Some of the books discussed may have been received as review copies - this post contains affiliate links
Reading has clearly taken over as my most time-consuming hobby, and I've enjoyed incorporating more book content on the blog! So I thought I would recap all the books I read in the final quarter of the year - there were 26 of them (33 in the first quarter, 28 in the second quarter, and 30 of them in the third quarter). My original goal was to read at least 60 books through the whole year and I crushed that, so I upped it to 100 books for the year, and I certainly surpassed this goal this read by reading a total of 117 books in 2021!
I have always been a pretty good reader; but, my reading has really picked since the pandemic. I've been more conscious about taking the time to read, and using it as a pre-bed routine to help my unwind and relax before bed (I think my anxious thoughts picked up and it was hard to fall asleep), so I've been turning the phone off before bed and reading for at least 15-20 minutes, and it's really helped with my routine plus getting through my ever growing TBR!
I'm not a book snob - I will consume books anyway - audiobooks, physical books and I've been getting more in to electronic books as well just for convenience of having them on my phone! I have a fairly long commute to work, so audiobooks have always been a big part of my reading routine and I listened to even more at work as well - I chilled out on the electronic books this quarter, but I have a few to read soon!
In terms of my reading taste, I read absolutely everything - literary fiction, non-fiction books, fantasy, young adult, graphic novels; I will give anything a go and there is rarely a category that I don't enjoy!
I certainly can't give reviews on all 26 books I read, so if you are interested in my thoughts and rankings on all of them make sure you check out my Goodreads page - and if you have it too, add me as a friend! I love seeing what people are reading and find some new books to read! (But, also I have been doing separate reviews for books I've loved and will wrap up a Favourite Books of 2021 post soon!
One of my reading goals this year is to read about the same amount of newer books are older books - newer books would be 2020, 2021 and ARC releases and older books are anything prior to 2020! I feel like most of year I was balanced pretty good, but these last few months I really tried to push and finish up some series that I've been reading (I've got so many on the go, that I was really trying to wrap a few up!)
Alright, a quick look at all the books I've read October - December 2021:
- Whichwood by Tahereh Mafi - (middle grade fantasy) 3 stars
- All The Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grade - (young adult fantasy) 3.5 stars
- Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender - (young adult contemporary fiction) 4 stars
- Once Upon A Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber - (young adult fantasy) 4 stars
- The Education of Augie Merasty by Joseph Auguste Merasty - (memoir) 3 stars
- A Chorus Rises by Bethanny C. Morrow - (young adult magical realism) 3.5 stars
- Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris - (historical fiction) 4 stars
- Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim - (young adult fantasy) 4 stars
- The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman - (magical realism) 4 stars
- The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - (young adult fantasy) 3.5 stars
- The Last Legacy by Adrienne Young - (young adult fantasy) 5 stars
- All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody & Christine Lynn Herman - (young adult fantasy) 3 stars
- Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt, Isabelle Arsenault - (graphic novel) 3.5 stars
- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow - (fantasy) 4 stars
- Hunting by Stars by Cherie Dimaline - (young adult dystopian) 5 stars
- Small Favors by Erin A. Craig - (young adult fantasy) 3.5 stars
- Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O'Neill - (graphic novel) 4 stars
- Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo - (young adult fantasy) 4 stars
- A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger - (young adult fantasy) 3.5 stars
- I Am Not a Juvenile Delinquent by Sharon Charde - (memoir) 3 stars
- The Desolations of Devil's Acre by Ransom Riggs - (young adult fantasy) 3.5 stars
- All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson - (memoir) 3.5 stars
- A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee - (young adult magical realism) 2.5 stars
- Written in Starlight by Isabel Ibanez - (young adult fantasy) 3 stars
- Our Violent Ends by Chloe Gong - (young adult fantasy) 4 stars
- Three Sisters by Heather Morris - (historical fiction) 3.5 stars
My rating system is:
5 Stars: Excellent/Fantastic/Amazing Read
4.5 Stars: Really Great Read
4 Stars: Great Read
3.5 Stars: Really Good Book
3 Stars: Good Book
2.5 Stars: Eh, It was Okay Read
2 Stars: Finished it, but Didn't Enjoy It
1.5 Stars: Not Good at All
1 Star: DNF (Did Not Finish)
Lucky for me, I had a pretty great reading quarter - I read lots of Great and Good books, and there wasn't anything under a 2.5 star read for me for the past few months!
