Archives for December 2018

Jamie, the blogger behind The Perpetual Page-Turner, puts together a wonderful book survey at the end of each year and here it is for 2018. Reading wasn’t easy for me for most of the year, but since the fall, my focus, stamina, and short-term memory all improved. Opening a book has become fun again and I think 2019 will be even better!

Here’s what my reading life looked like in 2018:

Number Of Books You Read: 107

Number of Re-Reads: 2 – The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan and And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie

Genre You Read The Most From: Didn’t really have one — I was all over the place this year genre-wise.

1. Best Book You Read In 2018?

Calypso, by David Sedaris

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

The Kiss Quotient, by Helen Hoang

I didn’t realize how romancey it was going to be. Overall it was enjoyable, but romance is just not the genre for me.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  

Educated, by Tara Westover – I was just floored by the experiences she had with her family.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

Calypso, by David Sedaris – it’s quite an easy sell 🙂

5. Best series you started in 2018?

Garden Spells (Waverly Family #1), by Sarah Addison Allen

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2018?

Maurene Goo, author of The Way You Make Me Feel

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

I don’t read a ton of non-fiction, so I’m going with When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel Pink for this one.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarty – it’s not my favorite of Moriarty’s, but I still couldn’t put it down!

9. Book You Read In 2018 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change, by Pema Chodron

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2018?

Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata

11. Most memorable character of 2018?

Jack Reacher from Killing Floor, by Lee Child

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2018?

Long Way Down, by Jason Reynolds

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2018?

Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Enlightenment, by Robert Wright

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2018 to finally read?

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2018?

I didn’t keep track 🙁

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2018?

Nightlights, by Lorena Alvarez Gomez (60 pages) & Voyager, by Diana Gabaldon (870 pages)

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)

Nine Perfect Strangers, by Liane Moriarty – when I found out what was in those smoothies…

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

Dash and Lily from Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Leopold Gursky and Bruno from The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2018 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah

21. Best Book You Read In 2018 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.:

Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan based on the recommendation of one of my lovely co-workers.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2018?

No fictional crushes this year!

23. Best 2018 debut you read?

The Hazel Wood, by Melissa Albert

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Alaska in The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah. The setting is basically a character in the book.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

Garden Spells, by Sarah Addison Allen

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2018?

Nothing got me close to crying this year

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Check, Please!: #Hockey, Vol. 1, by Ngozi Ukazu – don’t know if this one was really hidden, but it came out pretty late in the year, so I just want to spread how awesome and adorable it was 🙂

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Educated, by Tara Westover

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2018?

Baby Monkey, Private Eye, by Brian Selzick – this delightful title looks like a chunky chapter book, but it’s actually for beginning readers.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

The dads in The Great Alone, by Kristin Hannah and Educated, by Tara Westover both made me furious.

What did your reading year look like? Please share in the comments below or fill out the survey and link up with The Perpetual Page-Turner!

As of this very second, my reading total for 2018 is 104 books. I’m reasonably happy with this number, but there are so many titles I really wanted to read this year, but  didn’t get to. When I looked at my Goodreads TBR, and saw the enormous list of titles that I’d been meaning to read, I couldn’t help but ask, “ What held me back?”

The most honest answer is time, and how sometimes I fill it with HuluNetflixAmazonPrimeAcornTVYouTube instead of reading. Managing screen time better is definitely a goal for me in 2019.

Today I’m sharing the top three books I wish I’d read in 2018 and why I’m especially bummed that I didn’t get to them. Thankfully, books don’t expire, so I just have to get over my disappointment in myself and enjoy these titles in the new year.

(I apologize for the lack of images in this post, but I just updated WordPress and haven’t quite figured out all the formatting :p)

3 Books I Wish I’d Read in 2018:

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelly

Frankenstein celebrated its 200th anniversary this year and I’ve never read it, so it would have been the perfect time to try this classic. Should I make it a priority to read in 2019 or just wait until I’m 85 and read it on the 250th anniversary? 🙂

Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, by Alissa Nutting

I love making all my travel literary, so I wanted to read this before my trip to Las Vegas (Nutting has a PhD from University of Nevada Las Vegas). Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ended took up all my pre-trip-reading time, though. I guess the only thing to do is to head back to Sin City!

