21 Books I Liked, 6 I Didn’t Like, and 9 I Thought Were Just Okay

I’ve always been a big reader, and I make sure to keep my Kindle stocked. My favorite books have a little bit of mystery to them, but I also really like historical fiction, love stories (who doesn’t?!), and business-type books that are motivational in some way.

I thought I’d share a longer list of books I liked (21 of them!), 6 books I wouldn’t recommend, and 9 books that I thought were just okay – “filler” books, we’ll call them.

Recommended reads:

From one of my favorite reads because I had to read it in high school (#16) to a hyped-up book that was a really good read (#2) to a couple of business-minded books (#5 and 18), these are the books I’d tell you to read. Add them to your list!

1. The Royal We by Heather Cocks
2. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
4. In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner
5. By Invitation Only: How We Built Gilt and Changed the Way Millions Shop by Alexis Maybank
6. What She Left Behind by Ellen Marie Wiseman
7. Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller
8. Orphan Train by Christina Baker Klein
9. Room by Emma Donoghue
10. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
11. The Wedding Dress by Rachel Hauck
12. Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse
13. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
14. Three Sisters by Susan Mallery
15. When I Found You by Catherine Ryan Hyde
16. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
17. Maude by Donna Mabry
18. Lessons From the Top: The 50 Most Successful Business Leaders in America – and What You Can Learn From Them by Thomas J. Neff
19. Primates of Park Avenue by Wednesday Martin
20. Inside the O’Briens by Lisa Genova
21. Modern Girls by Jennifer S. Brown

Filler reads:

The reason #1 is in here is because you could get everything out of the book by reading a 4-sentence recap of the book. I thought there would be more to it, but there really isn’t. The rest of these books are here because they’re forgettable, so if you need something to read they’re fine, but otherwise I wouldn’t go rushing to read these books.

1. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo
2. After You by Jojo Moyes
3. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
4. The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
5. Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
6. Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Klein
7. Girl Through Glass by Sari Wilson
8. Left Drowning by Jessica Park
9. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

I wouldn’t recommend:

If you like Stranger Things you may like Eight Minutes (#2), but otherwise it’s just weird and so unbelievable that I felt like I wasted time. I really wanted to like Eat, Pray, Love and Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot because the movies seemed to be good – but I couldn’t get into either. And Andi Dorfman’s book… man… I’ve been watching The Bachelor for longer than I’d like to admit, so I wanted the gossipy details, but this book is all over the place.

1. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
2. Eight Minutes by Lori Reisenbichler
3. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
4. Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
5. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot by Kim Barker
6. It’s Not Okay: Turning Heartbreak into Happily Never After by Andi Dorfman

Find more book reviews and recommended reads here.