#2019 Reading Wrap up

Welcome to my reading wrap up of 2019. It was another massive year for me reading wise. I notched up a very high annual total of books for the year at 264 books for 2019. With my goal set at 260 books at the start of the year, I just made my goal. I achieved my goal despite a few hairy moments towards the latter half of the year when my reading took a dip, due to an increase in my paid work arrangements and the new addition to our family – a sausage dog puppy named Archie. If you are interested in viewing my year in books via Goodreads, here are some images, along with a link to my year in books according to Goodreads.

Another challenge I successful in completing was the Australian Women Writers Challenge. This is a challenge I dearly love and I will continue to champion for, in any way I can. My goal for this one was 100 books to read and review for the challenge. My final results revealed that I added 157 books to the Australian Women Writers Challenge. My challenge completed post for #aww2019 can be viewed here.  I intend to sign up for another round of the challenge and I have already read my first book written by an Australian woman for 2020!

Book Bingo is the wonderful creation of my favourite book blogger, Theresa Smith Writes. In 2018, we launched our first ever book bingo card, to great success. We followed this up with an even bigger card in 2019! In 2019 we also welcomed another co-blogger, Ashleigh from The Book Muse on board to support us on the bingo journey. We also gained quite a cult following on this challenge, which continues to grow in popularity. All of the 30 books I read for this challenge definitely enhanced my reading choices. Here is the link to my completed Book Bingo 2019 results.

Another challenge I completed in 2019 was the Aussie Male Author Challenge. With my supportive bookworm friend Sue, together we made our way through twelve books written by Australian Male Authors. This worked out to one review a month, making this challenge an achievable one. I really enjoyed this challenge as many of the books I chose were new to me authors. I also appreciated the opportunity this challenge provided to knock off a number of review books and TBR pile reads. Here is a breakdown of the books I read for this challenge.

1. January, Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
2. February, The Promised Land by Barry Maitland
3. March, The Rip by Mark Brandi
4. April, Hunter by Jack Heath
5. May, The Rosie Result by Graeme Simsion
6. June, Daughter of Bad Times by Rohan Wilson
7. July, Operation Babylift by Ian W Shaw
8. August, State of Fear by Tim Ayliffe
9. September, The Heart of the Ritz by Luke Devenish
10. October, The Wife and the Widow by Christian White
11. November, Silver by Chris Hammer
12. December, Snake Island by Ben Hobson

Again, I find it impossible to deliver a top ten, or even a favourites list of the decade. I’m sorry for the complete cop out!  With such a high total of books read for the year, with many of these being 4 and half or five star ratings, too many seemed to be jostling for a place on top reads list, so I’m going to avoid the task completely. Instead, I will reveal to you that my most favourite read of 2019 was:

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn.

Other reading highlights me this year have included my book club meetings, many memorable author events (Melissa Ashley, Chloe Higgins, The Secret Life of Authors, Heather Rose, Favel Parrett, Dominic Smith, Val McDermid, Louise Allen, Tess Woods and Peter Fitzsimons) and a blogger interview. Plus, I am eternally grateful for all the fantastic books I have been able to review for a variety of Australian publishers, self-published authors and Beauty & Lace Book Club.

Stay tuned for my post of the book challenges I hope to complete over the course of 2020.

~

Mrs B