A Year in Review | 2016

Hello! Welcome to the end of 2016, which really at this point just needs to go away. So here we are!

I had a decent reading year this year and a decent year overall (I mean hey, the world was kinda shitty this year but my personal year was pretty nice. That’s something I guess). So here’s my reading and blogging year in review:

My Year in Books:

Total books DNF’d this year: 1

---

Stats for the Embuhleeliest Blog:

So what this is showing me is that I got really lazy in early summer and stayed that way ’til mid fall. I can guess why this occurred honestly it’ll probably just sound like an excuse, so I’m not even gonna try to explain this one away haha. Next year I’ll try harder!

Total posts published: 111
Reviews: 12
Tags: 27
Top 5 Wednesdays: 15
Most popular post of 2016: New Year’s Resolutions Book Tag (Original!)

Wrap Ups:

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September & October | November

December:

Saga vols 4-6 by Brian K Vaughan – 5/5 stars
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton – 4.5/5 stars
The Gigantic Beard That Was Evil by by Stephen Collins – 3.5/5 stars
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb – 4/5 stars
Attack on Titan vols 2-8 by Hajime Isayama – 4/5 stars to 5/5 stars

---

Results of 2016 Reading Resolutions and Challenges:

I made a few different posts towards the end of ’15 that detail my goals. If you want to see the originals, they’ll be linked below. Otherwise, enjoy my lack of… everything. :”D

2016 Reading Resolutions:

• Read 50 books –Complete
• Complete at least half of the Read Harder reading challenge –Complete
• Pick up books because they interest me, not just because they’re super hyped – Complete
• Put all my books together – Complete
• Get rid of books I disliked and/or will never reread again – Complete

100% of goals accomplished this year!

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge:

Challenges completed –

Read a book over 500 pages: Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Read a horror book: Locke & Key volume 1 by Joe Hill
Read a collection of Essays: Bad Feminist
Read a book under 100 pages: I am a Pole (And So Can You!)
Read a non-superhero comic that debuted in the last three years: Through the Woods (2014)
Read a non-fiction book about feminism or dealing with feminist themes: Bad Feminist
Read a Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic Novel: Life As We Knew It
Read a book originally published in the decade you were born: Assassin’s Apprentice
Read a book that was adapted into a movie, then watch the movie: Flowers for Algernon (movie in progress)
Read a book with a main character that has a mental illness: Flowers for Algernon
Read a book about religion (fiction or nonfiction): The Egg by Andy Weir
Listen to an audiobook that has won an Audie Award: Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

12/24 complete – Goal of 50% is accomplished!

16 in 2016:

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien – Nope
Weave World by Clive Barker – Currently Reading
Storm of Swords by George RR Martin – Yep!
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – Nope
The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku – Nope
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson – Nope
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon – Nope
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (illustrated) by JK Rowling – Nope
14 by Peter Clines –Nope
The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey – Nope
Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell –Nope
Breakable by Tammara Webber – Yep!
Fired Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag – Nope
Across the Nightingale Floor by Gillian Rubinstein – Nope
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami – Nope
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo – Nope

So like… 2.5 out of 16 books. I told you that I’m usually really bad with these. :”D That’s why I made it one of my 2017 goals to actually finish my 17 in 2017 list, something I didn’t do in 2016. Woot?

---

End of Year Survey

Like last year, I’m going to do the End of Year Survey. If you’d like to do this as well, consider yourself tagged.

Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 56
Number of Re-Reads: 7
Genre You Read The Most From: Graphic novels and manga

Best in Books

Best Book You Read In 2016?
Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love But Didn’t
Addicted to You by Krista and Becca Ritchie
Most Surprising (in a good way) book you read?
Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Book You “Pushed” the Most People to Read (And they Did)?
Monstress by Marjorie Liu
Best series you started in 2015? Sequel? Ender?
Starter: Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey
Sequel: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
Ender: Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb (literally the only ender I read this year)
Favorite new author you discovered in 2016?
Robin Hobb
Best books from a genre you don’t typically read/out of comfort zone
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay
Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas
Book you read in 2016 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

Most memorable character of 2016?
Brienne of Tarth from the A Song of Ice and Fire series
Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2016?
Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman’s Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom by Lucia Jang
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Favorite Passage/Quote from a book read in 2016?
“The internet is amazing because it connects us with one another. But it’s also horrific because . . . it connects us with one another.” – You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
Longest and Shortest books read in 2016?
Longest: A Storm of Swords by George R. R. Martin
Shortest: The Egg by Andy Weir
Book that shocked you the most
Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman’s Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom by Lucia Jang
OTP of the Year
Agnieszka and Sarkan, woot woot
Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year
Hakkai and Gojyo from Saiyuki (Saaaame as last year!)
Favorite book you read in 2016 from an author you’ve read previously
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Favorite book of 2016 read based soley on a recommendation from another
Monstress by Marjorie Liu
Newest fictional crush of 2016
Sarkan from Uprooted (weirdly)
Best 2016 debut
You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day
Best Worldbuilding/vivid setting of the year
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
Book that put a smile on your face/most fun to read
Saga by Brian K Vaughan
Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2016
None, actually
Hidden Gem of the year
The Egg by Andy Weir
Book that crushed your soul
None, actually. None of these books really super killed me this year.
Most Unique Book Read in 2016
I Am a Pole (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Book that made you the most mad
Addicted to You by Krista and Becca Ritchie

Looking Ahead

Book you didn’t get to in 2016 but will be a 2017 priority?
A Dance With Dragons by George R. R. Martin
Most anticipated non-debut 2017 release?
Haven’t looked into it yet honestly
Most anticipated 2017 debut?
Same as above
Most anticipated 2017 series ender/sequel release?
Saaaaame as above
One thing you hope to accomplish in your 2017 reading/blogging life
Be more consistent
A 2017 release you’ve already read and recommend to everyone
Guys, I’m a little blog and it’s still 2016. You silly.

---

And that’s my yearly review! I hope I didn’t bore you all to tears, thank you for reading! :”D

Top Books of 2016

Hello! This is one of my favorite posts of the year. 😀 Originally I had planned for a ‘Top 10’ but I’m thinking not enough books stood out in my mind for that. So I’m going to do a top… however many I want.

Each one of these I’ve rated five stars and can’t recommend them enough. There, now that I’ve said that up here, hopefully I won’t repeat it over and over for each book I mention. 😛 Hahaha. Also, I won’t be going much into the synopses as much as why I loved them, but I’ll have each linked to goodreads so you can check them out if you wish.

So right, these are the books I thought were the bees knees (in no particular order – I couldn’t pick a favorite!)

---

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb.

Robin Hobb was a new author for me this year and has quickly become one of my favorites. This series is her first and last year its first book celebrated its twentieth birthday! I think what makes me love this series so much is that it caught me so unaware. The synopsis on the back of the first one, forgive me for saying but it’s horribly generic. Like, I never would have picked it up if not for the Hobb-along Readalong that I had joined (which… has since fallen to the wayside for me, but that’s not the point).

This series taught me not to judge a book by its cover (or its synopsis). It has humor and adventure and action and even a tad bit of romance at times. The world it’s set in is rich and developed, the characters are complex and varied. I loved everything about this series.

I think the greatest strength of these books is the character development. The main character starts as a toddler and by the end, he’s a grown man. Each book allows the reader to see how he develops and why his personality ends how it does. It’s unusual to follow one character for so long and I really enjoyed it.

---

Stars Between the Sun and Moon: One Woman’s Life in North Korea and Escape to Freedom by Lucia Jang.

I picked this book up early this year after buzzing through In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park, which like this memoir, is a North Korean woman’s story of her life in North Korea and all the horrors she had to go through to leave it.

I’ll start by saying that this story is heavy. It’s deep, it’s dark and it’s draining. There were times that I found myself emotionally unable to function for a while after reading sections of this book. So I warn you now, don’t go into this expecting a fluffy read. This woman went through a lot, much of it unfathomable to me and I’m sure it will also be to you.

