The Books of 2019!

Happy (almost) 2020!

Here is the complete list of the books I consumed in 2019. This year's total is more than the previous year, so I am happy! 77 Books in all! (55 were audiobooks.)

I will list them in the order I read them and note the audiobooks. I am able to "read" more audiobooks than actually sitting down and reading with my eyes because I am always on the move. I love listening to audiobooks to really get swept into a tale. I especially love hearing authors and poets read their own works, so I can hear their words in the same way that they hear them.

2019 continued on with my love of Brandon Sanderson novels. I also gobbled up anything I could find by Neil Gaiman, since discovering his writing last year and getting completely hooked. I would recommend any book by either of those authors. I will note with an asterisk all of my most loved, highest recommended books. Disclaimer - I like a lot of Young Adult books, and I'm a sucker for fantasy.

Here we go...

1. The Catcher in the Rye -J.D. Salinger (This was a re-read)
2. *Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive #2) -Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
3. Mortal Engines -Philip Reeve (Audio)
4. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine -Gail Honeyman (Audio)
5. Artemis Fowl -Eoin Colfer (Audio)
6. My Year of Rest and Relaxation -Ottessa Moshfegh (Audio)
7. Daughter of Smoke and Bone (#1) -Laini Taylor (Audio)
8. Looking For Alaska -John Green
9. The Hazelwood -Melissa Albert (Audio)
10. *The Graveyard Book -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
11. The Dance of the Dissident Daughter -Sue Monk Kidd
12. Days of Blood and Starlight (#2) -Laini Taylor
13. *Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3) -Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
14. *Circe -Madeline Miller (Audio)
15. *Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
16. *The Rules of Magic -Alice Hoffman (Audio)
17. Dreams of Gods and Monsters (#3) -Laini Taylor
18. Practical Magic -Alice Hoffman (Audio)
19. *Skyward (#1)-Brandon Sanderson (ebook/Audio)
20. *Truthwitch (Witchland Novels #1) -Susan Dennard
21. Archenemies (Renegades #2) -Marissa Meyer (Audio)
22. *Children of Blood and Bone (Orisha #1) -Tomi Adeyemi (Audio)
23. Tituba of Salem Village -Ann Petry
24. The Underground Railroad -Colson Whitehead (Audio)
25. *Windwitch (Witchland Novels #2) -Susan Dennard
26. *Sightwitch (Witchland Novels #2.5) -Susan Dennard
27. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry -Neil deGrasse Tyson (Audio)
28. *Bloodwitch (Witchland Novels #3) -Susan Dennard
29. *The Night Circus -Erin Morgenster (Audio)
30. *Neverwhere -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
31. *The Eyre Affair -Jasper Fforde (Audio) (This was a re-read)
32. Crazy Rich Asians -Kevin Kwan (Audio)
33. A Curse So Dark and Lonely (#1) -Brigid Kemmerer
34. Early Riser -Jasper Fforde (Audio)
35. Milk and Honey -Rupi Kaur (Audio)
36. Brown: Poems -Kevin Young (Audio)
37. *Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix -J.K. Rowling (re-read with Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Podcast)
38. *The Ocean at the End of the Lane -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
39. China Dolls -Lisa See
40. My Own Words -Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Audio)
41. Coraline -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
42. The Kingdom -Jess Rothenberg
43. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive -Stephanie Land (Audio)
44. *Odd and the Frost Giants -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
45. Dream a Little Dream (#1) -Kerstin Geir
46. *Anansi Boys -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
47. Dream On (#2) -Kerstin Geir
48. *White Fragility: Why It's So Hard to Talk to White People About Racism -Robin DiAngelo (Audio)
49. *The Song of Achilles -Madeline Miller (Audio)
50. Vinegar Girl -Anne Tyler (Audio)
51. *We Should All Be Feminists -Chimamanda Ngoz-Adiche (Audio)
52. *Nine Perfect Strangers -Liane Moriarty (Audio)
53. The Nightingale -Kristin Hannah (Audio)
54. Just Dreaming (#3) -Kerstin Gier
55. The Hate U Give -Angie Thomas (Audio)
56. *Calypso -David Sedaris (Audio)
57. The Chemis -Stephanie Meyer (Audio)
58. *American Gods -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
59. *Good Omens -Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman (Audio)
60. The Immortalists - Chloe Benjamin (Audio)
61. Watership Down -Richard Adams (Audio)
62. Ark -Veronica Roth (Audio)
63. *Elantris -Brandon Sanderson
64. *Arcanum Unbounded -Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
65. Turtles All the Way Down -John Green (Audio)
66. *Becoming -Michelle Obama (Audio)
67. *The Scorpio Races -Maggie Stiefvater (Audio)
68. Aurora Rising (#1) -Amy Kaufman (Audio)
69. The Lady Rogue -Jen Bennet
70. The Testaments -Margaret Atwood (Audio)
71. *We Hunt the Flame (#1) -Hafsah Faizal (Audio)
72. House of Salt and Sorrow -Erin A. Craig
73. Big Little Lies -Liane Moriarty (Audio)
74. The Honey Bus: A Memoir of Loss, Courage, and a Girl Saved by Bees -Meredith May (Audio)
75. *Stardust -Neil Gaiman (Audio)
76. Emergency Skin -N.K. Jemish (Audio)
77. *Starless Sea -Erin Morgenstern (Audio)

You can find me on Goodreads if you want to follow along next year. 

Happy Reading!!!!

Cloudy Skies

We're having a Springtime rainstorm in the Bay Area. The skies are cloudy, the air is cold and misty, and the pollen all over the ground is mushy and wet. Overall, I'm enjoying the weather.

