Monthly Archives: January 2019

Reading Goals

2019 Reading Goals

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It’s 2019! And the year has already started, but it’s never too late for setting goals. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of resolutions; I prefer goals, because to me goals are things to realistically work towards and help you organize your priorities for the coming year. Resolutions always sound to me like the things you give up on February 2nd; goals are fun and you can check them off on lists, so they’re here to stay. So that being said, here are my reading goals for 2019!

Read all 10 books on my Top 10 TBR for 2019 list. This one’s pretty self-explanatory; every year, I make a stack of ten books that I’m really looking forward to reading over the coming year, and in the past, I’ve always done absolutely terribly at actually reading them. But not this year! This year, I’m going 10 for 10 on these books:

  • Passage by Connie Wilis
  • Severance by Ling Ma
  • Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
  • How Long Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin
  • The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  • The Pisces by Melissa Broder
  • Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton
  • Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
  • Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down by Anne Valente

Read more new releases, and read them closer to their release dates. In past years, I’ve set goals about reading more older books, but I’m calling it now–2019 is the year of the new release. There are SO MANY amazing-sounding books coming out this year (check out my most anticipated new releases guides here and here) and I don’t want to miss out on any of them if I can help it. When the Goodreads Choice Awards roll around in 2019, I’m going to have a bunch of options for every category, mark my words.

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4)The Last RomanticsIt Happened One Doomsday (Dru Jasper, #1)The Fall (Thieves of Fate, #2)

Read and review ARCs and finished copies sent from publishers ahead of their release dates. In the past few months, I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few review copies sent to me from publishers or to have won them in giveaways, so a key goal this year is to absolutely to stay on top of reading and reviewing them in a timely manner.

MilkmanA Little LifeA Tale for the Time BeingFates and Furies

Read more literary fiction. I’m generally a reader who tends to lean towards fantasy and/or genre-bending books, but that also means that there are so many great literary/realistic fiction titles that I’ve been missing out on. I’d like to catch up a bit in 2019.

How Long 'til Black Future Month?A Cathedral of Myth and BoneA Guide to Being BornWhat is Not Yours is Not Yours

Read more short story collections. I love short story collections, and at least one always makes it to my favorite reads of the year list. Last year I read 5; I’d like to top that in 2019, especially since I have quite a few on my physical TBR.

You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed MessagesGood and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's AngerWhen They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter MemoirCall Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays)

Read more nonfiction. I was actually really surprised that nonfiction didn’t comprise a larger portion of my genre pie chart for 2018, since I’ve discovered over the past few years that I love listening to nonfiction on audiobook. So 2019 is going to be the year that I learn all the things.

The Handmaid's Tale

Re-read The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m not generally a big re-reader nowadays. When I was a kid, I re-read books constantly; now I’ll occasionally re-read a fun book if I’m stressed, but even then I’ll probably just go back to favorite parts. But it’s been quite awhile since I’ve read Margaret Atwood’s most famous novel (more than 10 years, I think) and with the sequel being released this fall, it’s time for me to revisit it.

A Little LifePassage

Read more big books. This is pretty much an every year goal. I count “big” as 500+ pages, and there are always some of those giant books sitting on my TBR shelf, mocking me.

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World, #2)The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)Gingerbread

Read more diversely. Another constant goal. I always try to read more diversely than I have in the past year, and make more of a conscious effort to pick up books from diverse authors.

Read a classic. I didn’t read any classics in 2018; I’d like to set a goal to pick up at least one in 2019.

 

What are your reading goals for 2019?

book review

Book Review: In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

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Book review: In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (4.25 stars)

If you’re not already reading Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series, it’s one I’d highly recommend. It’s a series of novellas that explores the adventures as well as the consequences of portal fantasy, where children are spirited away from our world to other, stranger worlds better suited to their individual natures, and then are often forced to return to reality afterwards and deal with the loss of the world they have been made to abandon. In An Absent Dream is the fourth installment of this series, which has followed different main characters in every iteration, and focuses on a girl named Lundy and her escape into the rule-bound yet treacherous world of the Goblin Market. There, deals and bargains are struck according to the invisible hand of the concept of fair value, and incurring too much debt means losing pieces of your humanity.

