2017: My Year in Books

2017 was an incredible year in books for me! I soaked up so many wonderful titles - finding time to read in all formats (paper, Kindle and audio!) and fell in love with tons of incredible characters! After reading only 55 in 2016 - and not reaching my goal of 75 - I decided to reduce my goal for 2017 to only 60 books - and I surpassed that by 19 books! 

Here are the books that I read in 2017, in the order that I read them. My favorites are in hot pink, and any books I listened to have an "(A)" next to them. 
1. Truly Madly Guilty | Liane Moriarty 2. The Nest | Cynthia Sweeney 3. Dark Matter | Blake Crouch 4. Talking As Fast As I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls and Everything in Between | Lauren Graham (A)  5. Homegoing | Yaa Gyasi 6. Small Great Things | Jodi Picoult 7. Mosquitoland | David Arnold 8. Girl in Translation | Jean Kwok 9. The Bronte Plot | Katherine Reay 10. Friday Night Lights | H.G. Bissinger 11. Born to Run | Bruce Springsteen (A) 12. Start | Jon Acuff (A) 13. The Woman in Cabin 10 | Ruth Ware (A) 14. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl | Issa Rae 15. We Should All Be Feminists | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (A) 16. 50 Ways to Yay | Alexi Panos (A) 17. Always and Forever, Lara Jean | Jenny Han 18. Commonwealth | Ann Patchett 19. Today Will Be Different | Maria Semple 20. Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love and Work | Jennifer Weiner (A)  21. Rich People Problems | Kevin Kwan 22. Tell Me Three Things | Julie Buxbaum 23. The First Husband | Laura Dave 24. Crimes Against a Book Club | Kathy Cooperman 25. Small Admissions | Amy Poeppel 26. The Stars Are Fire | Anita Shreve 27. The Light We Lost | Jill Santopolo 28. The People We Hate at the Wedding | Grant Ginder 29. Dreamland Burning | Jennifer Latham 30. The Rules Do Not Apply | Ariel Levy 31. I Was Here | Gayle Forman 32. Behind Closed Doors | B.A. Paris 33. The Sunshine Sisters | Jane Green 34. The Couple Next Door | Shari Lapena 35. The Hate U Give | Angie Thomas 36. A Long Walk to Water | Linda Sue Park 37. The Sun is Also a Star | Nicola Yoon 38. The Good Widow | Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke 39. Into the Water | Paula Hawkins 40. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage | Ann Patchett (A)  41. Woman No. 17 | Edan Lepucki 42. Peace Like a River | Leif Enger 43. Leave Me | Gayle Forman 44. Impossible Fortress | Jason Rekulak 45. Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Roadtrips and My Son Taught Me About a Parent's Expectations | Ron Fournier 46. When She Woke | Hillary Jordan 47. 84, Charring Cross Road | Helene Hanff 48. Hillbilly Elegy | J.D. Vance 49. Underground Airlines | Ben H. Winters 50. Before the Fall | Noah Hawley 51. Who Thought This Was a Good Idea? And Other Questions You Should Have Answers to When You Work in the White House | Alyssa Mastromanaco (A)  52. Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions | Gloria Steinem 53. Bound | Donna Jo Napoli 54. A Man Called Ove | Frederik Backman 55. Red Queen | Victoria Aveyard 56. The Mountain Between Us | Charles Martin 57. The Guest Room | Chris Bohjalian 58. Faithful | Alice Hoffman 59. The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood 60. What Happened | Hillary Clinton (A)  61. When Dimple Met Rishi | Sandhya Menon 62. Paris For One and Other Stories | Jojo Moyes 63. I'll Give You the Sun | Jandy Nelson 64. Stay With Me | Ayobami Adebayo 65. Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks | Annie Spence 66. Young Jane Young | Gabrielle Zevin 67. My (not so) Perfect Life | Sophie Kinsella 68. The Dry | Jane Harper 69. The Wangs v The World | Jade Chang 70. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen | Lucy Knisley 71. What to Say Next | Julie Buxbaum  72. Very Good Lives | J.K. Rowling 73. When Breath Becomes Air | Paul Kalamanthi  74. Every Last Lie | Mary Kubica 75. The Vegas Diaries | Holly Madison (A) 76. Between the World and Me | Ta-Nehisi Coates 77. The Two-Family House | Lynda Cohen Loigman 78. The Atlas of Love | Laurie Frankel 79. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine | Gail Honeyman
Oh my gosh! A seriously fantastic year in books!! And I read the strong majority of them from June through December - 60 of them in fact! That's an average of 8.57 books per month after June 1!  Not highlighted in hot pink above, but ones that I really, really enjoyed this year include ...  Dark Matter, Always and Forever Lara Jean, Tell Me Three Things, The Stars Are Fire, The Light We Lost, Behind Closed Doors, The Sunshine Sisters, The Couple Next Door, 84 Charing Cross Road, Before the Fall, Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?, The Mountain Between Us, The Dry, When Breath Becomes Air, The Two-Family House, The Atlas of Love and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
My goal for next year is a bit higher, and I am setting it back up at 100 books - 21 more than I read this year. It will mean that I need to read more books in the first 5 months of the year, and then keep on pace with this year for the last 7 months. But, the goal is not for just 100 books - it is for 100 books out of my TBR pile - both physical and on my Kindle/Audible account. I am focusing on not buying any new books until I've made it through the GIANT stack underneath my nightstand (with about 100 books in it). Anyone else reading their shelves this year? I'd love to hear how it goes for you!
Want to join along in my literary adventures? You can connect with me on Goodreads (just search for Sara Levine)! Did you reach your reading goals this year? What were your favorites in 2017? I'd love to hear about them!!