Monday, January 09, 2017

2016 in Review



Number Of Books You Read: 307
Number of Re-Reads: 32 (appox) (This is 21 more than 2015!)
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy (no surprise!)


1. Best Book You Read In 2016? 
Free the Darkness by Kel Kade; The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick; Behind the Throne by K.B. Wagers; The Promise of Canada by Charlotte Gray; Black Rabbit Hall by Eve Chase; The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah; The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin; Nevernight by Jay Kristoff; To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey; Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan; Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor; Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel; A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (and the sequel); May We Shed These Human Bodies by Amber Sparks... The first three books in the Newsflesh Series... The Illuminae Files so far... And then a bunch of graphic novels like Lazarus, Giant Days, Monstress, Saga, Silk, Star Wars (various), Morning Glories, Alias, etc. And then there were a lot of other books that I really enjoyed. I could probably add to this list.... (I have been as I answer other questions on here. lol)

But, really, folks... Flowers for Algernon. I reread it this year and have read it a few times before.... I love that book!

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders. Not sure what it was this book, but it didn't click with me as I expected it to.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
Free the Darkness by Kel Kade. I heard about the author in a random audio newsletter and grabbed it on audio. I absolutely loved this book and was shocked to discover it was self-published. I probably would not have read it if I knew that before I tried it, but the narrator is awesome anyway and I am excited about the sequel.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Did I push anything? Anyone read anything because of me?

5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?
I started so many series in 2016. lol If I HAD to pick I would say Lazarus for graphic novel (but I could change that if I think too much about the question) and Shades of Magic for novel form. The new Volume of Saga. Love Saga! The only series ender would be The Raven King... I didn't love it, but it was really readable.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?
I can't even narrow that down. There were a lot and they were all awesome.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Sunstone. This graphic novel series is definitely outside of my normal zone.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
A Gathering of Shadows. Although, while I didn't love The Raven Cycle quite as much as others, I did fly through the series. And I flew through the Newsflesh series on audio.

9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
The graphic novels. I may reread some before I start new volumes.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?

11. Most memorable character of 2016?
No wonder I put this off so long, these questions are always so hard to narrow down. lol Probably Kell and Delilah Bard from V.E. Schwab's books.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
The Comet Seekers by Helen Sedgwick

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?
The Promise of Canada made me think a lot. I am not sure if it was life-changing, though.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?
um, a lot of them? lol Feed by Mira Grant. Oh, and Where'd You Go, Bernadette.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?
I really should record this stuff.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?
The Fireman was the longest. The shortest is unclear because I recorded some single issues when a collected version was not available on Goodreads.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
Illumine and Gemini. Lots of twists and turns in those books.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
I never know what to answer for this question.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
This is definitely the friendships in The Raven Cycle. It was my favourite part of that quartet!

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
The Promise of Canada by Charlotte Gray. I really like her nonfiction.

21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
Probably Illuminae. I honestly read it because it was on so many best of lists in 2015. I was not disappointed!

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?
I am not sure because I am in the minority and don't think like that...

23. Best 2016 debut you read?
The Comet Seekers. I loved that book and hope her follow-up will be amazing.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Nevernight. I loved that book and if you haven't experienced it yourself, you should!

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
There were a lot of funny comics this year. I really enjoyed Hellcat. She is kick-ass, but funny. And I always love Deadpool!

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?
Honestly, I don't think there was anything. That was not my idea of a good book in 2016...

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
Free the Darkness by Kel Kade.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Again, I just was not in the right frame of mind for this sort of stuff...

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?
The Marvels by Brian Selznick.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Probably the Newsflesh series. It might be about Zombies folks, but it is soooo plausible. Oh, and The Girl with all the Gifts. It paints an interesting picture of the world.

Random Thoughts

~ I reread way more books this year than I normally do. My interest in cleaning up my unread graphic novel series and audiobooks are why.
~ I feel like this year was a better reading year than 2015, but I read more books in 2015. Interesting.
~ Eowyn Ivey was on my best of list in 2015 and 2016. She needs to write more books!
~ Deadpool put a smile on my face in 2015, too! I love Deadpool.
~ Do you know I only read 60 books total in 2014? 
~ Fantasy is always my most common genre.
~ I read Laura Lam in 2014 and volume 3 in her trilogy is finally coming this year!!!
~ I always say that if I reread anything it will be comics and I am usually mostly correct!
~ I reread Flowers for Algernon in 2013 and again in 2016. Have you read it? I love that book!
~ I stalled on this looking back because I found some old posts about Casey... So, that's that. 

11 comments:

  1. I love reading these posts. I need to do one but haven't found the time.

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  2. A good year! Hope this new year will provide more good books and happy reading. :)

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  3. Wow, what a fantastic year! I'm impressed by how much you read and especially how much you re-read. It's always nice to find some gems that you'd read again.

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  4. Totally agree about the gorgeous cover! Re The Comet Seekers, I started it, but it was kind of too different for me, and I couldn't tell what was going on, so I stopped it pretty early on!

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  5. I agree with The Marvels being a unique book as well as beautiful cover design. You mentioned taking record of quotes/ passages, this is something I'd like to do this year.

    Perhaps 2016 was a better reading year, despite less books being read, because you enjoyed more of what you read and there was less pressure to your reading. It sounds like you had a great reading year; I hope for much of the same in 2017.

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  6. Wow, that is a seriously smokin' year. I wish I could clean up some of my series reading in the same way. I do need to read the last two (that are available) Saga graphic novels! Hope this year is as successful as the last. Happy 2017 Kailana!

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  7. I'm so impressed by your number of re-reads! I always *want* to re-read certain books, but they tend to slip away from me.

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  8. I cannot even fathom 307 books. That is just so unreal to me! Do you read really fast? How fast can you read a 300-page novel?

    I haven't read a single book you mentioned, but a lot of them are on my TBR. I love the cover you chose. It's so lovely! It makes me want to read the book, lol.

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  9. Wow, you had an amazing year!

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  10. This is a great recap!

    I'm happy to see The Fifth Season and Sleeping Giants on your best of list, these will definitely be on mine too. And I'm sorry to hear All the Birds in the Sky didn't click for you. It's one I absolutely wanted to read this year, but didn't manage to get to.
    Happy reading for 2017!

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  11. Loved reading your recap. Looks like a wonderful reading year. Gosh, I wish I could read that many books. Maybe I could clear out my shelves a bit more - haha... Hope you have lots of great finds this year too!

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