2018 in Review - Looking Back on My Year in Books

This year was kind of a weird one; I moved back to Tampa, FL, where I work, so I no longer had a commute more than 15 minutes.  There went all my audiobook listening.  But I also  read my first picture book for review (Are You Scared Darth Vader by Adam Rex), which was really fun!  Overall, it was a pretty solid reading year. So without further ado, let's look at all the books I managed to read in 2018!

Lucky for me, (as I am lazy and bad at making graphics), Goodreads makes a handy "My Year in Books":

So I read a total of 70 books this year with a total of 18,997 pages.  That's one more book from last year, but 1,669 less pages.  I find that interesting, especially if you go by pages read and not amount of books read.

The average length of my books was 271 pages.  I read mostly YA again this year, but with a few Middle Grade books (which are always shorter) and quite a few graphic novel (I mean my shortest book was a graphic novel at only 24 pages), so that number makes sense.

Overall, I didn't read more than my Goodreads goal, and I had to be sneaky with the graphic novels at the end (I am proud that I read two actual books at the end of December though).  But the point is that I made it to 70, which was 10 more than my 2017 goal.

Here are all the actual books:

My average rating was a 4.2, which is fair as most of these were blog tour books, and I don't post those reviews unless they are a 4 or 5 star.  Additionally, I am an easy reader to please; I tend not to read something unless I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it.  But I'm also not super picky.  Even if the book has predictable tropes, ridiculous plot points, and vapid characters, I'll probably still like the book, if just for the hilarity factor.

So out of the 69 books I read this is how it breaks down format wise:

ARCs - 12

Novels - 28

Graphic Novels - 14

Audiobooks - 14

Picture Books - 1

E-Books - 1

Then, the age-range was:

Adult - 10

Young Adult - 52

Middle Grade - 7

Children - 1

Finally, the genre breakdowns:

Non-Fiction - 5

        Memoir/Personal Essay - 3

        Poetry - 1

        Historical - 1

Fiction - 65

        Contemporary - 25

        Fantasy - 16

        Sci-Fi - 15

        Thriller/Mystery - 5

        Romance - 3

        Mixed - 1 (this was an anthology)

Out of the 70 books, this is how the ratings broke down:

2 Stars: 3 books

• Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
• Who is AC? by Hope Larson
• The Stone Prince by Gena Showalter

3 Stars: 10 books

• The Pleasure Slave by Gena Showalter
• Everything Is Awful: And Other Observations by Matt Bellasi
• Mercury by Hope Larson
• Graveyard Shakes by Laura Terry
• Archie, Vol. 1: The New Riverdale by Mark Waid
• Bitch Planet, Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick
• Chasers of the Light: Poems from the Typewriter Series by Tyler Knott Gregson
• Fence (Fence, #1) by C.S. Pacat
• Shatter Me (Shatter Me, #1) by Tahereh Mafi
• The Color of Lies by C.J. Lyons

4 Stars: 25 Books

• The Umbrella Academy, Vol. 1: The Apocalypse Suite by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá
• Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey
• Better Nate Than Ever (Better Nate Than Ever #1) by Tim Federle
• The Night We Said Yes by Lauren Gibaldi
• P.S. I Still Love You (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2) by Jenny Han
• The Girl from Everywhere (The Girl from Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig
• We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen
• If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo
• Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen
• Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
• Mayfly by Jeff Sweat
• Space Battle Lunchtime Vol. 2: A Recipe for Disaster by Natalie Riess
• A Tragic Kind of Wonderful by Eric Lindstrom
• All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell
• Del Toro Moon by Darby Karchut
• The Tombs by Deborah Schaumberg
• Bad Princess: True Tales from Behind the Tiara by Kris Waldherr
• Taproot by Keezy Young
• Like Never and Always by Ann Aguirre
• Watch You Burn by Amanda Searcy
• The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Kiersten White
• Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner
• Deadfall by Stephen Wallenfels
• Power of Five (Power of Five #1) by Alex Lidell 
• Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton

