Friday, January 1, 2016

2015 END OF YEAR SURVEY

Welcome to my first END OF YEAR BOOK SURVEY hosted by THE PERPETUAL PAGE-TURNER




NUMBER OF BOOKS READ
112
I took all the picture books and DNFs out of my totals.

NUMBER OF PAGES READ
29,980
20 pages from 30,000 *sighs*

NUMBER OF RE-READS
 Jane Eyre

MOST READ GENRE
Fantasy, but Contemporary was nipping at its heels. I never would have imagined reading that much Contemp at the beginning of the year!


1. BEST BOOKS I READ IN 2015
Middle Grade: Wonder
Young Adult: Dumplin'
Adult: The Glittering World

2. A BOOK I WAS EXCITED ABOUT AND THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO LOVE MORE, BUT DIDN'T.
Definitely, Invasion of the Tearling, the sequel to Queen of the Tearling. QotT was my top book for 2014 and I was dying to read the sequel, but the author did this weird dystopian backstory infusion thing, and I hated it. I still loved the High Fantasy elements though. I am going to add Illuminae to this because I started it to get it read for this survey, thinking it was going to be a top book, but... meh.

3. THE BOOK THAT SURPRISED ME THE MOST.
The Fix. I requested an ARC from Edelweiss thinking it was The Fixer. I am glad I read it anyway because it was wonderful. It dealt with mental illness in a realistic way.

4. BOOK I PUSHED THE MOST PEOPLE TO READ.
Orleans by Sherri L. Smith. It is a diverse Dystopian with an MC of color by a POC author, and there is zero romance in it. It is boom in your face gritty and realistic.

5. BEST SERIES STARTED/SEQUEL/ENDER
STARTED: The Raven Boys, The Raven Cycle
SEQUEL: The Infinite, Gates of Thread and Stone Series
ENDER: Stone in the Sky, the Tin Star duology.

6. FAVORITE NEW AUTHOR DISCOVERED THIS YEAR.
Intisar Khanani, author of Thorn. I would have listed Thorn as my favorite YA, but it is an older book and I knew I was going to list it other places.

7. BEST BOOK THAT WAS FROM A GENRE OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE.
A Density of Souls. It is an Adult Contemporary by Anne Rice's son. It is also a diverse read.

8. MOST ACTION PACKED NON-PUT-DOWNABLE.

9. THE BOOK I AM MOST LIKELY TO RE-READ NEXT YEAR.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. It is a story that drops hints about a mystery, and besides wanting to see what details I missed, the writing is pure bliss.

10. FAVORITE COVER OF A BOOK I READ IN 2015.
Thorn by Intisar Khanani is a retelling of the Goose Girl fairytale.

11. MOST MEMORABLE CHARACTER OF 2015.
Cameron from Going Bovine by Libba Bray.

12. MOST BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN BOOK I READ IN 2015.
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.

13. MOST THOUGHT PROVOKING.
More Happy Than Not by Adam Silvera. This book also made me cry and that hardly ever happens.

14. THE BOOK I CAN'T BELIEVE I WAITED UNTIL 2015 TO READ.

15. MY FAVORITE QUOTE FROM A BOOK READ IN 2015.

16. SHORTEST AND LONGEST BOOK.
Shortest: Useless Wings by Cecil Castellucci; 42 pages.
Longest: Victorian Fairy Tales by Michael Newton; 544 pages.

17. THE BOOK THAT SHOCKED ME THE MOST.
Only Ever Yours by Louise O'Neill. Although it was a great book on it's own terms, I was appalled this book was being marketed as acceptable for YA age readers. There were explicit sexual descriptions and some were abusive. As a parent I was angry this story could easily fall into the hands of younger teens.

18. MY OTP OF THE YEAR.
Alex and Chase from Of Delicate Pieces, the sequel to Of Breakable Things. They have the sweetest most supportive love ever.

19. MY FAVORITE NON-ROMANTIC SHIP OF 2015.
The bromance of Peter and Daryl in Light the Way, the sequel to Blinded by the Light, by Joe Kipling. They make me snort laugh.

20. BEST BOOK FROM AN AUTHOR I HAVE READ PREVIOUSLY.
The Mora by MR Graham.

21. BEST BOOK READ SOLELY BASED ON PEER PRESSURE.
A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab. I loved it.

22. MY NEWEST CRUSH IN 2015.
Mark from The Martian. He is a true Renaissance man!

23. BEST DEBUT.
I did not read any great debuts from 2015, so I am going to say The Night Parade by Kathryn Tanguary, which publishes on January 10th.

