Wednesday, May 04, 2016

Last year in books

My goal was to read 52 books in 2015. I only managed 48, but they were a solid 48. I blame throwing a wedding in the last few weeks of the year for missing those last 4. Here's what I read.  All the bolded ones are the ones you really should read too.
  1. Yes Please
  2. Riding Lessons
  3. My Sister's Grave
  4. The Secret Place
  5. The Magician King
  6. The Magician's Land
  7. The Queen of the Tearling
  8. The Wide Window
  9. Flash Boys
  10. Red Rising
  11. The Orphan Master's Son
  12. Spoiled
  13. Beyond Belief
  14. To Kill a Mockingbird (I was supposed to read this in high school but I never did. Shhhh)
  15. Bird Box
  16. Under the Banner of Heaven
  17. On Immunity
  18. Flora
  19. The Girl on the Train
  20. Longbourn
  21. Destiny of the Republic
  22. Golden Son
  23. The Invasion of the Tearling
  24. Go Set a Watchman
  25. In the Unlikely Event
  26. The Husband's Secret
  27. All the Light We Cannot See
  28. Wild
  29. Everything I Never Told You
  30. Failure is Not an Option
  31. The Royal We
  32. Americanah
  33. Dead Wake
  34. Thirty Million Words
  35. Astonish Me
  36. The Selection
  37. I Know Why the Caged Bird Signs
  38. Watergate: A Novel
  39. Challenger Deep
  40. Trickster's Queen
  41. Jackaby
  42. The Elite
  43. Ready Player One
  44. The One
  45. Arcadia
  46. Fates and Furies
  47. Beastly Bones: A Jackaby Novel
  48. The Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories
This list could not have happened without the fist-full of jelly beans that is The Selection series. I cruised through the first four books with such agony over how they were the worst and yet I could-not-would-not stop. If you want to feel particularly bad about yourself as an unpublished author, I highly recommend them.

Also, I recognize that reporting out on this list is five months late. How did it get to be May so fast? Considering how I'm doing on other deliverables, half a year late is really not that bad. 


that mckim girl said...

Well now I want to post my list from last year. I'm glad "The Selection" series got a special shout out even if it did not get bolded. Also, my commentary on your bolding/not bolding choices:

1- I loved Red Rising
2- Yeah, The Invasion of the Tearling does not deserve bolding but I am still hopeful for the third?
3- Go Set a Watchman only because it is FASCINATING to analyze the differences/changes between the two
4- I have In the Unlikely Event on hold at the library
5- I thought you didn't like The Royal We for some reason? I loved it. Maybe that was Lizzie who didn't like it?
6- I have a copy of Challenger Deep sitting on my shelf...good to know that I should actually read it
7- How is Tamora Pierce not automatically bolded? You are wrong on this one.
8- I liked Jackaby a lot more than I liked the sequel
9- Arcadia like Tom Stoppard's Arcadia? Because, if so, DISAGREE
10- Opposite of Loneliness is the last on your list and I think the first on my list for 2016, so we are just cosmically connected by our reading lists!!!

Ok, that is all for now. Let's read more things together this year.

Rachel said...

A rebuttal:

1- I categorize Red Rising with the Selection books in terms of both easy readability and being pretty terrible.
5- I liked it more than I thought I would, it also is a book I read twice this year which feels like an automatic bolding.
6- It is a heart breaker, but so, so powerful.
7- That was the WORST Tamora Pierce book ever (okay, maybe not). It had the best cover and the worst story.
9- No, it is Arcadia by Lauren Groff. My mom thinks she's great, I am less impressed.
10- Heart emoji

Let's please read more together. I need you to tell me what to read because I've been flailing this year.

that mckim girl said...

Ok, I posted my list for you...

She's pint-sized and amazing.