1st Quarter of 2020

Well…I’m already halfway to my goal of 75 books this year ‍♀️. I always read more in the first quarter of the year because it’s still so cold and snowy out – but then on top of that, we went on a 10 day honeymoon where I read every single day, and now…QUARANTINE. I was able to get to our library before they shut down so I’ve been plowing through the 15 books I borrowed, and I’ve been able to borrow e-books from the library as well as the fact that I signed up for Kindle Unlimited when we went on our honeymoon. Needless to say, I’m set for a few weeks. I hope.

1. Option B: Sheryl Sandberg
2. The Guest Book: Sarah Blake
3. The Island: Elin Hilderbrand
4. The Victory Garden: Rhys Bowen
5. The Rosie Project: Graeme Simsion
6. South Pole Station: Ashley Shelby
7. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: Taylor Jenkins Reid
8. Lost Roses: Martha Hall Kelly
9. The Last Anniversary: Liane Moriarty
10. The Rosie Effect: Graeme Simsion
11. The Night Circus: Erin Morgenstern
12. Small Admissions: Amy Poeppel
13. The Rosie Result: Graeme Simsion
14. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: Gail Honeyman
15. Eligible: Curtis Sittenfeld

16. The Dressmaker’s Gift: Fiona Valpy
17. The Tuscan Child: Rhys Bowen
18. Toward the Midnight Sun: Eoin Dempsey
19. A Fire Sparkling: Julianne Maclean
20. The Man in the High Castle: Philip K. Dick
21. Mistress of the Ritz: Melanie Benjamin
22. The Day the World Came to Town: Jim Defede
23. My Lovely Wife: Samantha Downing
24. An American Marriage: Tayari Jones
25. When We Believed in Mermaids: Barbara O’Neal
26. If You Tell: Gregg Olsen
27. The Radium Girls: Kate Moore
28. The Glorious Heresies: Lisa McInerney
29. Start: Punch Fear in the Face, Escape Average, and Do Work That Matters: Jon Acuff
30. The Paris Seamstress: Natasha Lester

31. Hazards of Time Travel: Joyce Carol Oates
32. The Flight of Gemma Hardy: Margot Livesey
33. Ghosted: Rosie Walsh
34. Slightly South of Simple: Kristy Woodson Harvey
35. You’ll Grow Out of It: Jessi Klein
36. The Girls: Emma Cline
37. Three Women: Lisa Taddeo
38. Miracle Creek: Angie Kim

My favorites this quarter were The Rosie Project series, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Lost Roses, The Dressmaker’s Gift, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, The Day the World Came to Town, When We Believed in Mermaids, The Radium Girls, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and Three Women.

The Rosie Project Series: I absolutely LOVED this whole series!! There were 3 books that followed the main character through dating his wife, getting married, and raising their child. The main character is a scientific man who decides he can find a wife and have a family based on calculations – it’s sweet, funny, poignant and will make you fall in love with all the characters.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo: This was recommended to me by multiple people and I can see why. The author also wrote Daisy Jones and the Six, and the style of writing carries over a bit into this novel. The cast of characters is fantastic and I couldn’t put it down – I seriously read it in one sitting!

Lost Roses: I’ll always be obsessed with WW2 historical fiction and this one doesn’t disappoint! It’s by the same author who wrote The Lilac Girls (which was one I loved last year!). She’s coming out with a third book and each book is written with a main character who is related to someone from the previous book.

The Dressmaker’s Gift: Another WW2 historical fiction – set in Paris, it follows three seamstresses during the war and the granddaughter of one of them in current times. I’m currently reading another one of Fiona Valpy’s books and LOVE it. She’s an incredibly descriptive author who infuses so much life into the history she’s telling.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine: Just read it. It’s so sweet.

The Day the World Came to Town: This is written about the town in Newfoundland that took all the flights diverted on 9/11. All of the citizens pulled together and took passengers into their homes and supplied them with food and basic living necessities. I teared up more than a few times reading it and realizing that humans are truly good deep down.

When We Believed in Mermaids: Set in current times, it follows a young woman who sees her dead and gone sister on a news broadcast and attempts to find her, unearthing family secrets along the way. It was a super quick read and so good.

The Radium Girls: EVERYONE needs to read this. It’s the true story of the women who worked with radium in the clock making industry during WW1 using a technique called “lip pointing” (which meant they put RADIUM FILLED BRUSHES in their mouths hundreds of times a day). Their employers not only assured them that radium was incredibly safe, but they encouraged them to recruit their friends. They all succumbed to radium poisoning and it follows their lives and the way that their employers deny any existence of poisoning. It’s infuriating and fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. Ultimately, the women went after the corporations and formed a large part of the labor rights movement. Read it.

The Flight of Gemma Hardy: I absolutely loved this book! It’s about a girl who is sent off to boarding school at a young age and takes an au pair position in the remote Orkney Islands to get away from school. It’s a really well written Jane Eyre-esque tale of love and self discovery.

Three Women: I’d heard of this book from multiple different avenues and read it with no real context about it’s contents. It’s the true story following three women and their emotional and sexual lives from very different backgrounds – one character is a Midwestern 17 year old, one is a suburban housewife, and one is a restaurant owner in the Northeast. It was so compelling and incredibly interesting. It took the author 8 years to write and she even *moved* to be closer to one subject to get closer to the story.

I’m currently deep into my list of books to finish this year and cannot wait to share more!! Also, I’ve been asked quite a few times if I’m on Goodreads, so I created an account with all of 2019’s books and the ones I’ve read this year!! Click here to find it. Let me know if you have any recommendations!!