Saturday, December 31, 2016

2016: A Bookish Recap and Goals for 2017



As you can see, I surpassed my reading goal of 25 books! So what did I read this year, you may ask? Well here's the list (in order of star rating):

- The Last Star by Rick Yancey (2 stars)
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway (2 stars)
- Nerve by Jeanne Ryan (2 stars)
- Panic by Lauren Oliver (3 stars)
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (3 stars)
- Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (3 stars)
- Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn (3 stars)
- Faithful by Alice Hoffman (3 stars)
- Cinder by Marissa Meyer (3 stars)
- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (3 stars)
- The Dream Protocol by Adara Quick (3 stars)
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (3 stars)
- Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (3 stars)
- The Thousandth Floor by Katharine McGee (3 stars)
- Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi (4 stars)
- Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes by E Randolph Richards (4 stars)
- The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (4 stars)
- All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (4 stars)
- The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton (4 stars)
- It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover (4 stars)
- Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (4 stars)
- Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell (4 stars)
- Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (4 stars)
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Book 1 by Douglas Adams (4 stars)
- Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (4 stars)
- Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (4 stars)
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (4 stars)
- Dark Matter by Black Crouch (4 stars)
- All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (4 stars)
- The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle (4 stars)
- Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (4 stars)
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (5 stars)
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (5 stars)
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck (5 stars)

Although I only gave out three 5-star ratings (I'm really stingy with my "perfect scores"), there were a number of books that really stood out to me.

Here are my top 10 reads:

1. East of Eden
2. The Handmaid's Tale
3. Homegoing
4. All the Light We Cannot See
5. The Poisonwood Bible
6. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes
7. The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
8. Six of Crows
9. It Ends with Us
10. Dark Matter

You can see by my ratings that I was not at all impressed with The Last Star or Nerve. If you want to have a good laugh, go read those reviews on this blog. Also, if you're curious about any of the others, most of them have reviews up on here as well (if not, head over to my Goodreads account).

All in all, it was a very full literary year. By switching to my local library (which I rediscovered this summer) I saved thousands of dollars on car insurance. Just kidding. But seriously, I had a moment sometime this summer: "Holy smokes...why are new hardbacks almost 30 dollars?! I have so many books I want to read, but I can't afford this!" *lightbulb* "Ah! My local library is the answer!" I may not have saved thousands, but I may have saved hundreds.

I cannot sing the praises of the place enough. People think that in the age of technology, the libraries are becoming obsolete. Well, I have words for them, but I'll save it for another blog post.

So what's in store for 2017?

For one, I'm going to set my reading goal higher. I'd love to read 100 books in a year, but I'm not sure that's reasonable. So I'll probably settle for 50. Also, as much as I love reading current fiction and YA lit, I've realized that I have gaps in my classic literature knowledge that I need to fill in along with dozens of books on my shelf that need to be read. I'm planning on continuing to read the newer fiction but to intersperse it with some of the older, classic reads. (I still have not read Dracula, Frankenstein, Alice in Wonderland, or Peter Pan. What kind of English major am I?!)

I want to continue interacting with the bookish community. This year, I set up a bookstagram account (an account devoted to all bookish pictures and comments) and it has been so very fun interacting with hundreds of fellow booklovers across the globe! I want to keep reviewing books and staying up to date on the latest and greatest, and I'd love to get to the point where I can request/receive ARC copies of books. Free books for an honest review? You bet!

If you want to follow my bookstagram account, find me at @the_word_nerdess :)

2016 was a year for the books, and I'm looking forward to 2017! Happy reading, my friends!