But it’s definitely worth the read. It’s such an eye-opening experience, reading Lucia Jang’s perspective. People are always talking about wanting to read books that will change them or alter how they see the world. Well, this will do it.

---

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Are you really shocked that this is on here? I’ve been a Novik fangirl for nearly a decade now. Her Temeraire series is gold and when I saw this had come out, I jumped on it. I was not disappointed. This book artfully mixes whimsy and fairy tale and darkness and grit together to tell a tale of a dark wood, a young maiden and a man who calls himself a dragon.

This book screamed nostalgia for me and honestly I couldn’t tell you why. I just felt like I was going home, reading this. It felt ‘just right’. I want to reread it again sometime soon and I want the rest of the planet to read it with me.

---

Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey

This was my delve into epic space operas and science fiction that didn’t also scream ‘YA’. This book is a chunker. Heavy as a brick and just as big, this book introduces our solar system as an inhabitable if not deadly entity. This book had me from the prologue and didn’t let me go until after I had finished it.

What I loved most about this book was the way all the different genres were interwoven to create a gripping saga that I still want more of. Sci-fi and horror and thriller and at times, comedy. It was all in here. The imagery in this book was gritty and grimy and gave me the chills. The story and the characters crafted this could-be world that I could see myself in had I been born a hundred years from now. This book was by far my favorite sci-fi read of the year.

It’s good. It’s great. If you’re looking for a gateway into sci-fi, here it is for you.

---

And that’s it! The books I call my favorites. If you’ve read any of these, let me know what you thought! If you haven’t, read them and then tell me what you thought! :”D

Happy reading!

November Wrap Up, December Currently Reading – Blogmas 12/1

Hello, it’s the first day of Blogmas!! 😀 Welcome to what will be a lot of me crowding your feed. Because I’m here all month. :”D Ba-dum tsh

Today I’m doing my monthly wrap-up. The posts will get more Christmasy themed at some point, I swear.

---

Overview of Blog Activity for the Month:

• One wrap up posted
  • September/October Wrap up and November Currently Reading
• One book haul posted
  • September/October Book Haul
• One review posted:
  • Rest by Mark Powers
• One tag posted
  • Autumn Reading Tag
• Two Nanowrimo posts
  • Nanowrimo Week 1
  • Nanowrimo Week 2
• Two Top 5 Wednesday posts
  • Rereads
  • Favorite Villains
• Two Blogmas posts:
  • Blogmas 2016
  • Blogmas Tentative Schedule
• One off-topic post
  • What makes me happy

Total posts for November: 11. This is the most I’ve had in a long time. 😀

---

Reading Overview for the Month(s):

Books:

I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison. This is a classic sci-fi short story with horrific elements. It revolves around the last remaining group of people and the AI that tortures them. It’s unsettling and I really liked it. – 3 stars

Rest by Mark Powers. I’m pretty sure this is a one-off as far as graphic novels are concerned. It’s labeled ‘volume 1’ but it was published 5 years ago and there was never any volume 2. It was really great, all up until the end. I loved it until that point. – 2 stars

You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day. Guess who reopened my Scribd account, it was me. :”D I think I listened to this baby in two or three days and absolutely loved it. Definitely recommend it. – 5 stars

Saga volumes 2 and 3 by Brian K Vaughan. These are rereads for me in prep for reading volume 6. I’m liking them more this time around than the first time, and I loved them the first time. :”D – 5 stars each

---

Progress on 2016 Reading Goals:

• Read 42/50 books (3 behind)
• Picked up books out of interest instead of hype: 5/5
• Books unhauled from disinterest or dislike: None this month
• 2/16 16 in 2016 books completed

---

Progress on Book Riot Read Harder/TBR Jar Challenge:

Oops.

---

December Currently Reading:

Life, The Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
Weave World by Clive Barker
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb (buddy read with Zezee!)
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (audiobook with the SO)

It’s literally the same as last month. I’ve finished none of them.

