2019 Book List: 52 Amazing Books You Must Read This Year!

At the beginning of each year, I create a list of books I hope to tackle. Personally, I strive to read about one book a week (both audiobooks and physical books). I challenge you to do the same! If you aren’t an avid reader, perhaps start with one book a month to see how that goes. Once you get into reading, I know you will fall in love! But, how do you know which books to read? What will be worth your while? Never fear! I have put together this 2019 book list that is bound to help you on your way! 

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*Update: Here are my newest book lists:

• 2024 Book List
• 2023 Book List
• 2022 Book List
• 2021 Book List
• 2020 Book List
• 12 Goal-Setting Books that will Change Your Life
• Top Books You Must Read in Your 20’s!

How To Create Your Personalized Book List

Decide How Many Books to Read

First, you must decide how many books you hope to complete within the year. This is, of course, different for everyone. Take into account when you will be reading. Just before bed? With your breakfast? During your commute?

Next, decide how you will be reading these books. Audiobooks? Physical books? Will you be getting them from the library? Using a mix of mediums? It is easier to fit audiobooks into everyday life but physical reading can be much more relaxing. However, because audiobooks can be easier to read, you can quickly go through them! 

If you’re just starting out, begin with a goal of one book per month. If you find this is easy, bump it up to two a month or even one a week! However, I do suggest creating a 2019 book list with more books than you intend to read. This way, if you’re not in the mood for a particular book, you will have plenty of options to choose from! For example, if you plan on reading one book a month, create a list of 14 books to read. If you plan on one a week, perhaps make a list of 60. 

Related: 21 Life-Changing Books for 20-Something’s (that will teach you everything school didn’t!)

Decide Which Books to Read

Creating a nice balance between light reads and more difficult reads can be an art form. However, here are a list of ideas you can use in creating your own 2019 book list that will make your experience more enjoyable. 

• Mix up fiction and non-fiction books
• Switch between genres (for example, one month read a thriller, and the next read a romance novel)
• Join a book club (Goodreads has plenty to choose from, or you can create your own!)
• Read seasonally (for example, read a romance novel in February, a spooky story in October, and a holiday favorite in December… the Paper and Glam Book Club does this!)
• Add in books that relate to your career or schooling (this makes your reading more productive too!)
• Take a gander at what movies are soon be become major motion pictures

Resources to Use to Find the Perfect Book: 

• Barnes and Noble Top 100 List
• New York Times Best Sellers List
• BBC’s Top 100 Books to Read Before You Die
• PopSugar’s 19 Books to Become Movies in 2019
• Goodreads: Meet your next favorite book

Creating Your Personalized 2019 Book List

Now that you have a general idea of how to create the perfect 2019 book list, start researching books you would like to read and add them to your list! Start with the books I have listed down below and add in books you have always wanted to read, books to become movies soon, seasonal classics, or even books on the current Top 100 List at Barnes and Noble. 

Tip: As you create your 2019 book list, be sure to include a few notes about the book. This makes it easier to choose your next book to read later in the year!

2019 Book List: 52 Great Books to Read This Year!

Well, let’s start getting into the top books to read this year! These books range from new hot reads to classics that everyone should have on their book wish list! 

Non-Fiction Reads

Books on Productivity

• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg: This award-winning best-seller covers the science of habits, why humans do what they do, and how to use this knowledge to change your own life, productivity, and success. A must read!
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey: This bestseller covers, just as the title suggests, the seven different habits everyone should follow to become successful.

Books on Physical and Mental Health

• Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy: The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating by Walter Willett MD, DrPH & Patrick J. Skerrett: I’ll be honest, this is one of the books I am most excited to read this year. This is a science-based book about nutrition and how you can create a diet that works for you.
• Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns, M.D.: This is an informative guide on how you can help relieve depression and anxiety without medication.
• How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie: This book is a guide finally breaking that nasty habit of worrying.

Books to Enhance your Career

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie: As we all very well know, today it isn’t about what you know, but who you know. This book is among the best guides to succeeding in your social life and boosting your networking game.
  
• Verbal Judo: The Gentle Art of Persuasion by George J. Thompson Ph.D. & Jerry B. Jenkins: This book teaches “martial arts for the mind,” giving the reader the secrets to successful conversation and communication.
• Engineering Your Future by Stuart G. Walesh, PhD, PE: This is the ultimate guide to a successful engineering career. However, I understand that not everyone is on the path to become an engineer like myself. In that case, instead of reading this book, I highly encourage you to find a book that is directly related to your current career goal.