5 Stars: 32 Books

• Ten Miles Past Normal by Frances O'Roark Dowell
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
• Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi
• Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller
• Tempests and Slaughter (The Numair Chronicles #1) by Tamora Pierce
• The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen
• Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3) by Tahereh Mafi
• Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe
• The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before (To All the Boys I've Loved Before #1) by Jenny Han
• Rat Queens, Vol. 2: The Far Reaching Tentacles of N'rygoth by Kurtis J. Wiebe 
• You Deserve a Drink: Boozy Misadventures and Tales of Debauchery by Mamrie Hart
• Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children #1) by Seanan McGuire
• You're Welcome, Universe by Whitney Gardner
• Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children #2) by Seanan McGuire
• Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3) by Seanan McGuire
• We Are Okay by Nina LaCour 
• Space Battle Lunchtime Vol. 1: Lights, Camera, Snacktion by Natalie Riess
• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli
• Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks
• The Sand Warrior (5 Worlds #1) by Mark Siegel
• #notyourprincess: Voices of Native American Women by Lisa Charleyboy and Mary Beth Leatherdale
• Bruja Born (Brooklyn Brujas #2) by Zoraida Córdova
• They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera
• Sadie by Courtney Summers
• Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard
• Love à la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm
• Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
• Brightly Burning by Alexa Donne
• Star Wars: Are You Scared, Darth Vader? by Adam Rex
• My Almost Flawless Tokyo Dream Life by Rachel Cohn
• The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons

My favorite books read this year, in no particular order:

1. Every Heart a Door Way by Seanan McGuire (5 Stars)
2. The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli (5 Stars)
3. The Reluctant Journal of Henry K. Larsen by Susin Nielsen (5 Stars)
4. The Glass Arrow by Kristen Simmons (5 Stars)
5. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (5 Stars)
6. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour (5 Stars)
7. The Five Stages of Andrew Brawley by Shaun David Hutchinson (5 Stars)
8. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (5 Stars)
9. Sadie by Courtney Summers (5 Stars)
10. Sanity & Tallulah by Molly Brooks (5 Stars)

I could get more in depth here (I love BooksandLala's Reading Year in Review videos -- check out 2018), but I think this is a good overview.  Maybe 2019 will be the year I'll try to keep track of more information.

I hope your 2018 reading year was awesome, and that 2019 will be even more so! 

HAPPY READING!

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2017 Review - Looking Back on My Reading Year

This year has been pretty steady for me, but only when it comes to reading.  My actual blogging has taken a backseat, which is very much due to the year that I've had and my changing feelings on reviewing/blogging about books.  But that's for another time and another post; let's look at all the books I managed to read in 2017!

Lucky for me, (as I am lazy and bad at making graphics), Goodreads made a handy "My Year in Books":

So I read a total of 69 books this year with a total of 20,666 pages.  The average length of my books was 300.  This makes sense as I read mostly YA, which is around 300-350 pages per book, typically.

I know for some people out there, 69 (which is a horrible number to end on) is not a large amount.  But for me, and my recent spats of slumps, this was a landmark amount.  Also, it's 14 books more than I read in 2016, so I'm glad my numbers are going back up!

Here are all the actual books:

So out of the 69 books I read this is how it breaks down format wise:

 ARCs - 4

Graphic Novels - 12

Novels -15

Audiobooks - 38

Then, the age-range was:

Adult - 7

Young Adult - 62

Finally, the genre breakdowns:

Non-Fiction - 2

        Memoir - 1

        Poetry - 1

Fiction - 67

        Contemporary - 25

        Fantasy - 22

        Sci-Fi - 10

        Horror/Supernatural - 10

Some of this surprised me and some of it didn't.  I've always been a huge reader of Young Adult, but this year I didn't read any Middle Grade, which is unusual.  Fantasy has always been one of my favorite genres, but Contemporary beat it out this year.  I also read more Horror/Supernatural than I have in the past, which was due to my participation in the Spookathon (hosted by BooksandLaLa, Bookerly, and Paige's Pages).  

Overall, the biggest change in my reading this year was all the audiobooks I read.  With my move back home, I have a an hour drive back and forth to work, so I have a good chunk of time to listen to books.  I also finally got my Overdrive account to work on my phone, so I take advantage of that all the time!  It's just so much easier listening to audio, than reading a physical book because I'm so exhausted when I get home.

But I have found that the narrator and style of book makes or breaks the audio.  Not all books translate great in audio format, in my opinion (like any of the The Witchlands series by Susan Dennard; great books, too hard to listen to with the weird accent the narrator puts on).

And while I may not have given each of the books a full review, I did enjoy some more than others.  Looking at the whole list, I've managed to narrow done my top 10 favorites read in 2017.

In no particular order:

1. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
2. There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins
3. Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older
4. Simon Vs the Homo-Sapiens Agenda by  Becky Albertalli
5. Still-Life with Tornado by A.S. King
6. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
7. One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
8. Power Up by Kate Leth & Matt Cummings
9. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
10. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

So that's it for my little look back on 2017.  I've set a new goal for 2018 of 70 books.  I'm going to try to add 10 more each year, until I'm back up to the 100 a year I use to read.  So far, I am two in, so I am officially one book ahead of schedule!

