💬 The Reading Room: What Are Your Best Books of the Year (So Far)?
Hello!
I’m excited to welcome you to The Reading Room (formerly Friday Threads) a weekly gathering for readers. This Friday space has been where we meet to share recommendations (book, tv, product, etc), discuss how & what we read, and simply connect with other readers for the past two years. It will continue to be that (and more) just with a little refresh. I want us to feel like we’re sitting in those comfy leather chairs each week and talking about books with our friends. Hence the name change and design refresh:)
I love the vibes this graphic gives off and for those with great eyesight (or a magnifying glass), you’ll be able to spot the titles of five of my all time favorite books in the stack on the table.
Opening the doors of The Reading Room with everyone sharing their best books of the year so far feels like a perfect pairing. And mid-year is also great time to reflect on our reading—what books are staying with us, what do we want more or less of in our reading over the next six months, what books are we looking forward to in the second half of the year?
Overall, I’m really happy with the quality of my reading this year. Now that I’ve finished my book coaching coursework, I anticipate I’ll be reading more books the second half of the year. A few of my most anticipated upcoming releases are—Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel, Stations by Louise Kennedy, and Every Story Is a Love Story by Imbolo Mbue
I’ll share some of my stats below followed by my top reads—I tried to limit them to five and couldn’t so I'm going with ten! Feel free to share your book stats or just share your top reads, whatever you’d like to do:)
My Mid-Year Reading Stats
41 Books Read
Top Moods - Emotional, Reflective, Mysterious
Top Genres - Literary, Thriller, Contemporary
Backlist is dominating my reading = 26 books
Average Star Rating - 4.27
My Top Reads of the Year (So Far)
** In no particular order but the Allende is my very favorite so far
A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende - my thoughts HERE
The Shock of the Light by Lori Inglis Hall - The audio narration is truly outstanding. I have to say even by 40% I wasn’t sure it would be 5 stars because she chose an interesting structure to tell the story - multiple POVs but with LONG sections in between- and that can and is sometimes tricky for me but she absolutely pulls it off!! I made a note in my Storygraph that this is a top 10 reads of the year contender.
Lake Effect by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney - I listened to this and loved it. I do wonder if the audio elevated it because Marin Ireland did an amazing job bringing all the characters to life. I really loved the time period and how the story progressed over many years.
Count the Ways by Joyce Maynard - my thoughts HERE
Wonderland by Jennifer Hillier - a great summer thriller, especially if amusement parks are nostalgic for you
Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier - I don’t think I’ve shared my thoughts on this yet but I binged it as soon as I finished Wonderland and loved it maybe a little bit more. This was twisty fun and I had nothing figured out
Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly - my thoughts HERE
Smile, Or Your Doing It Wrong by Andy Glaze - my favorite nonfiction of the year so far. Inspirational, entertaining, and great on audio - full thoughts HERE
Everything to the Sea by Alicia Upano - I read this in January and while I had a couple issues with the romance tropes of miscommunication/no communication, I loved this debut! The story has stayed with me and I think it will make a great summer read for those who want a complicated love story that’s also a coming of age.
Celestial Lights by Cecile Pin - My thoughts HERE
Great News!
I've never offered a free trial before, but this feels like the right time. If you'd like more community in your reading life, I'd love for you to join us in The Reading Room for more than just this week and see what it's like. Stay if you enjoy it, we’d love to have you! There’s also paywalled book recs, podcasts, and more in the archive that you can browse which can be accessed here.
Question Time
The questions I ask in weekly threads are meant to be fun and help us connect, so please know you don’t have to answer each question, if you only have the time/desire to answer one, great! Please put book titles IN ALL CAPS for easy reading and include the author’s name if possible:)
What are your best books of the year (so far)?
What have you been reading lately?
Meet you in the comments!
Have a great weekend 📚
