Books

Favourites

BeautifulTortoise Garden Eleven Magic Strong Americanah Cloud Sharper War Better Path

You can see in-depth reviews of some of my favourite books here. I post my favourite books every few months here. You can also find me on GoodReads.

Note: some of the links below are affiliate links, but I have personally read and enjoyed all of these books.

Books By Year

2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015

* = favourite

Books Read in 2015

  1. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet – David Mitchell*
  2. Landline – Rainbow Rowell
  3. Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
  4. Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl
  5. The Celestine Prophecy – James Redfield
  6. The Castaways – Elin Hilderbrand
  7. An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
  8. A Path Appears – Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryll WuDunn
  9. Lizzy and Jane – Katherine Reay
  10. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
  11. What Do Women Want? – Daniel Bergner
  12. First Frost – Sarah Addison Allen
  13. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up – Marie Kondo
  14. The Go-Giver – Bob Burg
  15. Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel*
  16. By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept – Elizabeth Smart
  17. Emma – Jane Austen
  18. Yes Please – Amy Poehler
  19. Small Victories – Anne Lamott
  20. The Art of Communicating – Thich Nhat Hanh
  21. 10% Happier – Dan Harris
  22. Too Much Happiness – Alice Munro
  23. The Body Book – Cameron Diaz
  24. Going to Pieces Without Falling Apart – Mark Epstein
  25. Being Mortal – Atul Gawande
  26. #Girlboss – Sophia Amoruso
  27. Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E. Frankl
  28. The Beach Club – Elin Hilderbrand
  29. Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
  30. Essentialism – Greg McKeown
  31. In the Woods – Tana French*
  32. The One Thing – Gary Keller
  33. Self-Help – Lorrie Moore
  34. Lost Lake – Sarah Addison Allen
  35. Americanah – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie*
  36. How to Be Parisian – Anne Berest
  37. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment – Thich Nhat Hanh
  38. The Rumor – Elin Hilderbrand
  39. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
  40. Winter Street – Elin Hilderbrand
  41. Being Peace – Thich Nhat Hanh
  42. This is How You Lose Her – Junot Diaz*
  43. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer*
  44. All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten – Robert Fulghum
  45. Seating Arrangements – Maggie Shipstead
  46. How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
  47. Broken Harbour – Tana French
  48. Better Than Before – Gretchen Rubin*
  49. Everything Is Going to Be Okay – Chronicle Books
  50. Faithful Place – Tana French
  51. Committed – Elizabeth Gilbert
  52. Rising Strong – Brené Brown*
  53. Let the Elephants Run – David Usher
  54. Missoula – Jon Krakauer
  55. Big Magic – Elizabeth Gilbert*
  56. The Fire Starter Sessions – Danielle Laporte
  57. Why We Get Fat – Gary Taubes
  58. The Gifts of Imperfection – Brené Brown*
  59. Eat Move Sleep – Tom Rath
  60. I Thought It Was Just Me – Brené Brown
  61. Self-Knowledge – Mark Manson
  62. Middlesex – Jeffrey Eugenides*
  63. Fates and Furies – Lauren Groff
  64. Kitchens of the Great Midwest – J. Ryan Stradal
  65. Carry On – Rainbow Rowell
  66. Journey to the Heart – Melody Beattie
  67. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Richard Carlson
  68. Enjoy Every Sandwich – Lee Lipsenthal
  69. Make Good Art – Neil Gaiman
  70. Being Perfect – Anna Quindlen
  71. The Dip – Seth Godin
  72. Show Your Work – Austin Kleon
  73. Brave Enough – Cheryl Strayed
  74. The Happiness of Pursuit – Chris Guillebeau
  75. All the Money in the World – Laura Vanderkam*

