I’ve mentioned on the blog before how I’m not a big New Year’s resolution person. I always seem to be in the middle of things at the beginning the year and not in the right place to take stock and set new goals. And this year is no exception, as I’m deep in work to get ELIXIR SAVED published in the first quarter of this year. I do, however, enjoy taking a look back at what I’ve read.
My handy Goodreads 2019 Reading Challenge shows that it was a low year as far as the number of books I read, only 41, nine shy of the goal I set at the beginning of the year. That doesn’t count the hundreds of picture books I’ve read (and reread) throughout the year. It doesn’t bum me out that I missed my goal because it’s just a number I set at the beginning of the year that seems attainable. There have been years when I’ve adjusted my number up because I was so far ahead of my original goal.
There are lots of reasons why I had a slow reading year. I read aloud to the boys a lot, and as I mentioned, much of that reading doesn’t get counted. I also stopped nursing The Gentleman in early October, so that cut at least 15 minutes of guaranteed reading time a day for the remainder of the year, and those little stretches add up. And then there was the epic time suck of finishing up ELIXIR SAVED, which was totally worth cutting down on my reading time. I’m also in the middle of a bunch of books right now, so those will all count towards this year.
I read a couple of complete YA fantasy series that I really enjoyed: Stephanie Garber’s CARAVAL books and Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series. The latter was a nice surprise because fae stories aren’t always my favorite, but all three books (I haven’t read book 1.5) were so fast-paced, I just flew right through them. I also finished up Jenny Han’s TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE series.
Some books I’m still thinking about are THE GRACE YEAR by Kim Liggett, ON THE COME UP by Angie Thomas, THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness, CIRCE by Madeline Miller, and THE WICKED DEEP by Shea Ernshaw. I’m looking forward to picking up more books by these authors in the future.
I continued stretching my mind with non-fiction that included ROVING MARS: SPIRIT, OPPORTUNITY, AND THE EXPLORATION OF THE RED PLANET by Steve Squyres and THE INTERSTELLAR AGE: INSIDE THE FORTY-YEAR VOYAGER MISSION by Jim Bell. (Can you tell the boys and I have been into space robots lately?)
Finally big shout-outs to a couple of my fellow author friends that I read this year. I described Patrick Scalisi’s THE KEY TO THE UNIVERSE as “an intergalactic, intergenerational adventure that’s equal parts thrilling and philosophical.” I loved THE CITY OF VEILS by S. Usher Evans, winner of the Florida Indie Author Project for Best YA Fiction!
What were your memorable reads of 2019?
Forty-one books and this doesn’t include PBs? Katie, in my book (intended 😛 ) this is a very high number for one year. I’m lucky to read half that number in twelve months.
Ha! Love a good pun. Your words are always so encouraging, Mirka…thank you.
I just finished MAYBE A FOX by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee – loved it, and reading about their co-writing process in authors’ notes at the back. I think I’ve loved everything Kathi Appelt has written.
Ooooh, I’ll have to add that one to my TBR (if it isn’t already on there…it’s a bit unwieldy).
What a lovely roundup of memorable books. It’s funny how much the kids end up dictating what we end up reading, no? I was really happy about some of my kids’ recommendations. The one that I loved and cried over was When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (sp?). Happy New Year, Katie!
Happy New Year, Vijaya! It’s so fun that my oldest child is finally old enough to start reading some of the novels I love, and I’m so excited to share more as he (and the littler ones) get older.