Wednesday, December 10, 2014

#amonthoffaves: A Year in Books Timeline


My Year in Books

Ransom Riggs at University Book Store, Bothell
In January, I read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children and met the author, Ransom Riggs. He was super nice and interesting and had great shoes and socks. This month I also had my only DNF of the year, The Sea by John Banville.


In February, I read my first graphic novel of the year, Hope Larson and Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. I also finished up a reread/group read of The Woman in White for Wilkie in Winter. I loved it again!


In March, I hosted DWJ March for the third year in a row. This year was bittersweet as we read Diana's final book, The Islands of Chaldea. I read ten DWJs this month (twelve in the whole year). I also read The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters, first in what would surprisingly become one of my favorite trilogies of ever.


In April, I finally read The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander after having watched the movie at least a dozen times as a kid. I also finally read Seraphina by Rachel Hartman. I waited a long time because I was worried it wouldn't live up to the hype. I wasn't disappointed by either! I also had a great time with another spring Dewey's Read-a-thon.


In May, I read the short stories of Connie Willis. I enjoyed them so much that I decided to spend the summer reading more short story collections that were on my TBR shelf.


In June, I was surprised by how much fun I had reading This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City by John Rogers, tales of his walks around the city. I also worked on Moby Dick for a read-along but, alas, have yet to finish it. A book about whaling is not the ideal read for someone who studied marine biology. It made me sick to my stomach.


In July, I read more short stories. They led me into a bit of a slump, which I cured with the latest Jasper Fforde, The Eye of Zoltar.


In August, my joy in reading short stories was returned to me by Neil Gaiman (Smoke and Mirrors) and Diana Wynne Jones (Unexpected Magic).


In September, I kicked off the RIP Challenge with Twelve Minutes to Midnight by Christopher Edge. I read eight RIP books this month including a couple of my favorites of the year -- Constable & Toop, Murder on the Home Front, and The Supernatural Enhancements.


In October, it was Read-a-Thon time again, in which I enjoyed the two-volume graphic novel version of Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book. I ended up reading fourteen more RIP books this month.


In November, I reread (third time) Witch Week by DWJ for, well, Lory's Witch Week event. It was the first time I really connected with the book. Yay!


So far, I've spent December reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott as my last 100 Chapter Books Project read of the year. I finished a couple of days ago and am still processing my thoughts about it. The rest of the year is now for just-for-fun reading (and trying to reach some of those goals I set the other day).

I would love if you would share a highlight or two from your Year in Books!

Reliving the reads,
K

16 comments:

  1. I also reread Little Women this month -- there are at least two readalongs going on right now (at The Midnight Garden and The Old Fashioned Girls Book Club) if you want to check them out. Otherwise, Witch Week with all of the fabulous guest posts including yours was definitely a highlight of my year!

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    1. Thank you, Lory! I can't wait for Witch Week next year. :)

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  2. I commend you for trying Moby Dick - after reading The Storied Life of AJ Fikry and his comments on Moby Dick, I don't think I'll be giving this one a shot-ha!

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    1. I am probably going to quietly remove my bookmark from it at the end of the year. :)

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  3. What a fun year! I got to meet Ransom Riggs on that same book tour when he was here in Kansas City. He was a lot of fun. (I still need to read the book!)

    I like going back to Neil's short stories every so often. There are a few that I just stay away from as multiple reads have not made me change my opinion of them, but most of them are great.

    Reading highlights for me included reading Mary Rickert's novel The Memory Garden, not long after hearing her talk about it on a podcast. It will be my favorite novel of the year, I suspect. Discovering several new to me authors was also a highlight.

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    1. New authors is always fun, especially when they have a big back-catalog!

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    2. You read some excellent books this year, Kristen. I have the same Connie Willis book of short stories. I've read almost everything by her and love her, so I'm delighted you enjoyed her short stories so much. Seraphina is good, isn't it? I am excited the sequel is listed for coming out next year.

      I've just added This Other London to my to-get list :-)
      Susan - You Can Never Have Too Many Books blog

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    3. I plan on rereading some Connie Willis this winter (the time travel books) and have a couple more novels to go with her. And the sequel to Seraphina is probably going to be great. :)

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  4. Looks like a great year of reading. This Other London is one I've never heard of, but it sounds like one I'd like to get my hands on!

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    1. I forget how I heard about it now but it ended up being super interesting!

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  5. Gaaah! Your month of faves posts are adding way too many books to my TBR list! Fortunately I've already read a lot of these ones . . . but must get my hands on Eye of Zoltar.

    In retaliation, I insist that you try some Kate Milford (I've only read The Boneshaker so far, but am anxious to read more of her) and Jo Walton's fiction. They're both new-to-me authors this year that I'm really happy to have discovered. (I discovered a lot of new authors, now that I look back. Might have to copy you and do a fave author discoveries post.)

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    1. Sorry ... not sorry. ;)
      I definitely need to get to Kate Milford. She's been on my radar forever but I keep forgetting to pick up one of her books. I'll put her on my To Read in 2015 list ... along with Jo Walton!

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  6. Oh Kristen! I've still not read The Islands of Chaldea! I just can't bring myself to. I've asked for it for Christmas, though, so I expect I will have it pretty soon, and then it really will be the last new DWJ book ever. (I tear up when I think about this for too long.)

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    1. That's how I am with the Dalemark books, A Sudden Wild Magic and Hexwood. Those are all I have left now so I'm not rushing to get to them. I won't know what to do afterwards.

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  7. Great post. Looks like it has been a great year for you. :)

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