Books on Spirituality and Self Help

• Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis: This book helps you to quit believing the lie that everyone has it all figured out, allowing you to become who you really were meant to become.
  
• Sacred Powers by Davidji: Decisions can be difficult to make, but with the help of this book, the combination of mediation and stress management can lead you to the right choice.
  
• The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz: This book covers the four ways for which you can transform to allow yourself to experience greater things.
  
• The Power of Now by Echart Tolle: This book is a spiritual journey of enlightenment and living in the present moment.
  
• Leave your Mark by Aliza Light: This funny book covers the secrets of personal branding, social media, and career success.
  
• 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson: This book is filled with 12 critical pieces of life advice everyone needs to know.

Other Non-Fictions that Look Interesting

• Becoming by Michelle Obama: This number one best-seller is at the top of everyone’s 2019 book list, including mine! It is Michelle Obama’s memoir, including captivating stories of her time as first lady, a mother, a leader, and so much more. 
• I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara: This is chilling true story of an investigative journalist who suddenly died while searching for the Golden State Killer, a murderer active in the 70’s and 80’s.

Related: 21 Life-Changing Books for 20-Something’s (that will teach you everything school didn’t!)

Fiction Reads

Mysteries

• Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell: A fifteen-year-old is beloved by her family and community. She had a bright future and was incredibly happy. And then she was gone. Ten years later, her mother is still looking for her when a new clue turns up. 
• The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson: Who would know more insider information about the white house than a former President himself? Former President Clinton partners with James Patterson to create this award-winning, best-selling novel about a mystery and threat that rocks America.
• The Bill Hodges Trilogy by Stephen King: As with most Stephen King novels, the Bill Hodges Trilogy is a best-selling suspenseful series that follows a retired police officer attempting to catch a murderer before it is too late.
• In the Woods by Tana French: Two small girls go missing, one is soon found in the woods covered in blood. Twenty years later, a similar incident occurs and the detective on the case is in a race to solve the mystery.
• One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus: Five high school students walk into detention, only four make it out alive. Who did it? Why?
• Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll: Ani is a hard-working woman that seems to have it all, the perfect job, perfect fiance, perfect life. But she has a secret. If this secret comes out, will it ruin everything she has worked so hard to have?
• The Reckoning by John Grisham: A World War II veteran from a small town commits a terrible crime. His motive is kept a secret in this thrilling mystery.
• Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: A mysterious woman is the suspect of the murder of a handsome man who may have been her lover.

Thrillers

• Killing Floor by Lee Child: This is the first in the Jack Reacher series with plenty of books to keep you hooked in. They follow an ex-military police officer through his thrilling life.
  The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter: A family is attacked, leaving the mother dead and the father, a notorious defense attorney, devastated. Years later, one of the daughters follows her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer and is faced with a similar situation she experienced during the night of her family’s attack.
• Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty: This thriller follows six adults over one weekend, what could go wrong?
• The Rooster Bar by John Grisham: Three law school students find themselves scammed by their school just before graduation. Fortunately, they may have found a way out of this mess, but it involves a bit of risk to make it happen.
• No Exit by Taylor Adams: This thriller is a story about a college student, stranded in her car at a rest stop from a blizzard, who stumbles upon a kidnapped little girl trapped in someone’s trunk. Whos trunk is it? How can she get help with no cell reception? 
  
• An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen: A thriller based on a woman who signs up for a phycology study and, as the questions become more personal and pressing, finds herself trapped in a strange, manipulating experiment. 
  
•  The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pakkanen: This book is another best selling thriller by Hendricks and Pakkanen. It is a twisting domestic psychological thriller that will keep you hooked until the very end. 

Science Fiction & Fantasy

• A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas: This series follows a huntress who is dragged into a magical world by a creature she was raised to fear.
• Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake: Three sisters who hold different powers must fight to become queen in a magical land.
• The Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan: This series follows Percy Jackson, a demi-god, on his adventures through life encountering many mythical figures.

Romance Novels

• Crazy Rich Asians (Trilogy) by Kevin Kwan: This best-selling-now-a-major-motion-picture trilogy has been at the top of my to-read list for ages, and I am so excited to dive into it this coming year! 
• Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding: Another great book that has already been turned into a film, Bridge Jones’s Diary hilariously follows a woman through a journey of love and self-discovery. As an added bonus, it’s on BBC’s list of 100 books to read before you die!
• Luxe Series by Anna Godbersen: Five teenagers live incredibly scandalous lives in 1899 Manhattan.
• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin: Mara wakes up with no memory of what happened the night before, the night her friends all died. However, a boy at school seems to know what happened and helps her search for answers.
• Uninvited by Sophie Jordan: A girl is tested positive for the Homicidal Tendency Syndrome gene, uninviting her from her prestigeous school and forcing her into a special class where she meets another HTS carrier.
• Hush Hush Series by Becca Fitzpatrick: This series follows Nora, a normal teenager with an eye for Patch, a mysterious new student with a dark past and mysterious life.
• All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han: Lara Jean stashes love letters she has never sent in a box for years. But, one day, they are all sent and her love life takes off.

