I didn’t reach my goal of 40 books, but 30 (including rereads) isn’t bad.

Image of several book covers, including What Happened to You, Pretty Girls, The Curious History of the Heart, House with Good Bones, Harry Potte and the Deathly Hallows, The Broken Girls, The One, Just Like Home, and The Verifiers

Image of several book covers, including A Great Reckoning, Sure, I'll Join Your Cult, Direct Marketing: The Utlimate No Holds Barred Kick Butt Take No Risks..., Several Harry Potter Books, and Candelaria

Image of book covers, including Stolen Lives, The Wife Upstairs, two Harry Potter books, The Villa, Burying Norma Jeane, and the Fall of the House of Usher and other Tales

Favorite Nonfiction

Maria Bamford’s Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult

If you enjoy Maria Bamford’s comedy, you’ll enjoy this book. It was a blast on audiobook. I got it first from the library, and then purchased in on Audible because I knew it would stand up to a second listen.

Favorite Weird Fiction

Melissa Lozada-Oliva’s Candelaria

I received this book as part of judging for the International Latino Book Awards, and boy did it stand out! It is a quirky, mid-apocalypse tale told in multiple perspective ultimately about the coming together of a mother and her daughters in the middle of the end of the world. It uses second person perspective, which I thought I would despise, but Lozada-Oliva ultimately won me over. This was my top rank from the set of books I received.

Favorite Small Press

Leah Rogin’s Burying Norma Jeane

This book incorporates some nonfiction history lesson about the famed woman called Marilyn Monroe, born Norma Jeane Mortenson. These short essays are interwoven throughout a narrative about a mother and daughter on a modern-day quest to heal from grief and reconnect via a road trip to visit Marilyn Monroe’s final resting place.