I read 54 books and counting

At the beginning of 2017 I challenged myself to read 104 books. Two a week. My only rules were that the books were 125+ pages and nothing I had previously read. About two weeks in I realized I was in over my head. To be fair, I was six months out from my wedding and the planning started to consume me. With a sigh, I amended my goal to 52 books, figuring that's still one a week. More than most people, right? Or maybe not. 

Without further delay, here is everything I read this year in chronological order (plus three I'm still working on): 

1. Pain, Parties, Work: Sylvia Plath in New York, Summer 1953 by Elizabeth Winder
2. How to Write a Great Children's Book by Robyn Opie Parnell
3. Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads by Paul Theroux
4. The Story of Crass by George Berger
5. Life and Death on the New York City Dance Floor by Tim Lawrence (in prog)
6. Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living by Manjula Martin
7. What I Talk about When I Talk about Running by Haruki Murakami
8. Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher
9. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
10. Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson
11. St. Marks Is Dead: The Many Lives of America's Hippest Street by Ada Calhoun
12. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande
13. Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
14. Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life by Amy Rosenthal
15. Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids by Meghan Daum
16. Orphan Train: A Novel by Christina Baker Kline
17. Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
18. Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl: A Memoir by Carrie Brownstein
19. City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic and the First Police Chief of Paris by Holly Tucker
20. Grace Notes: My Recollections by Katey Segal
21. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck by Mark Manson
22. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler
23. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by JD Vance
24. Sycamore by Bryan Chancellor
25. Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries by Kory Stamper
26. Whoever Fights Monsters: My 20 Years Hunting Serial Killers for the FBI by Robert Ressler
27. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: A Novel by Gail Honeyman
28. Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
29. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
30. The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore
31. A Catalog of Birds by Laura Harrington
32. Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher
33. Tarot for Your Self: A Workbook for Personal Transformation by Mary Gree (in prog)
34. Maude by Donna Foley Mabr
35. Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingat
36. Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Way by Roxane Ga
37. Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness or My Life as a Fabulous Ronette by Ronnie Spector
38. American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse
39. Material Girl, Mystical World: The Now Age Guide to a High-Vibe Life by Ruby Warrington
40. Make Your Bed by Admiral William H. McRaven
41. The Code of the Extraordinary Mind by Vishen Lakhiani
42. Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roach
43. According to a Source: A Novel by Abby Stern
44. Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David Oshinky
45. How to Work From Home and Make Money in 2017: 13 Proven Home-Based Businesses You Can Start Today by Sam Kerns
46. Not Exactly Love: A Memoir by Betty Hafner
47. The Devil in the Kitchen: Sex, Pain, Madness, and the Making of a Great Chef by Marco Pierre White
48. Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat by Patricia Williams
49. The Reason You're Alive: A Novel by Matthew Quick
50. Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim
51. Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom by Ken Ilgunas
52. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by JK Rowling
53. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
54. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
55. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
56. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
57. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (in prog)

Yes, I am currently reading Harry Potter. No, I've never read it before. I haven't seen any of the movies either. I admit that I'm about 20 years later on the Potter thing but as you can tell from the rest of the list, my reading habits skew heavily toward non-fiction and memoirs. And while I could talk endlessly about what I liked and didn't like in each book (seriously, I rated them), I'll spare you. Instead, I've linked to my top 10 - two very enthusiastic thumbs up for these. 

Tell me, what are you reading? Any recommendations? Any books you're looking forward to in 2018?