24. BEST WORLD BUILDING.
The Glittering World with a First Nations faerie realm.

25. A BOOK THAT WAS THE MOST FUN TO READ.
The Night Parade. It is an MG set in Japan.
 

26. THE BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY.
More Happy Than Not; and that's not easy to do.

27. HIDDEN GEM.
Thorn by Intisar Khanani.

28. THE BOOK THAT CRUSHED MY SOUL.
The Glittering World by Robert Levy.

29. MOST UNIQUE BOOK.
Going Bovine by Libba Bray. *Note: this book is not about sandcastles and ninjas.

30. THE BOOK THAT MADE ME THE MOST ANGRY.
Made You Up by Francesca Zappia because of it's unrealistic portrayal of schizophrenia, and that the author had the kahunas to write a schizophrenic MC in first person, when she admits she has never even met a person with this serious mental illness, only watched videos on Youtube. The least she could have done was to have some beta readers who are schizophrenic, or who have family members with the illness. What wound me up the most was when I was polling people about this, the younger bloggers said it didn't matter because the book was fun to read. This totally undermines the reason for diverse literature. Anyway, although I do not review books I have rated less than four stars on my blog, I am going to do a special post about this book during the mental health week for the diverse books challenge I have joined.


1. MY NEW FAVORITE BOOK BLOG.
I am going to cheat a little bit on this one (okay a lot, I'm going to cheat a lot on this one) because I have only been seriously book blogging for two years and most of these bloggers I met very close to the end of last year. I am surprised I haven't changed things up before this. Hehe.

The first blog I ever followed with my blog was Read.Sleep.Repeat., back when it was just Octavia. I asked her so many questions on Twitter about blogging I am surprised she didn't run away screaming. Now Shelly has joined the blog and I love her, too.

Next are my Fave Fives. These are my blogging buddies. The ones I follow and interact with on a variety of social media, including their personal Facebook pages, and comment on their blogs the most.
Pili from In Love With Handmade
Cait from Paper Fury
Elizabeth from So Long... & Thanks For All The Fish
Shannon from Rex Robot Reviews
Faye and the girls from The Social Potato

Then there are my The Sunday Post peeps.
Kimba from Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Katherine from I Wish I Lived In a Library
Michelle from In Libris Veritas
Heather from Random Redhead Ramblings
Greg from Book Haven

And... my two favorite booktubers. Who are coincidentally both British.
Amber from The Mile Long Bookshelf
Sarah Churchill

2. MY FAVORITE 2015 POST.
It was my Top Five Friday diversity post. You can read it: HERE.

3. MY BEST DISCUSSION POST.
It's Wednesday... Whatcha Thinkin' Bout #1 - Why I Unfollowed Your Blog. You can view it: HERE.

4. BEST BOOKISH EVENT/FEATURE.
I didn't get to any events this year, so it will have to be a feature. I had been toying with the idea of serializing a series of stories about an American witch, on Wattpad. I had written them for my son years ago while we were waiting for new Harry Potter books to be published. I was hesitating because I didn't know if the characters and storyline were even interesting. Cait from Paper Fury suggested that I join a monthly feature that she co-hosts called, Beautiful People for Writers. You answer a new set of questions about your chacters and/or plot every month, and then link up so other writers can read and comment on your answers. Not only have I gotten positive feedback, but I found out one of my favorite authors has been reading the posts and wants to read the stories when I publish them on Wattpad!

4. MY BEST BLOGGING MOMENT(S).
When quite a few publishers started featuring my feedback reviews on both Netgalley and Edelweiss. And in connection to that, my first publishing house automatic approval status on EW.

5. MY MOST DISAPPOINTING EVENT OF 2015.
Okay, I know this is supposed to be "Most Challenging", but I really didn't have any real challenges. However, I was monumentality disappointed when after all the planning, flailing, and excitement over going to BEA, my roommate jumped ship on me.  I hadn't saved enough money to spring for single room hotel accommodations, and she changed her rooming plans too late for me to save more.

6. MOST POPULAR POST.
I just found out that the most popular post view-wise was also my favorite post of 2015; the Top Five Friday (based on the Top Ten Tuesday meme) diversity post. It came in at 1,078 views! You can see that post: HERE.

7. THE POST I WISH GOT A LITTLE MORE LOVE.
My Dumplin' review. It was my top YA pick for 2015, and Contemporary isn't my thing so that made it even more impressive. You can peruse that review: HERE.

8. MY BEST BOOKISH DISCOVERY.
The dreaded money sucking beast called Book Outlet.

9. REACHED CHALLENGES.
I set my Goodreads Challenge goal at 104 books for two books a week. I topped it with 112 books read even after I took out all the picture books I read for my Children's blog, and made sure there were no DNFs lurking in the shadows. You can look at my Year In Reading: HERE.



1. A BOOK I DIDN'T GET TO IN 2015 BUT WANT TO RIGHT AWAY.
Untamed, the novella compilation for the Splintered series by A.G. Howard. I am reading it on January 1st.


2. MOST ANTICIPATED 2016 NON-DEBUT.
The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, the final book in The Raven Cycle.

