Category Archives: Books

The Best (and Worst) Books I Read in 2019

The Best (and Worst) Books I Read in 2019 | Fairly Southern

Hooray! It’s my annual recap of the books I read last year! This is one of my absolute favorite recurring posts.

I read 28 books in 2019. That is fewer books than I read in 2018, which I keep telling myself doesn’t actually matter. I’m just so insanely competitive with myself! I think I’m especially kicking myself because there were several books that I started (ahem…in May….) that I didn’t quiteeeee finish before the ball dropped in Time’s Square. But ultimately it’s about enjoying what I’m reading, not trying to read more or finish before some arbitrary deadline. Quality over quantity.

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17 Must-Read Southern Novels

17 Must-Read Southern Novels | Fairly Southern

I know I am biased, but I think there is something especially romantic and beautiful about novels set in the South! Beyond descriptions of white sand beaches and trees dripping with Spanish moss, the South has a lot of content to offer when it comes to deeper lessons on relationships, family, racism, tradition, and general life wisdom. Whether you need a good beach read or are looking to curl up inside with a good book, here are 17 Southern-based novels that you need to check out! All of these are books I personally love or come highly recommended by friends.

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Books I Read in 2017

What I Read in 2017 | Fairly Southern

It’s my annual “books I read this year” post! I had so much fun doing this last year, and I got some great recommendations from y’all on books to add to my reading list!

I read 28 books in 2017. This was fewer books than in 2016 (I have a shorter commute now, and the majority of the books I “read” are actually audio versions that I listen to in the car). I am still incredibly proud of this number! That’s slightly more than two books per month! Read More

11 Year-End Superlatives for 2017

At the end of 2016, I did a post with 11 superlatives for the year. This year, I’m making it an annual tradition! As we approach 2018, it’s been fun to look back on 2017 and reflect on the good, the bad, and the ugly. Here we go!

1. Biggest Milestone: Launching this blog! The new name and layout felt like coming home…like this was always where my blog was supposed to be. And since the launch, I’ve been better about posting more regularly, which has been an exciting achievement!

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2. Hardest Challenge: My family lost a sweet pup this year, and we have had several other losses and trials within our wider family circle that perhaps haven’t had an enormous direct impact on me personally, but that I have certainly felt and grieved over. I also struggled with some anger and anxiety from a political perspective earlier in the year. I honestly had to disengage myself somewhat from politics and the news in order to cope. I’m not super happy about this, as I think it’s important to be informed and involved, but my mental health just couldn’t take it anymore. All in all, I hesitate to truly label any of these things as “challenges” because they certainly don’t compare to finding out that, say, you yourself have cancer, but they were the tough parts of life that we struggled with this year. Read More

What I Read in 2016

You guys, 2016 was SUCH a great year for me in terms of reading! I don’t think I’ve ever read so many books in one year. I started out the year with a 45 minute commute each way (that’s one and a half hours per day), which made for some great audiobook time. While my commute is thankfully a bit shorter now at 25-30 minutes each way, I still clock quite a bit of time listening to books in the car.

Below is an alphabetized list of everything I read in 2016. The books that are *starred are ones that I highly recommend adding to your own reading lists!

7 Women by Eric Metaxas. This book was really interesting. Most of the seven women are household names, yet most people don’t actually know all that much about them beyond that. I really enjoyed learning more about these ladies. However, I had some concerns about the legitimacy of the author’s sourcing, and he was definitely biased in his writing. Read this book, certainly, but do so critically.

7 Women by Eric Metaxas Review | Fairly Southern Read More

Book Review: “I Know How She Does It” by Laura Vanderkam

This is a first for me! I’ve never posted a book review before, but I absolutely love getting book recommendations from my own favorite bloggers. Hopefully these posts will help you find books you do (or do not) want to read and/or listen to! (Side note: I am a huge audio book person. If you ever hear me say that I “read” a book, it is much more likely that I actually listened to a book while driving. Checking out books for free on OverDrive through the library is the bee’s knees).

I recently read (aka listened to) Laura Vanderkam’s I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time. This book caught my eye because I am absolutely one of those people who feels like they never have enough time to do everything they’d like. Southern belles of generations past may have lived a life of luxury by leaving the workforce post-marriage and having hired help to tend to the house, but today’s Southern belles are doing it all: employment, parenting, romantic relationships, active social lives, housekeeping, and more. Always more.

Book Review: "I Know How She Does It" by Laura Vanderkam | Fairly Southern Read More