---

Happy reading! :”D

NaNoWriMo 2016

Happy day! I’m going to participate in NaNoWriMo again this year, and I feel like it’s going to be an interesting one purely do to the format I’m going to be writing in. This year is going to be a bit different. Yes, there will be a rough draft of a novel and it will go towards a word count, but knowing me and my workload this semester, I already know it’s not going to make 50,000 words.

So what I’m doing to do is I’m going to include my projects into my word count. I’m writing (code), and it’s creating a thing, so I’m going to count it (cry). My projects this semester are two huge ones: Create a text miner that will read in raw medical data and do a bit of machine learning to harvest patterns from it, and create a linking package between a tic tac toe game and a NAO robot that will allow that robot to play the game with a human user. Both projects are huge and both will require so much damn code. So I’m going to count that code, just because I know it’s going to suck up hours of my time in November (and now – I’m already working on the damn things). My novel will be a reboot of one I wrote in 2010, so I already know the general plot, I’m just going to rewrite it from scratch since I didn’t like how it had turned out.

So my Nano plans are as follows:

Text Mining and NAO Tic Tac Toe projects as a priority. I’m going to count each line of code as one word, just because it’ll be hard to pick out words from brackets, operations, etc etc.

The novel reboot as a secondary project, because the first two are more important. D:

So yes. I’m doing Nano, but I’m definitely doing it in a very non-traditional way.

Wish me luck! If you’re participating, add me on the Nanowrimo website! 😀

New Year’s Resolutions Book Tag (Original!)

Hello! Shivii @browneyedmusings and I have created another tag! Though the idea for this tag is her brain child for sure – I was just lucky enough that she asked me to be a part of it. So thank you! Here is her post so you can check it out as well. :”D We each created roughly half the questions – I did the first five and Shivii did the last six. We figured it would be a perfect way to beginning our 2016 bloggy things. Onward!

Get in shape – name a book that doesn’t quite fit on your shelf correctly

The Samurai and the Sacred by Stephen Turnball. It’s just such an awkward size. It’s shorter than my other hard backs but taller then my paperbacks, and it’s wider than any other book on its shelf, so it sticks out farther. I have it on the end and just try not to look at it. Huff.

 

Eat healthy – name a book you feel was good for you to read

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park. I feel like memoirs in general are good to read, but this one in particular was very intense. You don’t think what other people have to go through in their lives and seeing this woman’s account was a real eye-opener.

 

Read more – name a book you keep telling yourself to read but haven’t yet

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I’m getting there, I’m getting there.

 

 

 

Quit smoking – name a book you kept going back to even though you had finished it

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. After I finished this book, I kept thinking about it, kept talking about it, kept flipping through the pages. I didn’t actually reread the whole thing, but it was on my mind for the longest time after I had finished it, and the only reason I’m giving it a break now is because I have it lent out. May or may not have done that on purpose.

Save more money – name a book you got for a really good price

Horns by Joe Hill. Fifty cents, man. Used, but it looks like it’s never even been open. I love library sales, yo.

 

 

 

Be more organized – how do you organize your bookshelf?

Really my only system of organization is ‘read’ and ‘not read’. If there are multiples in a series that I’ve read, they’ll go together and same for multiples of ‘not read’. But partially read series are split up, each bit going into their respective section. One day when all my books are in the same room, maybe I’ll get a real system of organization.

Be punctual – shortest time and longest time it took you to read a book

The shortest time is probably a half hour or so when burning through manga. Those things don’t last man. They’re so good though. Longest time is probably over a year. I think it took me that long to read Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Don’t know why. It was a good book. Just took me ages.

Go out more – what book made you isolate yourself from the outside world?

Basically any book that I end up rating 5 stars. Those are the ones that grip me and make me hiss at anything that disturbs me. Only approach me if you are offering coffee.

Be unique – what was your favorite book of 2015?

