2017 IN REVIEW:
I think I echo the sentiments of many when I say this year just hurtled by. Seriously, I think 2017 was in a race to see how quickly it could get to 2018. Which is maybe just as well. 2017 was the kind of year that (continuing the trainwreck of 2016) made you really wonder about the fate of humanity and whether any of us are going to be around much longer.
On that jolly note, here’s what I read this year 😉
Oh, and 2018, I have big plans for you. Be ready.
HOW MANY BOOKS READ IN 2017?
–67 books
FICTION/NON-FICTION?
– 42 Fiction / 25 Non-Fiction
MALE/FEMALE AUTHORS?
– 24 Male / 28 Female
OLDEST BOOK READ?
The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck (1942)
NEWEST BOOK READ?
Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J. Maas (September 2017)
LONGEST BOOK READ?
Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J Maas – 693 pages
SHORTEST BOOK READ?
Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson – 63 pages
ANY IN TRANSLATION?
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman – originally published in Swedish
BEST BOOK READ IN 2017?
If 2016 was the year of the good book, 2017 was a year of books that were pretty evenly divided between really good or didn’t like it. I’m having trouble picking my best book of 2017, but I think Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo, King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman can share this title.
MOST DISAPPOINTING BOOK IN 2017?
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah….I wanted SO much more from this book. It really did not live up to my expectations in most ways.
Also Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I really expected to love this one and I didn’t even like it enough to want to continue the series. So sad.
MOST BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN BOOK IN 2017?
Toss-up between Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, and Jade Dragon Mountain by Elsa Hart.
MOST SURPRISING (IN A GOOD WAY!) BOOK OF 2017?
Dragon Teeth by Michael Crichton. I had zero expectations for this book to be any good…but I loved it!
Also Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3) by Sarah J. Maas. Up to this point in the series, the books were addicting, but I also cringed multiple times when reading them. This was the moment the series turned a corner for me and now I’m kind of obsessed.
MOST THRILLING, UNPUTDOWNABLE BOOK IN 2017?
I read a lot of thrillers this year, so I have many entries:
–The Obsidian Chamber by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
–King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard
–Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo
-All the Sarah J. Maas books I read: Crown of Midnight, The Assassin’s Blade, Heir of Fire, Queen of Shadows, Empire of Storms, Tower of Dawn
BOOK THAT HAD THE GREATEST IMPACT ON ME IN 2017?
Both of the writing craft books I read this year really helped me out: Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson and Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
BOOK THAT HAD A SCENE IN IT THAT HAD ME REELING?
Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas. Broke my heart in so many ways.
King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard. Same deal.
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Samesies.
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. I may have been really disappointed by this book, but I still cried at the end.
BOOK I MOST ANTICIPATED IN 2017?
-King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard
–Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas
MOST MEMORABLE CHARACTER IN 2017?
-Count Alexander Rostov in A Gentleman in Moscow
-Basically every character in A Man Called Ove
HOW MANY RE-READS IN 2017?
None
BOOK I READ IN 2017 I’D BE MOST LIKELY TO REREAD IN 2018?
Creating Character Arcs by K.M. Weiland
BOOK I RECOMMENDED TO PEOPLE MOST IN 2017?
Red Rising, News of the World, A Man Called Ove, Exit West, Something Missing
FAVORITE NEW AUTHORS I DISCOVERED IN 2017?
Amor Towles, Elsa Hart, Fredrik Backman, Catherine Knutsson
MOST BOOKS READ BY ONE AUTHOR THIS YEAR?
6 novels by Sarah J. Maas
FAVORITE COVER OF A BOOK I READ IN 2017?
FAVORITE PASSAGE/QUOTE FROM A BOOK I READ IN 2017?
“Maybe life is just carrying news. Surviving to carry the news. Maybe we have just one message, and it is delivered to us when we are born and we are never sure what it says; it may have nothing to do with us personally but it must be carried by hand through a life, all the way, and at the end handed over, sealed.” – News of the World by Paulette Jiles
“To love is to enter into the inevitability of one day not being able to protect what is most valuable to you.” – Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
“We are all migrants through time.” –Exit West by Mohsin Hamid
“He had said that our lives are steered by uncertainties, many of which are disruptive or even daunting; but that if we persevere and remain generous of heart, we may be granted a moment of lucidity—a moment in which all that has happened to us suddenly comes into focus as a necessary course of events, even as we find ourselves on the threshold of the life we had been meant to lead all along.” – A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
DID I COMPLETE ANY READING CHALLENGES OR GOALS IN 2017?
Yes! I read 67 books. I believe my original goal was 50 books and I kept bumping it up.
BOOK I CAN’T BELIEVE I WAITED UNTIL 2017 TO FINALLY READ?
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles and A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman…both had been recommended to me many times by people whose opinions I trusted. I loved them both (as expected)!