While driving to work earlier this week, I had a moment of self-awareness. I noticed that I'm feeling kind of blah with my life right now, maybe I could even call myself depressed. This observation didn't come with any emotion, it didn't make me sad or happy, it didn't spark a desire to change things for better or worse. It just was. Sarah is feeling blah. The skies are cloudy. A frog is an amphibian. 

My life is good. Nothing much is happening, but everything is always happening. My days are on a busy loop, an endlessly repeating cycle of rushing, rushing, rushing that gets tiresome. They go like this:

I get woken too early by the dog or my husband's alarm clock, or both. I drift back to sleep. My alarm wakes me, I push "snooze" and I doze, I drift in and out of wakefulness. I check my phone and get sucked into social media instead of starting my morning. Finally, I get out of bed and I feel rushed as I do my morning chores, get ready for my day, and light a fire under my children's hind ends to get themselves ready as well. I usually end up yelling at one or both of them before we get out the door. They go to school, I go to work. 

Work is a weird mix of wonderful and not wonderful. I love my job. For a long time, being a veterinary assistant felt "not good enough" to be my career. I felt like I needed to aim higher, be more, earn more. Then, at some point, I didn't feel that way anymore. I am happily comfortable as a veterinary assistant. I like what I do for a living. I like my coworkers and my schedule. I don't like being in an office that is consistently understaffed. I don't like the feeling of never being able to do all the things that need to be done, the feeling of more rushing. 

After work I cram in shopping, laundry, cleaning, kid homework time, kid reading time, kid extracurricular time, cooking, cleaning up after cooking, packing lunches, pet care, showering, and time with my husband. (Rush, rush, rush.) Sometimes I am efficient and feel very lucky to sit down and read a book, watch a movie, or write a blog post. Then I sleep. Then I do it all over again. 

And again, and again, and again. 

Also, I read the news about the progression of climate change and I feel sad for my beautiful Earth and I worry about the problems that my children will inherit. Then I read the news about the legislation in my country trying to regulate people's bodies and limit access to healthcare and I feel sad for my people and I worry about the problems that my children will inherit. 

I know that I am making a mostly positive impact within my little circle of life. I know that I am building and shaping two little humans, and that that makes a difference. I know that I am helping my coworkers and our clients, and that makes a difference. I know that I am doing what I can to help my Earth, and that makes a difference. I know that I am important, loved, lovable. 

Still, I feel gray. The skies are cloudy. Today I'll sit with these feelings. I'll let them be here for a little while. I'll welcome them into me as a part of my sometimes drab, repetitive, constantly evolving existence. I will listen to my favorite flavor of angsty girl music and allow myself to just be blah. 

I know my mood will lift, just as I know the storm will eventually blow past. 

It always does. 

The Books of 2018!

I consumed a total of 45 books in one year!!!
One of those books was unfinished because I really didn't love it. Twenty-seven of those books were audiobooks. A year or two ago, I would have considered audiobooks as some sort of "cheating" and not real reading at all, but my outlook has changed. I love a good audiobook!

In the order that I finished reading them, here are the books of 2018:

• Dust (Silo #3) by Hugh Howey
• Alice's Adventure in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
• Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll
• The Good Girls Revolt by Lynn Povich (unfinished)
• Renegades by Marissa Meyer (Audio)
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life... by William H. McRaven (Audio)
• Hidden Figures: The American Dream & Untold Story... by Margot Lee Sheerly (Audio)
• The First Phone Call From Heaven by Mitch Albom (Audio)
• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
• Ready, Set, Breathe: Practicing Mindfulness with Your Children by Carla Naumburg
• The Final Empire (Mistborn #1) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
• What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Audio)
• Gregor the Overland (Underland Chronicles #1) by Suzanne Collins (Audio)
• A Boy Called Christmas by Matt Haig
• Gregor and the Prophecy of Bane (Underland Chronicles #2) by Suzanne Collins (Audio)
• Gregor and the Curse of the Warm Bloods (Underland Chronicles #3) by Suzanne Collins (Audio)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
• The Well of Ascension (Mistborn #2) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
• Gregor and the Mark of the Secret (Underland Chronicles #4) by Suzanne Collins (Audio)
• The Hero of Ages (Mistborn #3) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
• Gregor and the Code of Claw (Underland Chronicles #5) by Suzanne Collins (Audio)
• The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finked (Audio)
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Audio)
• The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
• The Boys In The Boat: The True Story of An American Team's Epic Journey to Win Gold... by Daniel James Brown (Audio)
• The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
• Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio)
• The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6) by Brandon Sanderson (Audio) 
• Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth
• The Fates Divide by Veronica Roth
• Educated by Tara Westover (Audio)
• The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson
• Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstance by Ruth Emmie Lang
• I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Audio)
• I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up For Education... by Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb (Audio)
• The BFG by Roald Dahl  (Audio)
• Persuasion by Jane Austin  (Audio)
• A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) by Kevin Hearne (Audio)
• The Girl On The Cliff by Lucinda Riley
• The Turnaway Girls by Hayley Chewins
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (Audio)
• The Way Of Kings (Stormlight Archives #1) by Brandon Sanderson  (Audio)

In case you didn't notice... 2018 was the year I became hooked on Brandon Sanderson audiobooks. I highly recommend his books. I thoroughly loved Ready Player One. Carve the Mark and The Fates Divide had me sucked in immediately. I couldn't put down Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances. 

I keep track of my reading on Goodreads, so you are welcome to be friends with me there and see what I'm reading. 

Happy reading in 2019! Do you have any books you're excited to read?!