The Martian by Andy Weir for sure. Loved it. :”D It topped my Top 15 of 2015 list by a long shot.

Be more personal – what book are you waiting for most this year?

I’m super excited for two books in particular. The first is A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir, which is the second book in the An Ember in the Ashes series, and the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. CAN IT BE OCTOBER NOW PLEASE.

 

Really, resolutions? – what book do you promise to read next year?

I’m going to pick one I’ve already started because I feel like I jynx myself by saying ‘I’m totally gonna read this’. So if I’ve started it, odds are I’ll finish it. And that is The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J Mass. Very slow moving at the moment, but I’m digging it.

..

---

And that’s it! Hope you guys enjoy the questions. Anyone that I don’t tag that wants to try this out is more than welcome.

I tag (peer pressure, do it):

Ace
Orang-utan Librarian
Books at Dawn
Panda
Analee
Eleonora Lydia
Kacie
Zezee
The Galaxial Word
Lady Corvinous

 

A Year in Books and End of Year Survey

2015 was a really good reading year for me. I read more this year than I ever have by a long shot. I’ve always considered myself a reader, but the amount I read this year, man. Wow. I read 110 books. I usually read around 20. Improvements!

To close this year out, I’m going to go through my year in books according to goodreads, some blog stats, and complete Perpetualpageturner’s end of year survey. I feel like it’ll be a good combination to really wrap-up everything I’ve done this year. Since this is closing on all the books I’ve read, consider this my December Wrap-up as well.

My Year in Books

Total Books DNFd this year: 5

For the sake of keeping this as non-repetitive as possible, I’m not going to go through the individual books as a lot will likely be named in the stats and survey.

Stats for the Embuhleeliest blog

Total posts published: 155
Reviews: 18
Tags: 25
Blog Award Nominations: 9
Top 5 Wednesdays: 24
Most Popular Post of 2015: Pixar Book Tag (Original)

Wrap-Ups:

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November

December:

In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park: 5/5 stars
Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch: 4.5/5 stars
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas: 4.5/5 stars
My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins: 3/5 stars
The Girl of Fire and Thorns Stories by Rae Carson: 4/5 stars

Results of 2015 Reading Resolutions and Challenges

Towards the end of 2014, I made three posts about things I wanted to do book-wise in 2015. They were my 2015 Reading Resolutions, 15 in 2015 and my TBR Jar Challenge. These are the results of all that.

Reading Resolutions:
Read 30 books: Success
Focus on sequels and stand-alones: Unsure
Buy 1 book for 5 read: Fail
Write reviews for at least 50% of the books read: Fail
Separate ‘to-be-read’ books onto their own bookcase: Success
Go through ‘to-be-read’ books and decide whether or not I’ll actually ever feel like reading them. If not, give away or donate them: Success

About 50-50 here.

15 in 2015:
1. The Ask and the Answer by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #2): Read
2. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness (Chaos Walking #3): Read
3. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #5): Not Read
4. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #6): Not Read
5. The Scar by China Mieville (Bas Lag/New Crobuzon #2): Not Read
6. Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey (Monstrumologist #2): Not Read
7. The Isle of Blood by Rick Yancey (Monstromologist #3): Not Read
8. Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #2): Not Read
9. Dreams of Joy by Lisa See (Shanghai Girls #2): Not Read
10. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: Not Read
11. Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell: Not Read
12. Go Ask Alice by Anonymous: Not Read
13. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell: Not Read
14. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams: Read
15. The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku: Not Read

Guys, I read three of them. I’m totally awesome.

TBR Jar Challenge:
Read a book with 500+ pages: Success
Reread a favorite book: Success
Read a 2015 debut novel: Success
Read a book that someone else picks: Success
Read a book that you’ve never heard of before: Fail
Begin reading a new graphic novel/graphic novel series: Success
Read a new-to-you author: Success
Read a book that is not a novel: Fail
Read/watch a book and its adaptation: Fail
Read an award winning novel: Fail
Read a classic novel: Fail
Read a series finale: Success

A bit more than 50-50 here.