It’s hard to say for sure, since I’m a big fan of the Wayward Children series as a whole, but I think that In An Absent Dream is my new favorite of the four books. It’s probably because I identified more with Lundy, our protagonist, more than I have with previous characters. Like many of us bookworms, I grew up reading constantly, like Lundy; like Lundy, I also tended to follow the rules and do well in school, although I also always searched for loopholes and ways to be creative while still staying out of trouble. When I was younger, I also believed strongly in karma, our world’s version of the concept of fair value–that the actions you put out into the world would eventually come back around to you, if not always directly, then in some form or another. And so I loved reading about the intricacies of the rules governing the Goblin Market and about Lundy falling into deeper understanding of them as she grows older.

Books that fall into the category of fairytale retellings or re-imaginings of classic concepts like portal fantasy can sometimes struggle with whether to imagine a retelling that is darker or sweeter than the tales they pay homage to. In the case of In An Absent Dream, I thought that Seanan McGuire perfectly balanced the wonder and beauty of a traditional portal fantasy with the darker edges of growing up in a world where even the concept of fairness itself may not even be truly fair. The result is a story that becomes more and more urgent as Lundy gradually approaches the age of eighteen, where she will be forced to permanently choose between the real world and the Goblin Market, which seems to have become her true home. It’s a story that feels true in the way that great fantasy literature sometimes can, because it makes a strange kind of sense; my only wish is that it could have been longer, and some of Lundy’s adventures in the Market explored further. I’d highly recommend this book and series to fans of portal fantasy and books like In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, and the Magicians series by Lev Grossman, that lovingly critique and explore classic tropes of the genre while making them into something entirely new.

 

Thank you so much to the YA Cafe Podcast and to Tor.com publishing for the opportunity to win an ARC of In An Absent Dream.

Bookish Musings, Reading Recaps

2018 Reading Wrap-Up and Stats

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At the end of the year (or at the beginning of the new year, since this has taken a bit of time), it’s always interesting to look back and remind yourself what you accomplished. In terms of my non-reading year, I had a really fantastic 2018–I worked a lot, but was lucky enough to be able to do a good amount of traveling, and I made a lot of progress on my NaNoWriMo project. With regard to reading and bookish things, I attended BookCon for the second time (I’m working on a very delayed recap post about BookCon, which was amazing); was able to see a number of authors I greatly admire at various events in my city (more on this below); worked on growing my Bookstagram account; and found some new favorite books and authors. Let’s break it down!

Total books read: 98

Total pages read: 33,243

Shortest book read: I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya (96 pages)

Longest book read: House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (709 pages)

Most popular: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han (301,579 other GR readers)

Least popular: Between the Sea and Stars by Chantal Gadoury (137 other GR readers)

Average rating: 3.7 stars

Highest rated book on GR: Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews (4.54 stars)

To see all of the books I read in 2018, check out my Goodreads Year in Review here.

Author events attended (these were through various organizations in my city and normally consisted of an extended talk by an author, sometimes in addition to a reading of their work): Margaret Atwood, Colson Whitehead, Samantha Hunt, Angie Thomas, Alyssa Palumbo, Mohsin Hamid

BookCon Panels attended: Tor Presents: #FearlessWomen in Tor Science Fiction and Fantasy with Charlie Jane Anders, V.E. Schwab, S.L. Huang, and Seth Dickinson; Women of Mystery and Thriller with Sandra Brown, Megan Abbott, Sara Blaedel, Kate Kessler, and Karen Ellis; NaNoWriMo: The Power of Writing with Abandon with Susan Dennard, Marissa Meyer, Kami Garcia, Danielle Page, and Grant Faulkner; and Toxic Male Syndrome with Jasmine Guillory, Zoey Castile, Alisha Rai, Sarah Morgan, Megan Frampton, and Claire Legrand

BookCon signings attended: Charlaine Harris, Rebecca Roanhorse, Naomi Novik

Now, let’s get into the statistics!

Adult vs. YA:

This statistic has remained fairly stable over the past few years. I do really enjoy YA, but I still read primarily adult books. This year, it was about 75% to 25%, which seems about right.

Author Breakdown by Gender:

Again, fairly stable, although the percentage of male authors I read has been steadily diminishing over time.

Format:

Also, weirdly stable to last year. I vastly prefer reading physical books; when I listen to an audiobook it’s generally because I prefer nonfiction on audio, and if I read an ebook, it’s either because I’m not sure if I’ll like the book or if the physical book is new and expensive.

