so excited to read this year. 2019 is going to be a good reading year I think. What are some books you are excited to read this year? Have you read any of these books? If you have, tell me all about them! I want to make sure I am picking good books for 2019.