End of Year Book Survey

Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 110
Number of Re-Reads: 30
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy

Best in Books

Best Book You Read In 2015?
The Martian by Andy Weir
Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love But Didn’t
Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy
Most Surprising (in a good way) book you read?
Easy by Tammara Webber
Book You “Pushed” the Most People to Read (And they Did)?
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Best series you started in 2015? Sequel? Ender?
Starter: An Ember in the Ashes by Tabaa Tahir
Sequel: A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Ender: Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?
Rae Carson
Best books from a genre you don’t typically read/out of comfort zone
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
Book you read in 2015 that you are most likely to re-read next year?
Saga volume 5 by Brian K Vaughan
Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

Most memorable character of 2015?
Mark Watney from The Martian
Most beautifully written book read in 2015
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Most thought-provoking/life-changing book of 2015?
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Favorite Passage/Quote from a book read in 2015?
“When you tear out a man’s tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you’re only telling the world that you fear what he might say” – A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Longest and Shortest books read in 2015?
Longest: A Clash of Kings by George RR Martin
Shortest: A New World by Patrick Ness
Book that shocked you the most
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
OTP of the Year
MarkoxAlana 4eva
Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship of the Year
Hakkai and Gojyo from Saiyuki (though some beg to differ)
Favorite book you read in 2015 from an author you’ve read previously
Saga volume 4 by Brian K Vaughan (I know it’s #6 on my top 15 list, but it’s the first author on there that I had also read in 2014)
Favorite book of 2015 read based soley on a recommendation from another
The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Newest fictional crush of 2015
Chaol from Throne of Glass
Best 2015 debut
An Ember in the Ashes by Tabaa Tahir
Best Worldbuilding/vivid setting of the year
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville
Book that put a smile on your face/most fun to read
Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow
Book that made you cry or nearly cry in 2015
Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
Hidden Gem of the year
Priest by Min-Woo Hyung
Book that crushed your soul
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Most Unique Book Read in 2015
The History of the World Through Twitter by Jon Holmes
Book that made you the most mad
Rumble by Ellen Hopkins

Blogging/Bookish Life

New favorite book blog of 2015
Orangutan Librarian’s :”D
Favorite review written this year
The one for The Night Circus
Best discussion/non-review post this year
Pixar book tag (original)
Best event participated in
All the different readathons
Best moment of the year
Reading my 110 book goal
Most challenging this about this past year
Keeping consistency when posting
Most popular post this year
Pixar book tag (original)
Post you wished got a little more love
Holiday recipes – Nacho Dip
Best bookish discovery of 2015
All the new bloggers I follow here 😀
Challenges or goals completed?
See above

Looking Ahead

Book you didn’t get to in 2015 but will be a 2016 priority?
Weave World by Clive Barker
Most anticipated non-debut 2016 release?
A Torch Against the Night by Tabaa Tahir
Most anticipated 2016 debut?
Not sure, haven’t been paying attention
Most anticipated 2016 series ender/sequel release?
See ‘Most anticipated non-debut 2016 release’. :”D
One thing you hope to accomplish in your 2016 reading/blogging life
Cut down on impulse purchased of books that sound good because of the hype instead of because the plot appeals to me
A 2016 release you’ve already read and recommend to everyone
Guys, I’m a little blog and it’s still 2015. You silly.

---

And that’s it. Big, honking New Year’s Eve post up and ready. I hope you all have a fantastic new year. I’ll be over here, eating mac and cheese and drinking champagne until the ball drops. PEACE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 in 2016

Last year I did a post like this, 15 in 2015, where I listed a sort of TBR of books for the entire year. This year, I’m going to do it again, listing 16 books (that I already own) that I hope to get to before the year is out. I’ll review my performance on last year’s thing in my Year in Review post on Thursday, but I want to lay out the new one now.