Genre:

As you can see, I read a wide range of genres, with fantasy comprising the largest piece of the pie (especially when combined with fantasy affiliates like UF/PNR and fantasy romance). The newest addition to this genre breakdown is contemporary romance, which I don’t think I ever actually read before 2018. I’m also a little surprised that the nonfiction section isn’t larger, since I feel like I read/listen to a lot of nonfiction. But the pie charts don’t lie!

Breakdown by Release Year

This graph turned out weirdly tiny and I can’t seem to make it any bigger, but basically, it’s embarrassing. I do like to read a good amount of new releases so that I know what’s happening in the bookish community, but I also like to read backlist titles, and clearly I did not do a great job of that this year. Also embarrassing is the fact that the oldest book I read this year came out in 1959.

When did I obtain the physical books I read?

Basically, this year I tried to keep track of when I obtained the physical books I read, so that I could see how many or few older titles I was reading versus newly purchased books. The reason that only the past 3 years are represented on this graph is that prior to 2016, I didn’t really purchase that many books, because I was in grad school, moving frequently, and on a very limited budget; the books I did buy during that time I generally read right away. So, what does this tell us? It makes sense that the majority of my reading was from newly purchased books, and I think it’s a good thing, since it means that fewer of those books will be languishing on my TBR shelf for an extended period of time. It also shows that I do continue to read books I’ve purchased awhile ago, although it makes sense that those numbers are smaller since I’ve had more time to read more of the 2016 and 2017 book purchases. So I’m not sure if this chart was actually helpful, but it’s still interesting.

How did I rate the books I read?

I’m actually really happy with this. Significantly more than half of the books I read this year got very good (4 and 5 star) ratings. I also didn’t have any 1-star books, although this is mainly because if I really hate a book I’ll DNF it. But the 2-star section is very tiny as well, which is good news.

 

Next up, hopefully in a timely manner, will be my top 10 reads of 2018 (and other superlatives!)

 

How was your reading year in 2018?

bout of books, readathon

Bout of Books TBR!

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The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda Shofner and Kelly Rubidoux Apple. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, January 7th and runs through Sunday, January 13th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 24 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

It’s time for one of my favorite readathons, Bout of Books! I love this readathon because it always coincides with the beginning of the new year, and acts as a great way to jump-start my yearly reading. Since it’s a week long, I generally can finish several books, and it’s often a way for me to pick up anticipated new releases or shorter books that have been on my TBR for awhile. Keeping that in mind, here’s my TBR for this round of Bout of Books!

Physical books:

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4)How Long 'til Black Future Month?Rabbit CakeThe Strange Bird: A Borne StoryPoison: Fairy Tales 1A Portable Shelter

With readathons, I generally like to start with a big, unrealistically tall stack of physical books that I might be in the mood for, so that I won’t have any issues with indecisiveness or reading slumps. This time, I’ve got a good variety of mostly shorter books, short stories, and novellas to pick from.

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire in an Instagram giveaway, and I’m planning on reading it on the first day of Bout of Books, since its release day is January 8th. It’s a novella, so it’s short, and I already know I love this series, so I think it’ll be a good way to kick things off. I also have a short story collection (How Long Til Black Future Month) by one of my favorite authors, N.K. Jemisin, on my list, since short stories can help break things up during the week, and another novella, The Strange Bird by Jeff Vandermeer, who is another favorite. And then I have a few more random shorter reads: Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett, which I started on a whim this week; A Portable Shelter by Kirsty Logan, author of The Gracekeepers; and Poison by Sarah Pinborough, a Snow White retelling.

Audiobooks:

Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her SuperpowerBad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup

I’m currently in the middle of listening to Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower by Brittney Cooper, which has been highly recommended by just about everybody and which I chose as my first audiobook of 2019, but it’s not super long (about 7 hours) so I also wanted to choose a backup. I’m currently first in line in my library holds list for Bad Blood by John Carreyrou, which is about the Theranos scandal and which I’ve heard recommended a ton also, particularly on the Book Riot podcasts.

ebooks:

Girl Made of Stars

It’s always good to have an ebook option during a readathon, since when I’m out running errands or something it can be nice to have a book on my phone to check out when I have a few minutes to spare. So I checked out Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake from my library after seeing it recommended as my favorite booktuber’s favorite book of 2018.

 

Are you participating in Bout of Books?