I hope your 2017 reading year was awesome, and that 2018 will be even more so! 

HAPPY READING!

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2011 End of the Year Book Survey

Jaime over at The Perpetual Pageturner has brought back her awesome End of the Year Survey that she started last year.  I wasn't able to be a part of it last year, but I am excited to participate this year!  Of course I had a hard time remembering exactly what I read, so I'm only answering some of the questions.  But I suggest you all head over to her blog and check out the survey for yourself.  There's also a linky with a bunch of other blogs' posts, so go check it out and maybe get some ideas to read for next year!

1. Best Book You Read In 2011? 

This is probably one of the hardest questions, as I've loved so many this year.  But my Top 5 would have to be:

         Across the Universe by Beth Revis
         Divergent by Veronica Roth
         Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry
         Wither by Lauren DeStefano
         The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Each of these books were fantastic, and really sucked me in like no other books!

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?

This one would have to be:
          Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
I wanted to love it so bad!  Everyone else seems to, but I just could not get into the story at all.  Which sucks because the new covers are so gorgeous, and I'd love for them to be on my shelf!

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

This goes to:
         Evernight by Claudia Gray
I was hesitant to read another "romantic" vampire story because it seems many of them are copies of Twilight (which I hate), but Evernight was so good, and was more about finding out who you are then sappy love.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?

This is definitely:
          Across the Universe by Beth Revis
I absolutely loved this book!  I couldn't put it down the minute I started reading.  I stalked Beth at DragonCon (I literally went to each of her panels) and clapped rather enthusiastically for her each time she was introduced.  At NCTE I stalked the Penguin booth trying to see if they had an ARC I could grab (alas not so much).  I've had the book pre-ordered for months.  I'm literally vibrating with excitement.  So yeah, I've chatted about it a bit.

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?

This one is all about the:
          River of Time series by Lisa T. Bergren
I was lucky enough to be a part of the book tour for Waterfall, the first book in the series.  I fell in love immediately.  I was really pleasantly surprised to enjoy this series so much because it is historical fiction and "christian" fiction, but there was time-travel, 16th century Italy, cute boys, and kick ass girls!  What more could you possibly want?  Definitely check this series out in 2012 if you haven't already!

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

This will have to be a 5 part list as well:
         Lauren DeStefano - Author of Wither and Fever
         Beth Revis - Author of Across the Universe and A Million Suns
         M. J. Putney - Author of Dark Mirror and Dark Passage
         Lauren Oliver - Author of Before I Fall, Delirium, and Pandemonium
         Jonathan Maberry - Author of Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay
Not all of these authors are new to the writing scene, but they were all new to me this year.  I loved each and every one of the books I've read of their's, and I encourage you all to go check them out too!

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

Hmmmm, this is hard because I usually read across genres, but I'd say any of the historical fiction I read, in particular Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper.  This book sounded interesting, but not really something I'm use to reading.  It was fantastic though, and I was so glad I got my hands on this book!

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?

This one has has has to go to:
         Enclave by Ann Aguirre
I couldn't put this book down!  It was so awesome and fast paced.  Even when it was quiet, it contained a sense of urgency.  It was really very good, and just the kind of book I love.

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?

It would have to be:
          Across the Universe by Beth Revis
I was so excited for this book!  As soon as it went on pre-order, I bought my own copy right away.  Of course, I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC.  IT WAS SO GREAT I DIDN'T PUT IT DOWN!  I literally had to pee so bad when I was done, but I refused to take a break while reading

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
       

The cover of Across the Universe is one of the most beautiful I've seen!  And look!  Look!  It has TWO covers!  It's REVERSIBLE!!!!!!  So so so cool!


Looking into the Future:

1. One Book You Didn't Get To In 2011 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2012?

This one goes to two fabulous books:
         City of Fallen Angels & Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
I know, I know, how could I neglect such awesome?  In my defense there were a TON of amazing books in 2011!!!  But I'm definitely going to be cracking these open right away!

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?

This is definitely a toss-up between John Green's The Fault in Our Stars and Beth Revis's A Million Suns.  Both are by two of my favorite authors and I can't wait!  I have both on pre-order and cannot wait to get them for my early birthday present!!

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2012?

I really hope to gather the courage to contact publishers and authors I admire.  I'd like to be able to be a part of book tours and do author interviews!  I just love books so much, and want to share them with everyone!!

So that's it for 2011.  I know I'm a little late, but better late then never!  Obviously I really loved Across the Universe, but who wouldn't?  You guys have time to read it before A Million Suns comes out on January 10!  I hope you all have an amazing new year, read some great books, and don't forget to be awesome!!

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