Books Read in 2014

  1. The Defining Decade – Meg Jay*
  2. Sisterland – Curtis Sittenfeld
  3. Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
  4. What I Wore – Jessiva Quirk
  5. A Short Guide to a Happy Life – Anna Quindlen
  6. The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle
  7. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
  8. Make Every Man Want You – Marie Forleo
  9. Run – Ann Patchett
  10. Where’d You Go, Bernadette – Maria Semple*
  11. The Four Agreements – Miguel Ruiz
  12. The Art of Non-Conformity – Chris Guillebeau
  13. David and Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell
  14. Turning Pro – Steven Pressfield
  15. Bird by Bird – Anne Lamott*
  16. The Art of Possibility – Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander*
  17. The Maker Movement Manifesto – Mark Hatch
  18. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work – Mason Currey
  19. Looking For Alaska – John Green
  20. Daring Greatly – Brené Brown*
  21. The Promise of a Pencil – Adam Braun*
  22. Charlotte’s Web – E.B. White
  23. Thrive – Arianna Huffington*
  24. Paper Towns – John Green
  25. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
  26. Ugly Koreans, Ugly Americans – Byoung-chul Min
  27. Waking Kate – Sarah Addison Allen
  28. Lost Lake – Sarah Addison Allen*
  29. Behind the Beautiful Forevers – Katherine Boo
  30. Persepolis – Marjane Satrapi
  31. Fascinate – Sally Hogshead
  32. Breaking Free From Emotional Eating – Geneen Roth
  33. The Vacationers – Emma Straub*
  34. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck*
  35. The Blue Bistro – Elin Hilderbrand*
  36. The Giver – Lois Lowry
  37. The Lost Recipe for Happiness – Barbara O’Neal
  38. Astonish Me – Maggie Shipstead
  39. The Tailgate – Elin Hilderbrand
  40. On Mystic Lake – Kristin Hannah
  41. 168 Hours – Laura Vanderkam
  42. Eleanor & Park – Rainbow Rowell
  43. Frog Music – Emma Donoghue
  44. The School of Essential Ingredients – Erica Baumeister
  45. The Matchmaker – Elin Hilderbrand
  46. Women Food and God – Geneen Roth
  47. The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion
  48. The Island – Elin Hilderbrand
  49. The Success Principles – Jack Canfield
  50. This I Believe – Jay Allison
  51. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast – Laura Vanderkam
  52. The Belly Fat Cure – Jorge Cruise
  53. Night – Elise Wiesel
  54. The Bridges of Madison County – Robert James Waller
  55. Help Thanks Wow – Anne Lamott
  56. This is the Story of a Happy Marriage – Ann Patchett
  57. The Original Chicken Soup for the Soul – Jack Canfield
  58. We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves – Karen Joy Fowler
  59. The Peach Keeper – Sarah Addison Allen
  60. Will Grayson, Will Grayson – John Green and David Levithan
  61. American Savage – Dan Savage
  62. Food Rules – Michael Pollan
  63. The Joy Diet – Martha Beck
  64. The Slight Edge – Jeff Olson
  65. Not That Kind of Girl – Lena Dunham
  66. Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney
  67. The Magic Finger – Roald Dahl
  68. The Happiness Advantage – Shawn Achor
  69. What I Know For Sure – Oprah Winfrey
  70. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
  71. The E Myth Revisited – Michael E. Gerber
  72. On the Shortness of Life – Seneca
  73. Essays in Love – Alain de Botton
  74. Think and Grown Rich – Napoleon Hill
  75. Summer People – Elin Hilderbrand

Books Read in 2013

  1. Paris, My Sweet – Amy Thomas
  2. I Remember Nothing – Nora Ephron
  3. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running – Haruki Murakami
  4. Eat & Run – Scott Jurek
  5. The Sisters Brothers – Patrick deWitt
  6. I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman – Nora Ephron
  7. How NOT to Move Back In With Your Parents – Rob Carrick
  8. Heads in Beds – Jacob Tomsky
  9. The War of Art – Steven Pressfield
  10. The Age of Miracles – Karen Thompson Walker
  11. Imagine – Jonah Lehrer
  12. Without Reservations – Alice Steinbach
  13. The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht
  14. A Doll’s House – Henrik Ibsen
  15. The End of Your Life Book Club – Will Schwalbe
  16. All My Friends Are Superheroes – Andrew Kaufman*
  17. Brooklyn – Colm Toibin
  18. Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen*
  19. The Quest For Identity – Donald Taylor
  20. The Peach Keeper – Sarah Addison Allen*
  21. The Girl Who Chased the Moon – Sarah Addison Allen*
  22. The Geography of Bliss – Eric Weiner
  23. The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen*
  24. The Power of Habit – Charles Duhigg
  25. Jitterbug Perfume – Tom Robbins
  26. State of Wonder – Ann Patchett
  27. How to Be a Woman – Caitlyn Moran
  28. A Short History of Nearly Everything – Bill Bryson
  29. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail – Cheryl Strayed*
  30. Steal Like An Artist – Austin Kleon
  31. Happier at Home – Gretchen Rubin
  32. Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
  33. The Lost Girls – Jennifer Baggett
  34. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
  35. Mediterranean Holiday – Kate Cann
  36. Spanish Holiday – Kate Cann
  37. The Fault in Our Stars – John Green*
  38. How We Decide – Jonah Lehrer
  39. Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg
  40. Speaking From Among the Bones – Alan Bradley
  41. Cinnamon and Gunpowder – Eli Brown
  42. Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls – David Sedaris
  43. A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
  44. The Girl Who Chased the Moon – Sarah Addison Allen*
  45. The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen*
  46. Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen*
  47. The Peach Keeper – Sarah Addison Allen*
  48. Inferno – Dan Brown
  49. The Year of Magical Thinking – Joan Didion*
  50. One Day – David Nicholls
  51. Tiny Beautiful Things – Cheryl Strayed*
  53. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – Rachel Joyce
  54. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore – Robin Sloan
  55. Blue Nights – Joan Didion
  56. Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer
  57. Torch – Cheryl Strayed
  58. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak
  59. Finding Ultra – Rich Roll
  60. Blood, Bones and Butter – Gabrielle Hamilton
  61. The Wealthy Barber – David Chilton
  62. The Abortionist’s Daughter – Elisabeth Hyde
  63. S.E.C.R.E.T. – L. Marie Adeline
  64. What Should I Do With My Life – Po Bronson*
  65. Yoga Bitch – Suzanne Morrison
  66. Female Chauvinist Pigs – Ariel Levy
  67. Super Immunity – Joel Fuhrman
  68. Poser: My Life in 23 Yoga Poses – Claire Dederer
  69. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
  70. Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery – Robert Kolker
  71. Home – Toni Morrison
  72. I’ll Seize the Day Tomorrow – Jonathan Goldstein
  73. Adulting – Kelly Brown Williams*
  74. The Desire Map – Danielle LaPorte
  75. A Stolen Life – Jaycee Dugard

