Sofia's 2018 Reading List
This year I've read 37 books!
I used to read around 80 books a year (can you believe that!), and my highest number counted was 184 books in 2011. That's like a new book every other day whaaat. Or, about 164 pages each day for the year lol. I've been keeping tracking since the beginning of 2009, so I think it's really fun to see how many books I've been able to read each year and track my reading habits.
Ever since I started university and got a social life, my number of books read has been a bit slacking, and in fact, in 2017 I only read 9 books! That is absolutely crazy! So for 2019, my Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge was to read 24 books, because I figured that 2 a month would be a manageable goal to start increasing my reading again. Of course, I didn't read at such a consistent rate, because sometimes I would read 3 books in a week, and sometimes I would read no books for a few weeks. Either way, I read approximately 3 books per month this year, so in an attempt to stay consistent/hopefully increase, I'll make my 2019 goal 40 books.
One of my favorite things, besides just the straight-up stats of how many books, is comparisons between the different books, kindly provided to me by Goodread's Year in Books (can you tell I love this site?). My shortest "book" was Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo by Rick Riordan (it's a short-story of 28 pages), and my longest book was Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas (672 pages). If you have Goodreads, you can look at your Year in Books (or mine) here.
So, what were my favorite books of 2019?
Of course, with Rick Riordan being my favorite author, I'm always going to love his stuff, and this year I read from him:
So excluding those from my judgement, my top 10 of the year (in no particular order, & no spoilers not included in their Goodreads blurb):
This is the 6th book in this (quite popular and well-known) series, so unless you've read the previous ones, I wouldn't suggest starting this one. No spoilers of course, but I really liked this book, and the narrative focuses on different characters than the protagonist of the series, so it was cool to be able to get different perspectives and a different storyline within the overarching plot of the series. Content Warning: Sex, Death (probably more, but I can't remember specifics- young adult)
Goals for 2019:
As I said before, my goal is to read 40 books. I want to read more translated books, decrease the number of books written by straight, white, able-bodied, heterosexual males (though only 12 of the 37 were of that, so that's pretty good!), read more graphic novels (or comics), continue reading through the unread books that I own, and to also read all the books on the Rick Riordan Presents list.
Let me know if you've read any of the same books or if you end up reading any of my suggestions. Happy reading, and happy new year!
I used to read around 80 books a year (can you believe that!), and my highest number counted was 184 books in 2011. That's like a new book every other day whaaat. Or, about 164 pages each day for the year lol. I've been keeping tracking since the beginning of 2009, so I think it's really fun to see how many books I've been able to read each year and track my reading habits.
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| Books Read |
Ever since I started university and got a social life, my number of books read has been a bit slacking, and in fact, in 2017 I only read 9 books! That is absolutely crazy! So for 2019, my Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge was to read 24 books, because I figured that 2 a month would be a manageable goal to start increasing my reading again. Of course, I didn't read at such a consistent rate, because sometimes I would read 3 books in a week, and sometimes I would read no books for a few weeks. Either way, I read approximately 3 books per month this year, so in an attempt to stay consistent/hopefully increase, I'll make my 2019 goal 40 books.
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| Pages Read |
So, what were my favorite books of 2019?
Of course, with Rick Riordan being my favorite author, I'm always going to love his stuff, and this year I read from him:
- The Trials of Apollo Book 3: The Burning Maze
- Percy Jackson's Greek Heroes
- Percy Jackson and the Singer of Apollo
So excluding those from my judgement, my top 10 of the year (in no particular order, & no spoilers not included in their Goodreads blurb):
- The Magician King & The Magician's Land (The Magicians #2 & #3) by Lev Grossman
The trilogy follows Quentin Coldwater and his friends at Brakebills Prepatory College of Magic, and Fillory, a magical land from children's books that turns out to be real. This series has been called "Harry Potter for adults" and there is a TV show based off it which is actually also really good. I love when fantasy/mythology/magic gets placed into the real world, so it's no surprise that I love this series. Content Warning: Death, Depression, Murder, Sex, Rape (basically everything, this is for mature readers!!!)
- Strange the Dreamer & Muse of Nightmares (#1 & #2) by Laini Taylor
This duo follows Lazlo Strange and Sarai. Lazlo is a junior librarian obsessed with the mythical lost land of Weep until an opportunity arises for him to try to solve the mystery of Weep. Content Warning: Murder, Death, Rape, Self-mutilation (for young adult and older readers)
- The Great Passage by Shion Miura, Translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter
This is my favorite translated book I've ever read. Originally in Japanese, this is a story detailing the journey of creating a dictionary titled "The Great Passage. I know it sounds boring, but trust me! The narrator changes from Kohei Araki, a dictionary editor heading into retirement, to Mitsuya Majima, his young replacement. There's a really adorable love story, soooo much description of amazing food (I was so hungry reading this book!), and really fun and interesting debates on linguistics using both the Japanese and English words. The linguistic debates on love and gender are particularly great. I cannot recommend this book enough!! Content Warning: Death, Sex (Not graphic, this book might be targeted towards adults, but it would 100% be fine for young adult readers)
- Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
- The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill
This is a love story of two orphans born in 1910 in Montreal. Pierrot is a pianist, and Rose is a comedic dancer. Very much a dramatic love story, the orphans delve into some extreme situations to survive. This book is entrancing. Content Warning: Drugs, Sex, Rape, Prostitution, Death, Murder (again, basically everything- mature readers!!)
- Maresi (Red Abbey Chronicles) by Maria Turtschaninoff, Translated by Annie Prime
Maresi is a novice at the Red Abbey, a "haven for women from abuse and oppression." Maresi loves to spend her time reading and learning, but that's disrupted when Jai arrives to the Abbey. It's a really interesting world that Turtschaninoff built, and it's amazing feminist and brings into discussion a lot of the gray areas to the debates surrounding rape, being a woman, and revenge. Content Warning: Rape, Abuse, Sex, Murder, Death (difficult subjects, but totally fine for young adult readers)
- A Crown of Wishes (A Star-Touched Queen, #2) by Roshani Chokshi
This may be the second, but you can read these books out of order because the main characters to each of them are only passing characters in the other. Gauri, princess of Bharata, is taken as a prisoner of war, and Vikram, the prince of her enemy's kingdom get caught in an otherworldly competition known as the Tournament of Wishes. They have to put aside their rivalries to save both of their kingdoms. Chokshi bases her stories in Indian mythology, which is one of the reasons I love her books so much. She's also one of the authors involved with Rick Riordan Presents, so she's involved with a great group of authors. Content Warning: Death (I think? Not too much to be aware of in here, she tends to write for young adult or preteen audiences)
- Tower of Dawn (Throne of Glass #6) by Sarah J. Maas
This is the 6th book in this (quite popular and well-known) series, so unless you've read the previous ones, I wouldn't suggest starting this one. No spoilers of course, but I really liked this book, and the narrative focuses on different characters than the protagonist of the series, so it was cool to be able to get different perspectives and a different storyline within the overarching plot of the series. Content Warning: Sex, Death (probably more, but I can't remember specifics- young adult)
Goals for 2019:
As I said before, my goal is to read 40 books. I want to read more translated books, decrease the number of books written by straight, white, able-bodied, heterosexual males (though only 12 of the 37 were of that, so that's pretty good!), read more graphic novels (or comics), continue reading through the unread books that I own, and to also read all the books on the Rick Riordan Presents list.
Let me know if you've read any of the same books or if you end up reading any of my suggestions. Happy reading, and happy new year!
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