Bridge of Clay, by Markus Zusak

Zusak had an author talk in DC to promote this book and I really, really wanted to go, but getting downtown on a Friday during rush hour just wasn’t in the cards. I desperately wanted to buy the book and have him sign it, but because I couldn’t get the signature, I never ended up purchasing the book (geez, I’m a bookish brat!). The library waitlist is still quite long, but Zusak’s The Book Thief is one of very few books that made me cry, so reading his newest release is imperative.

What books do you wish you had read in 2018? Please share in the comments below!

Link topics for the past couple weeks include: the NPR Book Concierge, shopping for books during the holidays, comparing US and UK book covers, and more!

My favorite bookish links from the weeks of November 26 – December 7:

Margaret Atwood Announces The Handmaid Tale’s Sequel, The Testaments
Part deux of The Handmaid’s Tale??? Praise be!  Atwood should have the last word on Gilead, not Hulu.

NPR’s Book Concierge: Our Guide To 2018’s Great Reads
The book concierge is always fun to play with and can be helpful when choosing books to buy as gifts. I’m not naming names, but someone might be getting a book from the “It’s All Geek To Me” category…

The Cranky Bookseller’s Guide To Holiday Shopping
There are some good solid tips here, tips people should use during the rest of the year too.

Who Wore It Best? US Book Covers vs. UK Book Covers for 2018
This is way more fun than Us Weekly’s “Who Wore It Best?” segment!

The Joy of Not Finishing Books: If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Read It
If you read my “How I Learned To Embrace My DNF Pile” post on Book Riot, you’ll know I’m totally onboard with the author of this piece. How do you all feel about not finishing books?

10th Annual Goodreads Choice Awards: Best Books of 2018
Lots of great titles to add to your TBR!

It’s only the beginning of December and websites and blogs are already posting their reading challenges for 2019. This has made me think about the bookish goal I set for myself this year: No New Books for a Year – The Back To My Bookshelves Challenge.

As the name of the challenge so subtly suggests, I wasn’t supposed to buy any new books this year. I was going to read solely from my personal library, but I’ll come right out and say it…I completely failed!

I did really well for the first half of the year. The only newly published books I read were purchased using gift cards or borrowed from the library (these were allowed within my challenge). But when David Sedaris released Calypso at the the end of May, I didn’t have any gift cards left, the library wasn’t going to have the book for a while, and I just HAD to read it ASAP.

I drove to the bookstore, made the illicit purchase, and gosh darn it, it was worth it! I loved Calypso and as a result, the book-buying floodgates were opened. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, reading is supposed to be fun and provide joy. If I’d followed my rules, I wouldn’t have been able to trust my “reading gut” and pick up a book that was calling to me.

The experience of failing my no-new-books challenge has taught me that placing restrictions on my reading doesn’t serve my bookish needs. Buying Calypso and devouring it in a couple days was incredibly satisfying and isn’t satisfaction what we’re all looking for in our reading lives?

I recognize how incredibly privileged I am to be in a situation where I can buy a book if I want it, and I’m not condoning going out on regular shopping sprees for new books. Moderation is a good thing, even when it comes to buying books (hard to believe, I know! 🙂 ) I’ve bought a few more new titles since my Sedaris purchase, but most of what I’ve read this year has still been from my shelves and from the library.

My main message here is that (for me) reading challenges should widen horizons and allow for spontaneity instead of being rule-based and restrictive. So, I am totally fine with the fact that I fell short on my reading goal for 2018. January is right around the corner and I plan on challenging myself in new and fun ways. Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

How did you do on your reading challenges and goals in 2018? Please share in the comments below!