Happy 2020!  The start of a new year means looking back at 2019’s reading, to see how I did on my reading challenges.  I read a total 105 books this year, similar to last year, lower than some of my previous, far more reading-extensive years.  Let’s see where those books fell in my reading challenge categories…

Nonfiction Reading Challenge
Host: Doing Dewey
Goal: 12 Nonfiction Books/At least one book for each “century” of the Dewey Decimal system

I completed my goals for this challenge by last October, but I continued reading a handful of nonfiction books in the last quarter of the year.  I far exceeded my goal number, so apparently my total reading is down compared to earlier years, but nonfiction is up.

1. We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee (590.73)
2. Level Up Your Life by Steve Kamb (158.1)
3. Through Lover’s Lane by Elizabeth Rollins Epperly (813.52)
4. Packing for Mars by Mary Roach (571.09)
5. Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence (028.9)
6. Love for Imperfect Things by Haemin Sunim (294.35)
7. The Creative Life by Julia Cameron (818.54)
8. Do Nothing by Siroj Sorajjakool (299.51)
9. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (153.35)
10. It’s Better Than It Looks by Gregg Easterbrook (306.09)
11. Outer Order, Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin
12. A Week at the Airport by Alain de Botton (387.73)
13. Growing Up Again by Mary Tyler Moore (362.19)
14. The Prodigal Tongue by Lynne Murphy (428.00)
15. 30 Before 30 by Marina Shifrin (650.10)
16. Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin (974.7)
17. Alone Time by Stephanie Rosenbloom (910.40)
18. I’ll Have What She’s Having by Rebecca Harrington (791.43)
19. Quit Like a Millionaire by Kristy Shen and Bryce Leung
20. Living a Life That Matters by Harold S. Kushner (296.36)
21. There Are No Grown-ups by Pamela Druckerman (305.24)
22. Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman (155.23)
23. Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain by Elaine Fox (155.2)
24. Heads in Beds by Jacob Tomsky (647.94)
25. I Know Just What You Mean by Ellen Goodman and Patricia O’Brien (158.25)
26. Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle by David Stashower (823.8)
27. What Was I Thinking? 58 Bad Boyfriend Stories edited by Barbara Davilman and Liz Dubelman (306.70)
28. The Dharma of the Princess Bride by Ethan Nichtern (791.43)

Humor Reading Challenge
Host: Whatever I Think Of
Goal: 6 Funny Books

I read a few more quite funny books in the year–and went back to my most reliable funny man, Terry Pratchett.  Though P.G. Wodehouse is becoming a good number two.

1. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
2. The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
3. Beyond the Doors by David Neilsen
4. NPCs by Drew Hayes
5. I’ll Have What She’s Having by Rebecca Harrington
6. Terminal Alliance by Jim C. Hines
7. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
8. Thank You, Jeeves! by P.G. Wodehouse
9. Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

Romance Is in the Pages
Goal: 6 Love Stories

It took most of the year, but I finally found a love story with a romance I really, really liked: I Love You So Mochi was every bit as sweet and adorable as that title sounds–and somehow it also got me liking mochi!

1. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
2. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
3. Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner
4. Every Day by David Levithan
5. Stranger at Wildings by Madeleine Brent
6. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
7. Golden Urchin by Madeleine Brent
8. Little White Lies by Gemma Townley
9. One Day in December by Josie Silver
10. Gotta Catch Her by Kelly Haworth
11. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld
12. Ogre Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
13. Renegades by Marissa Meyer
14. Captain from Castile by Samuel Shellabarger
15. 96 Words for Love by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash
16. Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
17. Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor
18. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova
19. I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn
20. The Accidental Highwayman by Ben Tripp
21. Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn

Diversity Delights
Goal: 12 Books with a Diverse Hero(ine)

I passed my goal for this challenge by one book, with a strong push in this final quarter.  I found a couple of series with minority protagonists and dived into them.  Sarah Kuhn was a significant boost to this challenge (three books!) and a new-to-me author I really like with amazingly cool heroines.

1. To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (Korean-American)
2. Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner (African-American and Jewish)
3. Every Day by David Levithan (kinda everything…)
4. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (Chinese)
5. Impostors by Scott Westerfeld (Latino)
6. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (African)
7. 96 Words for Love by Rachel Roy and Ava Dash (Indian/African-American)
8. The Girl King by Mimi Yu (Fantasy-world Asian)
9. Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn (Japanese-American)
10. Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova (Latina)
11. I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn (Japanese-American)
12. Heroine Worship by Sarah Kuhn (Chinese-American)
13. Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordova (Latina)

It was a pretty satisfying year of reading all around.  I’ll be posting soon about the best (and worst) books I read in 2019, and about new goals for 2020.  In the meantime, how did your 2019 reading go?  I’d love to hear!