If you know me, you know I read. I consumed over 30 books this year and some of them were amazing. Some of them were not, of course, but I’m here to talk about my top three.

Side note: I would give you a link to where you can buy these books, but I don’t want to encourage you to buy things off of Amazon. I am trying to avoid Amazon and companies like it, so I would say hit up your library or local bookstore to get your hands on a copy of these gems. With that being said, all the images are from Amazon.com.

Close friends of mine, I have a copy of the second one up for borrowing.

See my GoodReads account at the bottom of my home page or find me under my maiden name, Colleen Lentile, to see what else I have been reading.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens: Everyone and their brother, cousin and uncle read this book this year. I mean if Reese Witherspoon says it’s good, then it should be okay, right? Correct. It was better than good and I recommend it to everyone. You will fall in love with the “Marsh Girl,” Kya, as quickly as I did, I am sure. You follow Kya as she grows up in the North Carolina marsh by herself and experiences love, loss, happiness and anger. But, you can’t help but wonder just how dangerous she could be. The characters become your friends and enemies and the setting and scenery scoop you up and plant you on the beaches of North Carolina. You won’t want to put it down.

Half Wild: Stories by Robin MacArthur: In this series of short stories that I picked up on a whim at the Green Valley Book Fair, you will become involved in the lives of many rural, rugged families that are somehow, some way, whether they like it or not, connected to the wild that surrounds them. I sometimes feel disjointed from short stories, but I felt like all of these people were connected to me and to each other, whether it was written explicitly in the text or not. You will want to read this like a novel, not a collection, and, like me, you won’t be able to pick a favorite story.

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett: I’m not sure why I picked this one up or decided to add this to my “Want to Read” list when I saw it on a listical, but I did and I’m glad I did. Don’t be afraid when you read the title or the synopsis that goes into detail about a family, stricken with grief, that owns a taxidermy business. You will get stuck in the hectic and depressing life of Jessa Morton and her family and, by the end, will feel like you have a stake in their happiness. This is an exceptional depiction of real people with real life issues.

What was your favorite book this year? Let me know in the comments below!