Hello everyone, happy holidays and happy new year! This post is a little bit of a ‘year in review’ kind of post, and I’ll be sharing with you my top 6 books of 2016, some other honourable mentions, my reading goals for this coming year and also my blogging goals.
To start off, I read 60 new books this year, and two rereads. 60 books was my goodreads goal, and although I had a major slump in September/October, I still managed to pull through and meet my goal.
Out of the 60 books I didn’t actually have much trouble narrowing it down to 6 books, I don’t even know how I made a full list of 15 favourites at the end of 2015, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t read a lot of amazing books this year, I just think I’ve become pickier with which books I call my favourite and which I just enjoyed a lot. Also, all of the books in my top 6 were 5 star reads for me.
Number 6 on my list is Hamilton: The Revolution by Lin Manuel Miranda and Jeremy Carter.
I know, this isn’t your typical novel but with my Hamilton obsession that took over my life early 2016, this satisfied my Hamilton needs more than ever. Whether it was Lin’s hilarious notes on the lyrics or reading the backstory on how the show all came together, this book had me laughing and crying throughout every page.
Number 5 on my list is Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur.
I slowly jumped down the hole of poetry in the fall and out of the many collections I’ve read, this one was the first, and the one that left the largest impression on me. No matter what poetry collection I’ve read since, my mind always wanders back to this one. I also found that a lot of other collections are pointless, or don’t have too meaningful of a message to them but Milk & Honey was deep and important and I cannot recommend it enough to everyone, it’s just so eye opening and beautiful.
Number 4 on my list is Every Last Word by Tamara Ireland Stone.
It’s been months since I read this but I can still remember the day this book tore my heart out in one mere second. I was in English class and we had time to read and (if you’ve read this you probably know what part I’m talking about) I just GASPED so loud, and everyone turned to look at me but honestly this book had me shook I had to keep from crying the rest of the class it was so damn good. I also had, and still have a hard time finding really good contemporaries now that I have read so many of them and have such high expectations and this one actually blew my mind, 10/10 would recommend hahaha.
Number 3 on my list is Passenger by Alexandra Bracken.
This is an extremely recent read but it’s been on my shelf for over six months and I don’t know how I didn’t read it until now. I didn’t know it had a history aspect to it and I love history so picking this up a couple of weeks ago surprised me so much because I don’t understand how I let it sit on my shelf for so long when it seemed as though it was written for my exact needs in a good book. But overall the plot, characters, writing was all an A+ for me and I bought the sequel a few days ago already because my local bookstore is the actual best for putting books out early so we all know Wayfarer will be my first book of 2017.
Number 2 on my list is technically two books but, A Court Of Thorns And Roses and A Court Of Mist And Fury by Sarah J. Maas.
Wow, where to even begin with these two. I read these both in May and having not read any Sarah J. Maas before, I was completely blown away. These both definitely reignited my love for fantasy but also made me realize my love for retellings. You don’t even know how funny I looked for a few days carrying a book as big as ACOMAF from class to class everyday, it was a big one hahaha. We also all know that I will probably have a heart attack the second A Court Of Wings And Ruin is in my hands.
And last but not least, number 1 on my list, for 2016, and my whole life is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.
I have never had an absolute favourite book before, when people asked me what it was I would always just say Harry Potter (which is still my favourite series, don’t worry) but wow the second I closed The Book Thief I knew that I’d be thinking about this book for the rest of my life. Even if this isn’t your favourite book, it’s so important, heartbreaking and beautiful written that everyone was read it can see how incredible it is. I would link my review but it’s months old and was written through the tears this book caused me, but trust me, give this book a read, you won’t regret it. From the amazing and loveable charaters, that you get to know so well, to the plot, message and phenomenonal writing, The Book Thief is perfect, I don’t know how else to put it, there is a big imprint of this book on my heart and I don’t go a day without glaring at my shelf, seeing it and remembering how important it is to me and in general.
Honourable Mentions:
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, beautiful and heartbreaking, a perfect quick read that isn’t pointless whatsoever. Wow I need to see this movie.
Wink Poppy Midnight by April Genevive Tuckolke, unique and strange but awesome.
Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys, another historical fiction that was gripping and quick, with great characters.
Fantastic Beasts and The Cursed Child, how could I not mention these? Even though The Cursed Child was judged pretty harshly these both filled the empty Wizarding World void in my heart that’s been there since Deathly Hallows Pt 2.
Overall I had a great reading year, I read so many different genres of books, read many which have sequels coming out in 2017 that I’m looking forward to and read my favourite book ever.
If you want to check out the rest of the books I read in 2016, click here to check me out on goodreads!
Now for my 2017 reading goals, I’m aiming for 60 books again because I feel like it was a good challenge for me but also manageable, it evens out to 5 books a month which doesn’t always happen because of school and life but with the extra reading in summer and on breaks, I can do it.
I also want to continue to read a bunch of different genres which I did a good job of last year and want to continue with.
As for blogging I know I haven’t done a very good job of it these past three months or so but my goal for the new year is to have at least one post up a week. I know I’ll have more that that up after January is done because I have exams at the end of January, and this semester has been very hard, hence the limited posts, but once it’s all done and over with I’ll be all set because my second semester is so easy, I’ll have minimal to no homework, and more time to read and blog. I also want to get back into reviewing the books I read. I don’t think I’ve written a review for a book since the summer and that’s horrible so I need to get back in the swing of that for sure. And lastly I want to get back into monthly wrap up and hauls because 1) they are fun and 2) they are nice to look back at because even if I don’t write a review for every book I can go back and get a little taste of my thoughts shortly after reading the book.
That’s all for this yearly wrap up/top 6 of 2016 post, it got quite longer than anticipated but oh well.
Did you all have a good reading year? What’s the best book you read in 2017 and what’s your most anticipated read for 2017? Let me know in the comments!
Emma Janelle Reads 