IT’S HERE! The 2016 end of year reading wrap-up! I hit my goal of 35 books — just 15 less than last year’s goal. There were a lot of good reads, but to be honest, it wasn’t one of my best years. I think I’ll be more selective with what I’m reading in 2017 (with a 35 book goal again).
Here’s what I read:
On Beauty – Zadie Smith
White Teeth – Zadie Smith
The Marriage Plot – Jeffrey Eugenides
Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
Mrs. Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
The Pleasure of My Company – Steve Martin
Everything is Illuminated – Jonathan Safran Foer
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close – Jonathan Safran Foer
Camino de Santiago: Camino Frances 2016 – Leslie Glimour
The Light Between Oceans – M.L. Stedman
Tess of D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
The House at Riverton – Kate Morton
The Seamstress – Frances de Pontes Peebles
The Forgotten Garden – Kate Morton
Robert Musil – Flypaper
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers – Xiaolu Guo
Snow – Orhan Pamuk
My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult
The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling
Jack, the King of Ashes – Andy Jones
The Cure For Death By Lightning – Gail Anderson-Dargatz
Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe
The Sisters Brothers – Patrick DeWitt
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius – Dave Eggers
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened – Jenny Lawson
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
How Not to Travel the World – Lauren Juliff
Story Craft – Jack Hart
Without You There is No Us – Suki Kim
Once again, I’ve lifted this survey from the awesome Perpetual Page Turner. If you’re a reader, you’ll love her blog. (If you steal this survey, please credit her.)
If you want to keep following my reads, check me out on Goodreads.
Number Of Books You Read: 35
Number of Re-Reads: 7
Genre You Read The Most From: Fiction
1. Best Book You Read In 2016?
White Teeth by Zadie Smith. She’s a beautiful writer.
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson. Once again, blogs turned into books = the suck.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
How Not to Travel the World by Lauren Juliff.
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Without You There is No Us by Suki Kim, but I JUST read it.
5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?
Harry Potter, of course! Rereading.
6. Favourite new author you discovered in 2016?
Zadie Smith.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Jack, the King of Ashes by Andy Jones. It’s a children’s book that I picked up from a printing shop as a gift for a friend, and I totally read it before wrapping. Don’t judge.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult.
9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
None.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2016?
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers.
11. Most memorable character of 2016?
Severus Snape. Dude. I love him.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?
White Teeth by Zadie Smith.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016?
Everything is Illuminated made me cry like a baby.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?
My Sister’s Keeper! Simply because I always see it EVERYWHERE and never bothered picking it before.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?
It’s a funny thing about the modern world. You hear girls in the toilets of clubs saying, “Yeah, he fucked off and left me. He didn’t love me. He just couldn’t deal with love. He was too fucked up to know how to love me.” Now, how did that happen? What was it about this unlovable century that convinced us we were, despite everything, eminently lovable as a people, as a species? What made us think that anyone who fails to love us is damaged, lacking, malfunctioning in some way? And particularly if they replace us with a god, or a weeping madonna,-then we call them crazy.
Deluded. Regressive. We are so convinced of the goodness of ourselves, and the goodness of our love, we cannot bear to believe that there might be something more worthy of love than us, more worthy of worship. Greeting cards routinely tell us everybody deserves love. No. Everybody deserves clean water. Not everybody deserves love all the time. – White Teeth, Zadie Smith
16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2016?
Shortest: Jack, the King of Ashes
Longest: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
17. Book That Shocked You The Most
My Sister’s Keeper, definitely.
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Obvs Harry and Hermione!
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year
Dave and his little brother in A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Hm, maybe The Marriage Plot. Although it definitely didn’t compare to Middlesex.
21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:
The Cure For Death By Lightning. (Sent to me via a Facebook book swap.)
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016?
Literally none.
23. Best 2016 debut you read?
How Not to Travel the World.
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Everything Harry Potter, naturally!
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Jack, King of Ashes.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?
Oh boy. White Teeth, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, My Sister’s Keeper, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. I picked it up at my Berlin bookstore because the title intrigued me. Super cute read!
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
White Teeth, but in a good way.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016?
Definitely Jack, King of Ashes.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, because that’s when he starts turning into a moody adolescent bastard.
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2016 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017?
I want to start ticking off the books I’ve had on my Goodreads to-read list forever, so starting with Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders by Greg Malone.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)?
None, really.
3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
None.
4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017?
None.
5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017?
Read better books!
6. A 2017 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:
None.
