Once again, I have to give credit to Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner for my favorite yearly reading wrap-up. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
2019 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 100
Number of Re-Reads: 9.
Genre You Read The Most From: Once again, because I am nothing if not predictable, the answer is contemporary YA.
1. Best Book You Read In 2019?
For the first time since I’ve done this survey, I won’t be breaking this question down by genre and age category because I finally have just one answer. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is hands down the most enjoyable, funny, heartwarming, insightful, happy-making book I’ve read this year, and nothing else quite compares.
2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo was the non-debut book I was most anticipating at the end of last year, and perhaps it’s because my expectations were so high that I was so . . . underwhelmed by it. I very much enjoyed the story–don’t get me wrong–and I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out. But I wasn’t as blown away by it as I was by the Six of Crows duology, or by the end of the Shadow and Bone trilogy.
3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor straight up caused my head to implode at least three different times in the last two hundred pages. And I mean that in the best possible way.
4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins, which I got 2/3rds of my immediate family to read over the course of one Skype call two weeks ago. We still haven’t stopped talking about it.
5. Best series you started in 2019? Best Sequel of 2019? Best Series Ender of 2019?
Best series: Geekerella by Ashley Poston, which was the fandom-centered YA romance I so desperately needed this year.
Best sequel: I’m going to cheat and list Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor as a sequel instead of a series ender, because I wouldn’t necessarily consider a duology a series, and because I truly don’t want this duology/series/whatever you want to call it to be over just yet.
Best series ender: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, which I still can’t believe I waited so long to read.
6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?
It’s a three-way tie between Casey McQuiston, Jenn Bennett, and Brittany Morris.
7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed, which is a collection of letters and responses that I picked up because I love the Dear Sugar podcast and found myself unexpectedly moved by.
8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?
Toss-up between Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff and Internment by Samira Ahmed.
9. Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin, since I’m already aiming to get my hands on a copy sometime this year.
10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?
A Heart in a Body in a World by Deb Caletti, which is striking in its simple starkness.
11. Most memorable character of 2019?
Alex Claremont-Diaz from Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Hands down, bar none.
12. Most beautifully written book read in 2019?
Circe by Madeline Miller, which perfectly toed the line between beauty and poignancy in terms of its prose.
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2019?
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin, which completely re-framed the way I think about myself and my tendencies toward various behaviors. It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve thought back to this book at least once a week since I read it in July.
14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2019 to finally read?
Going to cheat again and list the Off-Campus series by Elle Kennedy. I read the first book a couple of years ago and LOVED it, and have no idea why I waited so long to get my hands on the remaining three books.
15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?
“He does not mean it does not hurt. He does not mean we are not frightened. Only that: we are here. This is what it means to swim in the tide, to walk the earth and feel it touch your feet. This is what it means to be alive.” —Circe by Madeline Miller.
16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?
Shortest book: So You Want to be a Dog Trainer by Nicole Wilde
Longest book: Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
17. Book That Shocked You The Most?
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor, for the same reasons that it surprised me the most.
18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)
Alex Claremont-Diaz and Henry, Prince of Wales from Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Because of course.
19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year?
The affectionate, protective, but platonic friendship between Layla and Jake in Internment by Samira Ahmed, which wound up becoming one of my favorite parts of one of my favorite books of this year.
20. Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously?
A Heart in a Body in a World by Deb Caletti. I read her books in high school–once upon a long time ago–but this one put her squarely back on my radar.
21. Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.?
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Reid Jenkins, which I only picked up because my corner of bookish Twitter could not stop gushing about it. Thanks for giving me a new favorite author, everyone.
22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?
Elliot from Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren, for being the kind of sweet, bookish boy I would’ve absolutely gone goggle-eyed over as a teenager.
23. Best 2019 debut you read?
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. Are you bored of me mentioning this book yet?
24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
The alternate version of turn-of-the-century London in Witchmark by C.L. Polk simultaneously felt familiar enough to ground me and fresh and inventive enough to hold my interest all on its own.
25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. I laughed out loud/stopped to read certain lines to my spouse/paused to exclaim over how GREAT certain parts of this book were more times than I can actually remember.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?