Books Read in 2012

  1. A Visit From the Goon Squad – Jennifer Egan*
  2. Where the Girls Are – Susan Douglas
  3. The Art of Choosing – Sheena Iyengar
  4. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
  5. Plate to Pixel – Helen Dujardin
  6. Black Swan Green – David Mitchell
  7. Bride of New France – Suzanne Desrochers
  8. Ready Player One – Ernest Cline*
  9. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Stephen Covey
  10. The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
  11. Let the Great World Spin – Colum McCann*
  12. Game of Thrones: A Song of Ice and Fire – George R.R. Martin
  13. An Everlasting Meal – Tamar Adler
  14. Born to Run – Christopher McDougall
  15. Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – Jenny Lawson*
  16. The Art of Non-Conformity – Chris Guillebeau
  17. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry – Kathleen Flinn
  18. Fifty Shades of Grey – E.L. James
  19. Fifty Shades Darker – E.L. James
  20. Fifty Shades Freed – E.L. James
  21. The Good Mayor – Andrew Nicoll*
  22. Kitchen Counter Cooking School – Kathleen Flinn
  23. The $100 Startup – Chris Guillebeau
  24. The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp*
  25. The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach*
  26. Quiet – Susan Cain
  27. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
  28. A Life of Fiction – Stephanie Pellett
  29. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Barbara Kingsolver
  30. The Happiness Project – Gretchen Rubin
  31. Number9Dream – David Mitchell
  32. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) – Mindy Kaling
  33. The Sun Also Rises – Ernest Hemingway
  34. Charmed Life – Diana Wynne Jones
  35. The Prisoner of Heaven – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
  36. An Economist Gets Lunch – Tyler Cowen
  37. Ru – Kim Thuy
  38. The Magicians – Lev Grossman
  39. Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn
  40. Divergent – Veronica Roth
  41. Garden Spells – Sarah Addison Allen*
  42. The Peach Keeper – Sarah Addison Allen
  43. The Sugar Queen – Sarah Addison Allen
  44. Willpower – Roy Baumeister and John Tierney
  45. The Wind Up Bird Chronicle – Haruki Murakami
  46. The Girl Who Chased The Moon – Sarah Addison Allen*
  47. Chocolat – Joanne Harris
  48. The Talent Code – Daniel Coyle
  49. Ghostwritten – David Mitchell
  50. Come, Thou Tortoise – Jessica Grant*
  51. Secrets to a Healthy Metabolism – Maria Emmerich
  52. The Cat’s Table – Michael Ondaatje
  53. Paris In Love – Eloisa James
  54. Why We Do What We Do – Edward Deci
  55. Yes, Chef – Marcus Samuelsson
  56. Tiny Beautiful Things – Cheryl Strayed*