Books to Become Films

• The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn: This #1 New York Times best-selling book is about a reclusive woman who spends her days spying on her neighbors until one day, she sees something she shouldn’t have…
• The Rhythm Section by Mark Burnell: The producers of the James Bond movies will take this book the theaters in February 2019 with Blake Lively and Jude Law. The book is about a woman who takes revenge on the people responsible for killing her family in a plane crash. 
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple: After her mysterious mother goes missing, a 15-year-old goes on a journey of discovery to find her. 
• After by Anna Todd: A sweet freshman in college falls for a cute British guy with a dark secret. 
• The Goldfinch: A Novel by Donna Tartt: This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel will hit the theaters in October. It is about a boy who is taken in by a rich family in New York after his mother is killed in an explosion. 
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: This classic book will hit the box office in December, and is to star Emma Watson, Meryl Streep, and many other big names. 

Seasonal Reads

October:

• Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman: The novel follows the Owens sisters through their strange and magical life they have been attempting to escape.
• All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness: These October favorites are about a young scholar who finds an enchanted manuscript in the Oxford library that leads her into a magical underworld.

December:

• One Day in December by Josie Silver: This heartwarming romance follows a woman who, as her bus begins to drive away, falls in love-at-first-sight with a man on the sidewalk. She then spends the next year looking for him. 
• A Christmas Return by Anne Perry: This holiday mystery follows a grandmother researching a long, unsolved murder.
• Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand: This home-for-the-holidays tale is about a dysfunctional family’s holiday season featuring a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, and much more.
• Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies: A man by the name of Kris Kringle becomes the Macy’s Santa.

Bonus! My Favorite Books of 2018

Because my commute has increased, I have gotten through A LOT of books this year. Out of these books, the following have been my all time favorites of the year:

• Dark Matter by Blake Crouch: A science professor has his life turned upside down when he is thrown into an alternate reality.
• The Death of Miss Westaway by Ruth Ware: A poor English tarot card reader receives notice in the mail that she is the heir to an unknown wealthy woman.
• In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware: A bachelorette weekend in an English forest goes terribly wrong.
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Series) by Stieg Larsson: This series follows a young woman with a photographic memory and a troubled past through her life as a computer wizard and friendship with an investigative journalist.
• Gray Mountain by John Grisham: A woman meets a small town lawyer attempting to protect his community from large coal companies.
  
• The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith: A private investigator is paid to uncover the truth about a famous London model’s mysterious death. (Fun fact: Robert Galbraith is J.K. Rowling’s other pen name!)
• Into the Water by Paula Hawkins: A woman returns to her hometown after the mysterious death of her sister.
• Behind Closed Doors by B. A. Paris: Jack and Grace seem like the most perfect couple, but what secrets lie behind their closed doors?
  
• The Favorite Sister by Jessica Knoll: A successful businesswoman and her sister are featured on a reality television show which ends with a mysterious murder.
• Suddenly Royal by Nichole Chase: An American graduate student finds out she is the long-lost ancestor to a royal family.
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss: A writer comes into a pub to interview the owner about his incredible life stories involving magic and slaying demons.
• The Passage by Justin Cronin: Government laboratory experiments cause a vampire virus to go viral, and a young abandoned girl may be the key to restoring humanity.
• Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson: Just as the title suggests, this is a book that teaches you the basics of astrophysics, a surprisingly interesting subject.
• The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson: This is the ultimate handbook on how to stop caring about the little things.
• You are a Badass by Jen Sincero: This book is a great motivational source to help boost your confidence any time of the year.
• Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson: A woman hilariously narrates her life as someone coping with various different mental health issues.
• Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert: An inspired author narrates her creative experiences.

Well, there you have it! My personal 2019 book list that I hope you have found it helpful in creating your very own. Reading can be so rewarding and relaxing. It is a great way to escape the stresses of everyday life and an easy way to better your personal education and growth. I hope you find time to read this year and enjoy it as much as I do. Happy reading!