So, I’ve had a blog for 15 years (!) and I’ve been doing best of reports since 2010. Not quite a decade, but I thought it would be interesting to see how I fared in the 2010s.
I read the most books in 2012 with 188 total! My worst year was 2017 with “only” 133. (Still. That’s a 55 book difference between my highest and lowest years!) And because I’m a dork, I made a chart with all my numbers for the past 9 years. Because why not? (I think it’s fascinating.)
A few other things of note:
– I started counting authors of color in 2014 (with 12), and I’ve increased (mostly) every year with 42 in 2018.
– The last time I really had fun with “awards” was in 2015.
– The best award I ever gave (well, the one that made me smile when I was looking through, though I have to admit my various awards for “wink wink, nudge nudge” and “blush” books were pretty great too): Indulging in my desire to carry around a photo of Nathan Fillion (2013).
It’s been fun to look at the past to see how I have (and have not) changed.
At work, they asked for my top three of the decade. After much soul-searching (I’ve read 1665 books over the past 10 years!) I chose these three:
There were many more I could have chosen, but I’m content with these.
And now for 2019!
By the numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 33
YA Fiction: 47
Graphic Novels: 18
Non-Fiction: 20
Adult Fiction: 31
Grand Total: 150
Number of those that were speculative fiction books, not counting graphic novels: 50
Number of those that were by authors of color: 43
Number of those that were audio books: 14
Number of those that were rereads: 14
Abandoned: 7
Best Adult Fiction:Â The Reckless Oath We Made
Best YA book:Â The Poet X
Best Middle Grade book: The Lost GirlÂ
Best Fantasy:Â The Starless Sea
Best Sci-Fi/Distopian:Â Illuminae
Best Graphic Novel:Â New Kid
Best Non-Fiction:Â Running with Sherman
Best MG/YA Non-fiction: Shout
Best Romance:Â Evvie Drake Starts Over
Best Audiobook:Â Talking to Strangers
Cover love:
Weird as heck but it worked for me:
LGBT+ FTW: My Life as a Goddess, Gideon the Ninth, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Naturally Tan, Kiss Number 8, Tarnished are the Stars, Sissy, That Inevitable Victorian Thing, Red, White & Royal Blue, The Fifth Season, To Night Owl From Dogfish, The Moon Within
Don’t read these two at the same time:
Favorite re-reads:
Need the next book NOW: The Children of Virtue and Vengeance, Steel Tide
Okay, I should have read this ages ago: Monster, Illuminae, Born a Crime, The Fifth Season
Favorite one of the Terry Pratchett Witch Books:
Not Enough Native Representation, but It’s a start: There There, Who Will Tell My Brother, Hearts Unbroken, #Notyourprincess, Indian Shoes
The One I Needed:
Immigrant stories: The Sun is Also a Star, The Poet X, Love, Hate & Other Filters, We’re Not From Here, The Moon Within, Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, Love from A to Z, A Step from Heaven, Other Words for Home, Frankly in Love [how did I never write a review for this one?], The Tequila Worm [or this one?], The Circuit, Where We Came From, Dominicana, Return to Sender
What were your favorites from the year?
The Book Nut 