2016 Books
Welp. Let's do an end-of-year book post. This year I dedicated most of my time to re-reading, since for the first time in about 7 years, my books and I were all in the same city. (Except for the 100 or so Nancy Drew books which are still in my parent's garage. They... don't count.) So, cool number first - I read 102 books this year. Compared to last year's 81, that's pretty impressive. However, I suspect that it may also be a really hard number to beat, given the following factors:
1. I had about two months this year where my job was basically just keeping the chair warm, and so I had a lot of extra reading time.
2. Re-reading tends to go faster.
3. Most of the books I was reading were short.
Seriously, my page total for the year was 35321, compared to last year's 34323. Not a big gap.
Part of my goal for this year was to wean down my library by determining what I didn't really need to read again. That... backfired. I think I cut a grand total of two books... and bought about 5 to complete various series. So, um, oops. I have a problem, and now my books and Griffin's games will have to fight to the death for shelf-space.
Things I learned by re-reading:
1. In high school, I wanted to be Anna Pigeon (of Nevada' Barr's mystery series) when I grew up. I would *still* like to grow up to be her. She's awesome.
2. Some of Tamora Pierce's works were really important to my development. To my surprise, after re-reading them, I think Keladry's books actually made the most impact, though I would have said I liked Daine more. (Though straight up, her thing with Numair is creepy now.)
3. Jim Butcher is a sneaky bitch.
4. World War Z is such a good book, my God, how did they fuck it up so bad? Does anyone want to film a series of vignettes and piece together a less-awful film version?
5. My favorite Abhorsen is Lirael. She is also my favorite librarian. And the Disreputable Dog is the best. Ever.
6. I did not appreciate Tanya Huff's Smoke series as much as it deserved. The Blood books are pretty meh, but it may be worth it for the follow-ups.
I did sneak a few new book into my lineup for the year... and since all of them came to me recommended, they were all pretty fantastic. Top stand-outs included The Fifth Season and The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, both by N.K. Jemisin. The Girl With All the Gifts kicked my ass and gave me complicated feels, and Ready Player One provided an excellent dose of nostalgia. (And made me listen to the LadyHawke soundtrack a couple dozen times.)
So there we go, 2016 in books. I am now ready to launch into new books for next year, because escapism. Read on, friends.