3. MOST ANTICIPATED 2016 DEBUT.
Hmm... I don't think I have one.

4. MOST ANTICIPATED SERIES FINISHER.

5. ONE THING I HOPE TO DO BLOGGING WISE IN 2016.
Switch my main blog from Blogger to WordPress. It has been a rough year here on Blogger. I am going to experiment with changing over my personal blog first. I hardly ever post to that blog, so if things get chewed up and spit out, no problem. Plus, it will be a learning experience.

6. A 2016 RELEASE YOU HAVE READ AND RECOMMEND TO EVERYONE.
The only 2016 release I would recommend is The Night Parade, which I mentioned a couple of times above. It is a Middle Grade standalone set in Japan. It would be a great reading slump remedy read. The imagery is beautiful, and at times shivery creepy. I think it would make a wonderful anime.
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

I few of my buddies are doing the survey and I will link them here.
Cait from Paper Fury : 2015 Survey.
Shannon from Rex Robot Reviews: 2015 Survey.
Elizabeth from So Long... & Thanks For All The Fish: 2015 Survey.

10 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a great reading year! You have so many interesting bits of info here that I'm not sure where to begin. Only Ever Yours definitely sounds shocking and definitely not a book appropriate for younger YA readers and I'm seriously appalled by the lack of research done in Made You Up. I'm all for enjoying the book just because it's fun to read but if the focus is an illness that actual people are affected by it's definitely different. To represent schizophrenia which already has enough misconceptions about it without research is just unprofessional. I'm so sorry about BEA. How horribly disappointing. Hope 2016 is a fantastic year!

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    1. Thanks! One thing this survey brought to my attention was that I did a wider variety of reading in 2015. I had quite a bit of Adult and Middle grade titles mixed in, and of course the major amount of Contemporary I consumed! Have a fabulous 2016, Katherine!

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  2. Wow, big kudos to you for doing this survey! It just feels like even more work for me than the Top 10 week!

    *big hugs*

    Btw, I finally just bought Orleans for my Kindle, so I'll get to read it this year I hope!!

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    1. Oh yay for Orleans! I think it is my most loved YA ever! I think this was the same amount of work as the Top Ten was last year, and you are right doing both would be insanity! This was okay because I did it in small sessions over a couple of weeks. I am definitely doing it again next year :)

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  3. Awesome End of the Year survey! I love that you read a lot of lesser known books. Also "thanks" for making my TBR even longer. Hehe. I just posted mine today!

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  4. Wow! Very impressive and informative! Filling out this survey took a lot of work, and I didn't try it. I barely managed to post a Favorites of 2015 list before 2015 ended! I haven't been keeping up with YA lit at all and am woefully behind on adult lit, too, but I'm adding several YA books from your survey to my TBR list. And I BOUGHT a copy of A Darker Shade of Magic (which I don't usually do until I know I love a book) and still haven't read it!

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    1. I don't think I have seen one bad review for A Darker Shade of Magic, so I think you are pretty safe with that purchase. Yes this was a beast of a post, but I did it in three sittings, so it wasn't too terrifying. The one mistake I made was waiting to add all the links for last. It was traumatizing. Ha ha. :)

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  5. Oh my god I had no idea you read The Thirteenth Tale this year!!! (Did I? Sometimes I get super excited about things and somehow manage to forget them which kind of boggles my mind, but hey at least I get to be excited about things a lot?). That is seriously one of my all time favourite books. I will earn you, it's in your best interest to skip Bellman & Black (if I haven't already given you this warning). I thought with writing as gorgeous as Setterfield's I could read about sea cucumbers and still think it was amazing...buuut...she managed to make it suuuuper boring. It was still beautiful writing but it was missing pretty migh everything else that made The Thirteenth Tale as amazing as it was. Hopefully she'll still publish something else because I'd still buy it!

    And I had no idea Thorn was such a big read for you this year either (...or...did I?). I guess depending when you read it I HAVE been missing loads of blog posts (and tend to not read reviews on books I want to read) so it's possible I missed it. Anyway, you've made me super excited to read it!

    And heck yeah you won on Orleans pushing haha! It should make you happy - it was actually recommended a few times at the con I was at by a couple authors (Tamora Pierce was one, but I can't remember who else had read it).

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    1. I haven't reviewed The Thirteenth Tale or Thorn here on the blog yet. I saw the above Setterfield quote somewhere and when I saw that the audiobook was on sale for $4.99, I snapped it up. I think I saw you mention Bellman and Black on your Goodreads review of 13th? Maybe? I do remember a lot of people voiced that same thumbs down reaction on GR about B&B. I saw the cover of Thorn somewhere last year and when I went to add it to my GR TBR I saw that it was on sale for $1.99 I bought it. I read it for the fairytale retelling challenge I was in. I have Sunbolt, but I haven't gotten to it yet. I loved Going Bovine and I cannot thank you enough for the rec. I think you would love The Night Parade!

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Thank-you for dropping by! I love to chat, so comments get a lot of love.