At the start of the year, I decided to create a reading challenge. My goal was to read 25 book in 2016 and I am thrilled to say I did it! (I am actually at 26 right now!) Reading more was part of my “More Me in 2016” resolution, since reading is something I really enjoy. I loved making time to read again and enjoyed some fantastic books this year. I did have some books on tape thrown in there, which counts equally in my book. (ha, see what I did there?)
Here’s the list of the books I read in 2016, in the order that I read them:
(heads up, these are affiliate links. which means if you buy one of them I will get a small percentage of that sale but it doesn’t cost you anything extra)
1. Big Little Lies
2. The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up
3. #GIRLBOSS
4. Eleanor and Park
5. The Negative Calorie Diet
6. Sugar Crush
7. The Whole 30
8. I Quit Sugar
9. Wild
10. Grain Brain
11. Yes Please
12. Big Magic
13. Brain Maker
14. Better than Before
15. Luckiest Girl Alive
16. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
17. You are a Badass
18. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
19. 29 Gifts
20. For the Love
21. Modern Lovers
22. Bossypants
23. The Nest
24. Down the Rabbit Hole
25. The Lake House
26. The Regulars
Reading Wrap-Up
My top 3 favorite fiction books this year were Eleanor and Park, The Nest and The Lake House (which was my FAVORITE.. so good!)
My top 3 non-fiction books was Wild, Down the Rabbit Hole (don’t judge me) and You Are a Badass (EVERYONE should read this book!)
My top 3 food related books was The Negative Calorie Diet (I did a 5-day detox based on the plan in this book and felt so good when I was done it spurred my massive interest in all things food, sugar, clean eating related… as you can see there was a bunch of those books that followed), Sugar Crush and Brain Maker.
Books I would skip: Luckiest Girl Alive, Big Magic (I know everyone loves this book, but ugh) and Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?
I have decided to keep my 25 book goal, since I felt like it was good amount and I don’t think I could fit more in if I tried! (be sure to follow me on GoodReads!) However, I do need some book recommendations… so PLEASE leave me a comment with your favorite books, both fiction & non-fiction.
I didn’t meet my GoodReads reading challenge last year 🙁 That’s a pretty impressive list you got there! I’m inclined to read sci-fi fantasy though so I don’t know that you would like my recommendations lol. I’ve always wanted to read Wild though. I definitely will this year!
I was so excited to see this blog post pop up on facebook! I’ve been wanting to read some new books this year, and I love that you listed the ones you read last year! I’m going to take a look at these and add some to my list 🙂
Awesome job reading so much! Eleanor & Park was one of my favorites too. I have several of your reads on my list for this year 🙂
This is impressive! I definitely didn’t read this many books this year, but I did read Wild and Big Magic too!
You have read quite a few books that are on my to read list. I’m saving this post for some book inspirations!
I read a few of these this year and loved them. I want to read 24 books in 2017 🙂
Adding you on Goodreads now! My goal was 25 in 2016 but I only got to 17. Trying again this year! I want to read The Lake House and also You Are a Badass!
Kayla | kaylablogs.com
Great list! I found a few to add to my TBR list for this year! My fave read from last year was the last book I read in 2016: The Nightingale.
Hi Lauren,
Your book list is really impressive and interesting too 🙂 Guess what, I actually read You are a Badass last year based on a recommendation from one of your previous posts and thank you so much for introducing that book to me! Absolutely loved it and am practicing some of the stuff written in the book too 🙂 I have #Girlboss pegged as one of the books in my reading challenge in 2017 so excited for that 🙂 I did love Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi from last year’s read and would recommend it.
I’ll be following you along on Goodreads. This is a SUPER helpful article. Although I do have to disagree on the Luckiest Girl Alive – I thought it was super entertaining (slightly depressing) but interesting, nonetheless. So exciting to see the health changes that your reading quest inspired! Did you do Whole 30 and for how long?
So many good books!! (and many I need to read myself!) I am saving some of these ideas to my summer reading bucket list.
I’ve read about 1/2 the books on your list. I also really enjoyed Eleanor and Park, but had trouble getting into the nest–I have the audiobook of it. Maybe that’s it?
If you like Eleanor and Park, she also wrote Attachments and Fangirl. Both of these are pretty awesome.
I went ahead and friended you on Goodreads–cannot wait to hear how you rock your book goal in 2017!
i love your book list! I loved Wild, and am going to tackle some of the other ones on your list. 🙂
Thanks for sharing your list. I’m definitely adding some of those to my 2017 reading list. My 2017 base list of 12 books is now ready and waiting…with room to grow.
I loved The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton – I haven’t read The Lake House yet but I think you would like this one if you enjoyed The Lake House. Attachments is my favourite by Rainbow Rowell and Fangirl is a close second. One Plus One by JoJo Moyes was also really cute. What Alice Forgot is my favourite by Liane Moriarty if you liked Big Little Lies!!!
Over here via the link up and I’m going to check out your blog – I’m also a working mom who could use some magic! LOL
I haven’t read any of these, but a lot of them are on my TBR list! Thanks for sharing, I’ve added a few more now.