Books Read in 2011

  1. The Alchemist – Paulo Coehlo
  2. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest – Steig Larsson
  3. The Phantom of the Opera – Gaston Leroux
  4. Crazy Sexy Diet – Kris Carr
  5. The Disappeared – Kim Echlin
  6. Based Upon Availability – Alix Strauss
  7. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
  8. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  9. Still Alice – Lisa Genova
  10. The Happiness Project – Gretchen Rubin*
  11. Poke the Box – Seth Godin
  12. In Cold Blood – Truman Capote
  13. Plato and a Platypus Walk Into a Bar – Daniel Klein and Thomas Cathcart
  14. The History of Love – Nicole Krauss
  15. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins*
  16. Catching Fire – Suzanne Collins
  17. Mockingjay – Suzanne Collins
  18. The Imperfectionists – Tom Rachman*
  19. The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood – Rebecca Wells*
  20. The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
  21. Ape House – Sara Gruen
  22. The Condition – Jennifer Haigh
  23. The Help – Kathryn Stockett
  24. Eats, Shoots and Leaves – Lynne Truss
  25. A Red Herring Without Mustard – Alan Bradley
  26. Do the Work – Steven Pressfield
  27. Columbine – Dave Cullen
  28. Garlic & Sapphires – Ruth Reichl
  29. My Life in France – Julia Child
  30. Julie & Julia – Julie Powell*
  31. Medium Raw – Anthony Bourdain
  32. Left Neglected – Lisa Genova
  33. The Sweet Life in Paris – David Lebovitz
  34. Blood, Bones & Butter – Gabrielle Hamilton*
  35. The Year of Living Biblically – A.J. Jacobs
  36. Bossypants – Tina Fey
  37. Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man – Bill Clegg
  38. Kitchen Confidential – Anthony Bourdain
  39. The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern*
  40. The 4-Hour Workweek – Timothy Ferriss
  41. Rich Dad Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
  42. Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots – Nicole S. Young
  43. The Richest Man in Babylon – George S. Clason
  44. The Getaway Car – Ann Patchett
  45. The Right to Write – Julia Cameron*
  46. Cooking Solves Everything – Mark Bittman
  47. The Artist’s Way – Julia Cameron
  48. The 4-Hour Body – Timothy Ferriss
  49. The Beauty of Humanity Movement – Camilla Gibb
  50. The Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

Books Read in 2010

  1. Classy – Derek Blasberg
  2. I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti – Giulia Melucci
  3. Eating Animals – Jonathan Safran Foer
  4. Her Fearful Symmetry – Audrey Niffenegger
  5. Sway – Ori and Rom Brafman
  6. Orange is the New Black – Piper Kerman
  7. Nickel and Dimed – Barbara Ehrenreich
  8. Freakonomics – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
  9. InStyle Parties – InStyle Editors
  10. Shutter Island – Dennis Lehane
  11. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
  12. What the Dog Saw – Malcolm Gladwell
  13. The Kind Diet – Alicia Silverstone
  14. The One Hundred – Nina Garcia
  15. Waiter Rant – Steve Dublanica
  16. Citizen Girl – Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
  17. Eat Pray Love – Elizabeth Gilbert
  18. The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry – Kathleen Flinn*
  19. Gods Behaving Badly – Marie Phillips
  20. Prep – Curtis Sittenfeld*
  21. A Million Little Pieces – James Frey
  22. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
  23. My Stroke of Insight – Jill Bolte Taylor
  24. The Man of My Dreams – Curtis Sittenfeld*
  25. American Wife – Curtis Sittenfeld
  26. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
  27. The Quality of Life Report – Meghan Daum
  28. Unhinged – Daniel Carlat
  29. Skinny Bitch – Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman
  30. Men and Dogs – Katie Crouch
  31. Within Our Reach: Ending the Mental Health Crisis – Rosalynn Carter
  32. Diary – Chuck Palahniuk
  33. The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie – Alan C. Bradley
  34. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society – Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
  35. The Te of Piglet – Benjamin Hoff
  36. Quantum Wellness – Kathy Freston
  37. The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag – Alan C. Bradley
  38. Eccentric Glamour – Simon Doonan
  39. The Book of Awesome -Neil Pasricha
  40. Crazy Salad – Nora Ephron
  41. Summer at Tiffany – Marjorie Hart
  42. Live The Life You Love – Barbara Sher
  43. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake – Aimee Bender
  44. Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro
  45. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
  46. The Fellowship of the Ring – J.R.R. Tolkien
  47. The Two Towers – J.R.R. Tolkien
  48. The Return of the King – J.R.R. Tolkien
  49. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
  50. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Steig Larsson
  51. The Hour I First Believed – Wally Lamb
  52. The Girl Who Played With Fire – Steig Larsson
  53. Holidays on Ice – David Sedaris
  54. Room – Emma Donoghue

Books Read in 2009

  1. Candide – Voltaire
  2. How to Talk to Girls – Alec Greven
  3. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – Seth Grahame-Smith
  4. Direct Red – Gabriel Weston
  5. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell
  6. Choke – Chuck Palahniuk
  7. Revolutionary Road – Richard Yates
  8. The Little Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
  9. The Film Club – David Gilmour
  10. Franny and Zooey – J.D. Salinger
  11. Blue Like Jazz – Donald Miller
  12. Watchmen – Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
  13. Slaughterhouse Five – Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  14. The Tales of Beetle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
  15. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
  16. The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
  17. The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
  18. Style: A to Zoe – Rachel Zoe