While there has been lots of good books the past few months, there weren't a ton of 4.5 and 5 star reads, so I only have a top 2 books of the quarter to share a little bit more about:
- The Last Legacy by Adrienne Young ~ 5 stars. This is a companion to the Fable series and it was so good! Where Fable is set at sea, this is set on land following the Roth family that are a mafia style crime family looking to try and find their way in to a legitimate business. Our main character is sucked in to their world but wants to forge her own path - this books focuses on breaking tradition, defying expectation, making your own fate, and taking back your power! (I wrote a full review on this on another post here it you're interested!)
- Hunting By Stars by Cherie Dimaline ~ 5 stars. This is the followup novel to The Marrow Thieves published a couple of years ago - it is a dystopian young adult series set in a world ravaged by climate change where people have lost the ability to dream. They believe the secret to fixing this lies within Indigenous people's bone marrow and they will stop at nothing to get it, with great harm caused to the "donor". So, we follow a group on the run from being hunted. This follows right from the end of book 1 and it just keeps you on your toes the whole time! It touches on very relevant issues, has an amazing found family and is so good! (I also wrote a whole review of this book here if you are interested!)
And, with some good there is usually some bad, but this quarter, there was only one book that wasn't good for me:
- A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee ~ 2.5 stars. This was such a disappointment for me because this book sounds like it is my vibe - it's a magical realism style book set at a girl's school with a witchy vibe, but I could not get in to it. I didn't love the characters - I appreciate that they were supposed to be more morally grey and a little villainous, but they fell a little flat and I just wasn't that excited by the story. The end reveals didn't wow me and this just didn't do it for me all around.
So, overall I'm super impressed that I was able to read 117 books this year - the most I've ever read by far (like almost double my past best years), and I'm just trying to make a little more time each day for reading before bed. I had a really good reading year and for the most part I met my goals - I read a good mix of older and newer books and I read a lot of different genres as well!
Also this year, one thing I really want to do was to wrap up a lot of outstanding series that I had to finish and I can happily say I'm all caught up on all series - the last 2 books I'm starting this year (one audio, 1 physical) are the last ones to finish and catch up on all my series. So, the series I managed to finish up are: Havenfall, Sheets, Shades of Magic graphic novels, Millennium (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Fable, Dumplin' series, Whichwood, All The Stars and Teeth, A Chorus Rises series, The Marrow Thieves, Practical Magic, Woven in Moonlight, Shadow & Bone, Mother of Madness, These Violent Delights, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and the Tattooist of Auschwitz series. (I also decided not to continue some other series, but no need to name them!) And, I'm starting the last book in A Song of Wraiths and Ruins and the second book in the Forest of Souls series (the third book comes out in 2022), and the weirdly organized me really enjoys this. I have a ton of series I'd like to start next year and it was getting a little overwhelming with some of the older ones waiting for me to complete!
I think going in to 2022, I'm still hoping to keep up with a mix of older and newer books, as well as keeping my genres diverse as my goals! I did a good job this year, so I think it should be easy to continue next year!
I always love seeing your reads! I have 6 Crimson Cranes on my list for this year. And after your love for The Night Circus, I need to read that one too!
ReplyDeleteI can never recommend The Night Circus enough!! I liked 6 Crimson Cranes - it was very unique!
DeleteThe Night Circus was so SO fantastic and I am so glad I FINALLY got to read it this year! I started driving to work when the pandemic started instead of taking transit which cut my reading time down and I tried audiobooks, but I didn't take to them. I would end up borrowing the physical book as well and then reading it faster than the audio LOL. This is what happened with Malibu Rising, but then again it was a book I was super interested in and was racing through! Here's to more goals achieved on Goodreads and more amazing books to share!
ReplyDeleteI can see that - the narrator and pacing really make the book (I actually listen to mine at 1.25 speed as I find they tend to read slower than I listen, and it totally helped) but I know it's not a medium for everyone! I love cooking and cleaning while listening to someone tell me a story :)
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