A Heart in a Body in a World by Deb Caletti, Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston all did. I also re-read Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, so that obviously did too.
27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?
It’s a toss-up between The Revolution of Birdie Randolph by Brandy Colbert and Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills, which are both spectacular contemporary YA novels that didn’t get nearly enough attention.
28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?
Sadie by Courtney Summers, for being so relentlessly brutal in the most appropriate way possible.
29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?
Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Reid Jenkins from a storytelling standpoint. I am simultaneously in love with her ‘novel as a series of interviews’ format and in awe of how much work it must’ve required.
30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green, which did so many things well from a narrative standpoint, which I wanted so desperately to like, and which had a heroine/protagonist who I wanted to PUNCH by the halfway point. Ugh.
1. New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?
I didn’t really discover any new book blogs of Bookstagram accounts, although I did get really into a few authors’ Instagram accounts for both content and aesthetic reasons. Not going to list anyone specific here, though, because I don’t want to sound like a total creep.
2. Favorite post you wrote in 2019?
In Defense of Keeping Your Day Job, because I felt I did a really good job articulating something I’ve taken serious issue with–the notion that all creatives should be full-time creatives/that working full-time is equivalent to “selling out”–for YEARS now.
3. Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2019?
A catastrophic phone failure early this fall cost me a bunch of my pictures, so it’s possible I’m mistaken, but I don’t think I took any bookish related photos this year.
4. Best bookish event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, etc.)?
Probably the reading that I was part of after a short story of mine was published in a local anthology. Despite some technical difficulties–microphones are hard–that was a really good time.
5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2019?
Booking–see what I did there?–another sensitivity reading job for a YA manuscript that I’d had on my TBR before the publisher reached out to me. I’ve been sensitivity reading professionally since 2016, but it still never fails to excite me when editors and/or authors seek out my constructive criticism.
6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?
Once again, it was attempting to maintain a regular blogging schedule in the face of my other writing projects and all the travel my husband and I were doing. I’ve noticed that blogging tends to drop off A LOT for me come summer and early fall when I get busy with other things, and I haven’t yet found a workaround that will keep me on task.
7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
My post about My Pre-Writing Routine was apparently the most popular in terms of views, which is kind of surprising. I know I’m fond of it, but I’m pleased to see that others were too.
8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?
If In Defense of Keeping Your Day Job had become a larger piece of the important cultural conversation which I was writing in response to, I would’ve been thrilled.
9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
The sheer number of awesome local bookstores in the city where my husband and I will be living next year. I am SO excited about this.
10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?
I never do any specific reading challenges anymore, but I did somehow manage to read exactly 100 books this year, which is my constant unofficial yet rarely obtained reading goal.
1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2020?
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia. I checked this one out as an e-book prior to taking a trip back in July, started it and got instantly hooked, and then never managed to finish it. Going to bite the bullet and put a library hold on this one so that I can finally freaking finish it.
2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non-debut)?
I do have a library hold on The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, which I am so excited for. I loved The Night Circus, and it sounds like her sophomore novel contains a lot of the same magic and mystery in another imaginative setting. Cannot freaking wait until I get my hands on a copy.
3. 2020 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?
The Silence of Bones by June Hur, a murder mystery set in 19th century Korea that I’ve been hearing about for months now that sounds fantastic.
4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2020?
The two that come immediately to mind are Deathless Divide by Justina Ireland and The Nobleman’s Guide to Scandal and Shipwrecks by Mackenzi Lee.
5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?
I’d love to read another 100 books next year, if not more. (The struggle to prioritize reading and creative work over the internet and social media continues.) That said, I’m still trying to figure out what kind of role I want this blog to play in my professional writing life and how often I want/need to be updating it, and figuring that out in 2020 will definitely be a priority.
6. A 2020 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable):
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an arc of Foul is Fair by Hannah Capin, and I binge-read the whole thing in less than two days. If you like revenge narratives, ride or die female friendships, good boys gone bad, and prose so sharp you could cut yourself on it, you need to read this when it comes out next year.
What were some of your favorite books this year, and why? Let me know in the comments, or link me to your own survey!