For those readers and list makers, nothing is more exciting than January! The time to make an amazing list of books to read for the year!
Where will our reading lives take us? What adventures and emotions will we experience through the books we read? Always, there are endless possibilities.
So many books. Limited time.
New books to distract us from other books.
A must read list ensures not all are forgotten!
Join the #MustReadin2019 community!
To read more about the challenge and add your list, read here.
Here are the 30 titles I am going to try and read over this year. As always these titles will represent only a portion of my reading. My goal? To read most of these. I use this list like a road map of where to turn next when I come to a pause in my reading choices. It is always waiting to guide me. But it also waits patiently when I am distracted by new books. Often, I am.
Making a list like this – a To Read list – also allows us to reflect on the reading that we want to do. I know I want to emphasize middle grade novels. I didn’t read as much as I usually do in 2018 so my list has more titles that are published in 2018 or earlier (19 titles) and fewer 2019 releases (11 titles).
Here is my list:
Published in 2018 or earlier
The Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
After Zero by Christina Collins
Hey, Kiddo by Jarrett J. Krosoczka Read April 7th 2019 5 stars
The Dollar Kids by Jennifer Richard Jacobson Read April 19th 2019 5 stars
Wonderland by Barbara O’Connor Read November 19th 2019 5 stars
Harbour Me by Jacqueline Woodson Read January 6th 2019 5 stars
A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena Read February 11th 2019 4 stars
Far from the Tree by Robin Benway Read February 17th 2019 5 stars
The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden Read March 19th 2019 5 stars
Lu by Jason Reynolds
All That I Can Fix by Crystal Chan Read January 22nd 2019 4 stars
From You to Me by K.A. Holt
Sweep The Story of a Girl and her Monster by Jonathan Auxier Read March 24th 2019 5 stars
Tight by Torrey Maldonado
Wild Blues by Beth Kephart Read January 29th 2019 5 stars
(Time Castaways #1) The Mona Lisa Key by Liesl Shurtliff
The Last (Endling #1) by Katherine Applegate
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang Read March 2nd 2019 5 stars
Published in 2019
The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman Read June 16th 2019 5 stars
The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu Read May 12th 2019 5 stars
The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart Read July 2nd 2019 5 stars
Dig by A.S. King
Song for A Whale by Lynne Kelly Read December 29th 2019 5 stars
Shouting at the Rain by Lynda Mullaly Hunt Read March 7th 2019 4 stars
Other Words for Home by Jasmine Wargather Read September 17th 2019 5 stars
The Size of the Truth by Andrew Smith Read June 16th 2019 5 stars
To Night Owl from Dogfish by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer
Where the Heart is by Jo Knowles
The Mighty Heart of Sunny St James by Ashley Herring Blake
What novels are at the top of your TBR list? Please share!
There's a Book for That 
You have some great titles on your list – some I have read, some are on my “official” list, and some are on my”unofficial” list. I finished Benefits of Being an Octopus, Lu and Hey Kiddo over break and they are all wonderful! Wonderland is also great, but I love everything she writes! I’m looking forward to Coyote Sunrise and Sweep. Yours is the first post I have read, and my list is already grown! But isn’t that the fun of this. Thanks again for rounding us all up! And Happy New Year!
So happy to host this challenge Leigh Anne! I love visiting all of the posts too. Although, my list just grows and grows. I absolutely LOVE Barbara O’Connor and can’t wait to read Wonderland.
Homegoing is one of the best novels I ever read. These middle grade novels are among my favorites, too: Tight, The Bridge Home, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise, and Sweep. I didn’t include Other Words for Home or Where the Heart Is on my list, but I definitely want to read both of those. Wishing you a great year of reading!
That is high praise for Homegoing. So pleased I added it! Thanks for joining us again Lisa!
So much to love in your list, Carrie, & so many for me to remember & try to get to. My ‘secret’ list is adding up from all the posts! Thanks again for hosting this special group! I did love Harbor Me, The Dollar Kids, Hey! Kiddo! & Sweep, am reading Endling now, a new kind of world! Happy New Year!
A secret list? Love the sounds of that!
From your list I read Tight and Endling the Last, both of which I enjoyed. It’s not on my original post but I am also interested in Other Words for Home.
So many titles to read!
So many good books on your list! These books are also on my #mustreadin2019 list: Coyote Sunrise, The Bridge Home, The Lost Girl, Shouting at the Rain. Can’t wait to chat about them with you! I LOVED Endling!!! I can’t wait for book 2 in May 🙂
So excited to hear this. I am reading One and Only Ivan to my class right now. How I love Katherine’s writing.
Ah! You have so many titles on your list I want to now add to mine. I have enjoyed several of your choices – especially Homegoing, Lu, and Hey, Kiddo. Enjoy and thanks again for hosting. This is a great community.
My absolute pleasure. A really great community I agree!
I purchased The Soul of an Octopus and gave it away as a Christmas gift this year. It’s on one of my MustRead lists this year too! I’ve told her I want to borrow it when she’s done with it. Same thing for Hey Kiddo! I’m about to go and add all the books not on my want to read list to goodreads and like Linda, I’ve started a new collection with all the MustRead titles I overlooked. sigh…. Have you noticed that the more books you read, the more books there are to read?
Absolutely! I often buy and gift books that I still want to read as well.
You’ve made another great list! So many of these books are on my TBR list for this year too.
Hey Kiddo is a beautiful read. So powerful.
Thank you again for hosting this, it’s one of my favorite things to do in January!
Happy 2019 reading!
One of my favourites too Michele.
I was delighted to see your list — so many great titles here that I’ve loved reading and some that I still hope to squeeze into my schedule over the coming year. I’m especially excited about The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise. And I currently have The Prince and the Dressmaker and Hey, Kiddo both checked out from the library. Thank you for hosting this community. I’m glad I decided to hop aboard for my first year! 🙂
I am so pleased you are joining us Shaye!
You have so many great titles on your list. I loved Wonderland and Sweep was one of my favorite books from 2018! We have a lot of similar titles on our Must Read lists. I am excited to follow your progress this year!
Thanks Shelly! Happy Reading to you!
Our library does a 10 to Try Reading Challenge every year and I just managed to insert six titles from your list into that one. I love reading challenges! Oh, make that seven titles, just looked up Other Words from Home and realized I could plug it into the poetry category. I guess that reading challenge is my “secret list.” Having multiple lists might be why I struggle to complete the ones I put on my #mustread list each year. Oh, the challenges of the bookish life! Thanks for this group. I love reading everyone’s list!
Isn’t it fun? I do too! So pleased you love this community as much as I do. Lovely to have you.
I have Far from the Tree on my list as well. I really liked the Prince and the Dressmaker. The artwork is outstanding.
Can’t wait to get my hands on a copy
Question: What are you using to display your books like that?