Monday, January 9, 2012

2011 Random Reading Recap

So, um, obviously I didn't set a goal to, like, blog this year. A week has passed and here I am. Oh, look! A blog! Guess I should write somethin' on it, huh? *hangs head in shame* I'm going with the "I had a sore throat" excuse. 'Cause, as everyone knows, if you have a sore throat, the last thing you should be doing is sitting quietly in one spot with only your fingers moving.

Yeeeeaaaaahhhh.

Anyway, I meant to do this post earlier, but no time like the present, right? Especially since I haven't done it yet. And should do it. And have I mentioned my sore throat?

Let's talk about what I read this year, shall we? Or, well, how about I just list what I read and YOU can talk about it. I think my sore throat is impeding my ability to be clever today.

Total books read: 109.
My reading goal this year was to read less and write more. I'm counting this as accomplished.

96 were what I classify as "romantic." The non-romantic books I read are as follows:
  • ALLOY OF LAW by Brandon Sanderson--Yes, there as a touch of romance, but it wasn't a major theme, and there wasn't a happily-ever-after. I have high hopes for the sequels, though.
  • TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE by Jessica Day George--the protag is 11
  • SOMEONE LIKE YOU by Sarah Dessen--the "You" in the title is NOT good boyfriend material
  • VARIANT by Robison Wells--the sub-plot romances are more fledgling than realized
  • PALE DEMON by Kim Harrison--this is part of an ongoing series that often has romance, but this book didn't
  • THE SHIFTER by Janice Hardy--there is potential for the sequels, but this one wasn't particularly romantic
  • HARD MAGIC by Laura Ann Gilman--again, romantic potential in the series, but no actual romance in the book
  • STAYING DEAD by Laura Ann Gilman--same as above
  • PRINCESS IN THE SPOTLIGHT (Princess Diaries #2) by Meg Cabot--the romance doesn't really get started until #3
  • MAGIC AT THE GATE by Devon Monk--romance earlier in the series, but not in this book
  • BLACK DUST MAMBO--potential not realized here
  • PRINCESS DIARIES by Meg Cabot--no romance for now
Can you tell I like romance?

54 of the books I read this year were Fantasy. I'm not listing all those, but 34 of them were what I would call "urban."

48 were YA. I'm not listing those, either.

4 were Sci-Fi:
  • ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis (spaceships and cryogenics)
  • DROP DEAD GORGEOUS by MaryJanice Davidson (cyborgs)
  • VARIANT by Robison Wells (not tellin')
  • DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth (advanced mind-control)
5 were Steampunk:
  • LEVIATHAN, BEHEMOTH, and GOLIATH by Scott Westerfeld (Clankers vs. Darwinists and a commoner girl pretending to be a boy who falls in love with a prince who doesn't know she's a girl)
  • HEARTLESS by Gail Carriger (Victorian Steampunk with Vampires and Werewolves)
  • CORSETS AND CLOCKWORK (anthology)--best one was TICK, TICK, BOOM by Keirsten White
5 Dystopian:
  • MATCHED by Ally Condie (statisticians run amok)
  • ACROSS THE UNIVERSE (probably not technically a dystopian, but I thought the behavior modification was dystopian-esque)
  • POSSESSION by Elana Johnson (control or be controlled)
  • VARIANT by Robison Wells (again, I thought the anarchy was rather dystopian)
  • DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth (four virtues to choose from)
1 Horror:  THE MERIDIANS by Michaelbrent Collings--reads like Koontz

1 Thriller: MONARCH by Michelle Davidson--set at a butterfly resort: very cool

Zero Non-Fiction. Nada. Zip. Zilch. (I'm not counting reading I did for work or church--this is just-for-fun reading. Or isn't. As the case may be.)

Top 3 Favorite Authors by Book Count: I read 6 books by Meg Cabot and 5 books each by Sara Dessen and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I have other favorites, but I obviously went back to these ladies again and again. Sara and Meg are new discoveries this year, as is Maureen Johnson, another author I've recently come to love. I think it's interesting that Meg, Sara, and Susan don't write in my favorite genre. (Maureen recently branched out into it, though, with THE NAME OF THE STAR, which I also loved.)

So what did you read last year?

8 comments:

  1. So, what I want to know is: Which books that you read were your favorites? Or, in other words, which are worth adding to my very massive TBR pile??

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  2. Divergent was one of my favorites! Monarch was very cool as well. I have Variant on hold at the library and can't wait to read it!

    As for reading last year... I didn't get a whole lot in. I'm going to read at least a book a week this year though. :) And so far I'm doing great!

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  3. My head is still spinning from this:
    Total books read: 109.
    My reading goal this year was to read less and write more. I'm counting this as accomplished.

    If 109 books is reading less - WOW.

    I just read my first Susan Elizabeth Phillips book and was surprised how much I liked it. I don't read a lot of romance, but people swore to me she isn't sappy and her characters are fun. I also like Meg Cabot - and I got to meet her this year! I usually don't have much to say if I do the signing line, but I told her about one of my favorite parts of a book she wrote; from the size 12 isn't fat series, she said a fellow student couldn't have been involved in a crime because the girl had a Ziggy notebook. That still cracks me up!

    I have The Name of the Star on my to-read list. I LOVE Maureen Johnson's twitter feed and just read her short story in "Let it Snow," which was so great.

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  4. I totally failed at keeping track of the books I read this year, but I sure read many of them that thrilled me and a few I couldn't finish. I'm going to try and do better this year.

    I hope!

    I've read many of the ones you have.

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  5. Chantele-you're gonna love Variant!

    Stephsco-two years ago, I read over 170. Not much time for writing. :) SEP is amazing. I adore how she tears her characters down to the dirt before finally letting them have their HEA.

    Donna--as you might suspect... I have a spreadsheet. :D Want it?

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  6. I didn't read nearly as many as this--my book count is very low--but last year I tried to make time for reading. I can't write and read at the same time (nor can I edit and write at the same time, yet I can write multiple books at the same time), so I took breaks to just READ and it was great. My favorites from last year were The Hunger Games and "My Fair Godmother" and "My Unfair Godmother" by Janette Rallison.

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  7. Robin, you're awesome! My goal is to actually read more books this year. This year my book numbers have gone waaaaay down with my writing. I need to get with it.

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  8. Okay, so what I want to know is this: Which of the books you read were your favorites? Which should I be adding to my always-growing TBR pile??

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