One last #2017wrapup before plunging forward into 2018. Here are some of my favorites of 2017. I was fortunate to not have read many pans this year. 🙌 #decktheshelves #favoriteoftheyear
One last #2017wrapup before plunging forward into 2018. Here are some of my favorites of 2017. I was fortunate to not have read many pans this year. 🙌 #decktheshelves #favoriteoftheyear
And finally I surpassed my GoodReads goal of reading 100 books by reading 148 books!
#2017WrapUp
I did complete my #ReadHarder2017 challenge! This is one of my favorite challenges because it makes me look for books I might not otherwise read, and I often wind up loving them. 💕
#2017WrapUp
Well I almost finished my #LitsyAtoZ challenge. I was listening to the audiobook of Z, then switched cars, and never got back into it - maybe next year for that title. Other letters I had multiple entries for. Thanks for hosting @BookishMarginalia ! 😊
#2017WrapUp
#2017wrapup
The Cocktail award is for the book I‘ve talked up most. Backman has a talent for capturing the thoughts we hide even from ourselves - he freezes those moments, giving us an intimate look at each character. These hidden truths drove him to write this book - to look at sports culture, at where it meets misogyny and homophobia. And I believe Beartown captures a writer at the moment he ascends into the top tier of writers writing today.
#2017wrapup
The STFU (‘cos I‘m listening to this!) award goes to my favorite audiobook. Sapiens is a history of our species. The author gives a long view that is dispassionate - he‘s not championing us, nor is he laying all blame at our feet: we‘re only animals, after all, and in the grand scheme of things, we‘re not even toddlers. Which makes our success and progression as a species gasp-worthy in ways both inspiring and worrisome.
#2017wrapup
The Escher award is for the book that isn‘t what it seems. This year it‘s Queen of the Night. It‘s a rags-to-riches tale. Or is it a romance? Is the mystery at its beginning the crux? There‘s the war, & the intrigue of sex scandals with an emperor, making this historical fiction. At the center is a woman whose real name we never learn. And all of it is told as a stylized, taut page-turner. No wonder @Liberty loved it.
#2017wrapup
The Jewel award goes to the book that was meant for me, and Meddling Kids gets it. This book could have been sheer nostalgia. But in Cantero‘s hands, it was so much more. Lovecraftian underworld gods and government coverups and the spirits of deceased friends all overlap in this story of first love, true friends, and an epic quest. Pick it up for the nostalgia - stay for the action - cherish it for the truths you find in it.
#2017wrapup
The Happy Accidents award goes to the book/author I wasn‘t expecting to fall for. This year, it‘s Jeff Lemire. I really got into comics and graphic novels this year. I met Lemire through A.D. After Death. And I‘m signed on for Royal City. And the best part is there is SO MUCH he‘s done I can sift through. There is something very late-Gen X about his stuff that speaks to me without manipulating me via nostalgia. I just dig him.