By the Numbers:
Middle Grade Fiction: 68
YA Fiction: 60
Graphic Novels: 12
Non-Fiction: 15
Adult Fiction: 27
(Number of those that were fantasy books: 45)
Grand Total: 182
Abandoned: 7
Challenges Completed: 6
And yes, I have to do my awards (you’ve been waiting for this, haven’t you?):
Best Adult Fiction: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
Best YA book: Marcelo in the Real World
Best Middle-grade book: Out of My Mind
Best Fantasy: Finnikin of the Rock
Best Sci-Fi/Distopian: Academy 7
Best Graphic Novel Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper and Book 2: The Stonekeeper’s Curse
Best Non-Fiction: Open: An Autobiography
Best Romance: A Song for Summer
Best Mystery: The Beekeeper’s Apprentice
Best Jacket Flap: Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk
And in other categories…
Books I should have read AGES ago: Eat, Pray, Love; The Picture of Dorian Grey; The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Favorite Reviews: It’s not terribly clever, but I really enjoyed being part of the NerdsHeartYA tournament this year.
Theme(s) that inadvertently manifested themselves: books about the immigrant experience, fantasies that have a historical fiction feel, crazy parents
The Wink-Wink, Nudge-Nudge book: Sugar
Best *swoon* factor: Heist Society, The Demon’s Lexicon/The Demon’s Covenant
Best Interviewee: Varian Johnson (though Wendy Mass has the squee factor)
Favorite Challenge (that wasn’t hosted by Carl): Flashback Challenge: It was fun rereading books this year!
Favorite reread: The Grey King
Woo-hoo, they’re back!: Ring of Solomon, The Lost Hero
Books that I wanted the sequel for as soon as I read them: Incarceron, Starcrossed
Best main characters: Augie, TC and Ale (My Most Excellent Year)
Book for in-person book group I liked best: Girl in Hyacinth Blue
Book for on-line book group I liked best: The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Books I finished but didn’t feel the love for: Hachiko Waits, I am Morgan le Fey, Countdown, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance
Number of Shakespeare plays I read: 1 – Much Ado About Nothing (and watched two movie versions of it), and I only saw one (MacBeth, even though the interpretation — the witches were actually space aliens — didn’t really work for me).
Best Sequel (by an Author Who Didn’t Write the Original): Wishing for Tomorrow
Disappointing book by an author I love: The Candymakers (no review, as I chose not to put one up), by Wendy Mass
Books that made me laugh the most: Belly Up; Going Bovine; Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging
Best books with the worst parents: How I Nicky Flynn Get a Life (and a Dog); One Crazy Summer
Best quirky book: The Kneebone Boy
Authors everyone else loves that I discovered I liked: Diana Wynne Jones, Sarah Rees Brennan, Ally Carter
Best book from an author I previously didn’t care for: Penny Dreadful by Laurel Snyder; Going Bovine, by Libba Bray; Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris
First-time authors I’d love to see more from: Rob Buyea (Because of Mr. Terupt),
Yay, a local author: Clare Vanderpool (Moon Over Manifest)
Book I read the fastest: Mockingjay
Favorite book from a series: I Shall Wear Midnight, A Conspiracy of Kings
Newbery Books I read: I didn’t read a single one this year. Shame on me.
Books that made me want to go out and do something: Confections of a Closet Master Baker (bake, of course); French Milk, Under a Tuscan Sun, Eat, Pray Love (travel); The Cardturner (play bridge); Bamboo People (help the people in Burma)
What are some of your bests this past year?