In 2016, I hope to read the following:

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Weave World by Clive Barker
Storm of Swords by George RR Martin
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku
The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (illustrated) by JK Rowling
14 by Peter Clines
The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
Sea of Ghosts by Alan Campbell
Breakable by Tammara Webber
Fired Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flag
Across the Nightingale Floor by Gillian Rubinstein
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

If you plan on reading any of these, let me know! I’ve always wanted to try a buddy read. Happy reading! 😀

TBR Jar Challenge 2016

Last year, I did the TBR Jar Challenge inspired by Katytastic and this year I’m kinda sorta going to do something similar a little bit.

This year goes as follows:

The prompts for this year will be from the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge and instead of drawing a slip or two from the jar and trying to follow it that specific month, I’m going to read books and then pull slips out that I feel those books fulfill. So I might get it done all within the first six months, I might space it out, I might procrastinate.

Since the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge has 24 or 25 challenges, I thought it would be easier to do it bit by bit instead of trying to fulfill specific challenges each month. Also, if you read the fine print at the bottom of the challenge image, you can see that a book and fulfill multiple challenges, so that’ll be nice as well!

If you recall in my Reading Resolutions post I made yesterday, my goal is to complete half of this challenge. Gonna try for the whole thing of course, but I’ll be satisfied with half.

And that’s it! Wish me luck and let me know if you’re going to do either that TBR Jar Challenge, the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge or both! Happy reading!

 

 

2016 Reading Resolutions

We’ve entered the dead days, so it’s time to gear up for the new year. I’m going to start with a list of reading goals I set for myself to hopefully follow. I did this last year as well, which will be gone over in a later post.

My 2016 goals are:

• Read 50 books
• Complete at least half of the Read Harder reading challenge (will post later about it)
• Pick up books because they interest me, not just because they’re super hyped
• Put all my books together – pull from my living room, my bedroom and my parents’ house. Need them to be together! In one room!
• Get rid of books I disliked and/or will never reread again

I think those should be rather simple to follow. 🙂 Wish me luck!

Top 5 Wednesday: Series I Want to Start Next Year – Blogmas 12/23

It’s Wednesday again! And the last Wednesday in Blogmas! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. 😀 I always feel like December flies by, but doing blogmas every day made it really, really fly by. I mean goodness. I need a nap.

As always, T5W was created by Lainey and here is the full list of posters should you be interested in joining in!

I’m going to limit this to series of which I already own at least the first book. There are plenty that I want to read that I don’t own, so I figured I should read the ones I do first. So all the books listed, the first in the series is already on my shelves, glaring at me for not reading it yet.

5 – The Mapmakers Trilogy by SE Grove

This is one that I purchased recently but has been on my radar for a while. It’s about a world where each country is stuck in a different time period. I don’t know much about the plot other than this premise, but it’s enough to make me want to read it. Badly.

 

4 – The Gravedigger Chronicles by Alan Campbell

Alan Campbell is one of my favorite authors. He wrote the wonderful Deepgate Codex, which is one of my favorite series. This book has been out for a while but was never published in the US. So I couldn’t find it anywhere. 😦 But! When I was at Half Price Books one day, I spotted this by chance sitting on the shelves. I kinda died a little bit and scared the other customers. It’s been sitting on my shelf since then, taunting me.

3 – The Chronoptika series by Catherine Fisher

This is another ‘favorite author’ picks for me. I love Catherine Fisher. She wrote both the Incarceron series, which you may have heard of, and the Relic Master series, which I feel is highly underrated. I have the first two books in the Chronoptika series sitting on my shelves, haven’t been able to locate the third yet. Hopefully I’ll get to it this year.

2 – The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

I have the original trilogy on my shelves, found them for super cheap at Half Price Books. They look so good and I’ve heard nothing but good things, so I’m very excited. :”D Unfortunately, I don’t have them in the beautiful cover shown to the left, but hey, a book’s a book’s a book.

 

1 – The Lord of the Rings (and the Hobbit) by JRR Tolkien.

I had meant to read the Hobbit before Christmas and just didn’t get to it. Maybe before new years, but we’ll see.

I just feel like it’s time