Hello, 2018!

I’ll have to start by saying that I’m slightly disappointed in myself; I did not finish reading all of my books on my 2017 book list. As of last week, I was holding onto the faint hope that I might be reading the last book on my list at the turn of the new year, but alas, I am reading the second to last. Still, I did read every single new book on my list, at least.

So what novels did I read in 2017? Here follows the list in the order in which I read them (and if you want to see my original list, click here—you’ll see I read eight titles not on the original list, so I really can’t feel too bad):

1. Children of the Mind (Ender’s Saga #4) by Orson Scott Card
2. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
3. First Meetings in Ender’s Universe (Ender’s Saga #0.5) by Orson Scott Card
4. The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
5. Holding Up the Universe by Jennifer Niven
6. A War of Gifts: An Ender Story (Ender’s Saga #1.1) by Orson Scott Card
7. Don’t Get Caught by Kurt Dinan
8. Red Queen (Red Queen #1) by Victoria Aveyard
9. Dog Days (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #4) by Jeff Kinney
10. Ender in Exile (Ender’s Saga #1.2) by Orson Scott Card
11. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
12. Glass Sword (Red Queen #2) by Victoria Aveyard
13. An Ember in the Ashes (An Ember in the Ashes #1) by Sabaa Tahir
14. A Torch Against the Night (An Ember in the Ashes #2) by Sabaa Tahir
15. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
16. My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows
17. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (Rats of NIMH #1) by Robert C. O’Brien
18. The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
19. Exit, Pursued by a Bear by E.K. Johnston
20. Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
21. I Survived the Joplin Tornado, 2011 (I Survived #12) by Lauren Tarshis
22. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
23. The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1) by Robert Jordan
24. The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book II) by Rick Riordan
25. The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies
26. You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan
27. Starflight (Starflight #1) by Melissa Landers
28. D’Aulaires’ Book of Norse Myths by Ingri d’Aulaire
29. The Hidden Oracle (The Trials of Apollo #1) by Rick Riordan
30. Starfall (Starflight #2) by Melissa Landers
31. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
32. This Savage Song (Monsters of Verity #1) by Victoria Schwab
33. The Crown’s Game (The Crown’s Game #1) by Evelyn Skye
34. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
35. Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes by Rick Riordan
36. The Dog Who Thought He Was Santa by Bill Wallace
37. The Amulet of Samarkand (The Bartimaeus Trilogy Book I) by Jonathan Stroud
38. The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas
39. Let It Snow by Maureen Johnson, John Green, and Lauren Myracle
40. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

You may notice that many of the books I read are from series. Some are new series that I stumbled upon, and I just couldn’t help but buy the next book, which may be why I was set back a little at end of the year. Some of the books, to be honest, are already in my pile of books to pass on to someone else. I suppose it would be too good to be true to hope that every book I read is a winner. There are also quite a few titles that I would not have read if it weren’t for my 10-year-old wanting me to read with him. And as long as he wants me to, I will be glad to oblige.

Christmas Books!

Excepting the second and third books of the Red Rising series, this year’s list contains all new books for a change. One is not a novel (and yes, I do read non-fiction, although I don’t list it here unless it’s writing-related). Some books are parts of series that I started in 2017, so I can’t promise I won’t re-read those earlier books, but here’s hoping I can mostly stay on track. Included in this list is my latest pile of borrowed books from my media specialist cousin-in-law (pictured here from a post last summer). My Christmas books were also plentiful this year, as well. I received every one I wanted, plus a couple surprises.

So here is my 2018 book list (alpha by author):

1. Mosquitoland by David Arnold
2. Six of Crows (Six of Crows #1) by Leigh Bardugo
3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
4. Passenger (Passenger #1) by Alexandra Bracken
5. Golden Son (Red Rising Saga #2) by Pierce Brown
6. Morning Star (Red Rising Saga #3) by Pierce Brown
7. Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga #4) by Pierce Brown
8. Ender’s Shadow (The Shadow Series #1) by Orson Scott Card
9. Shadow of the Hegemon (The Shadow Series #2) by Orson Scott Card
10. Shadow Puppets (The Shadow Series #3) by Orson Scott Card
11. Shadow of the Giant (The Shadow Series #4) by Orson Scott Card
12. Shadows in Flight (The Shadow Series #5) by Orson Scott Card
13. The Reader (Sea of Ink and Gold #1) by Traci Chee
14. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
15. The Circle by Dave Eggers
16. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
17. Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton
18. The Diabolic (The Diabolic #1) by S.J. Kincaid
19. The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #5) by Jeff Kinney
20. The Girl in the Spider’s Web (Millennium #4) by David Lagercrantz
21. Nil (Nil #1) by Lynne Matson
22. The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis
23. A History of Glitter and Blood by Hannah Moskowitz
24. The Dark Prophecy (The Trials of Apollo #2) by Rick Riordan
25. The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard Book III) by Rick Riordan
26. Carve the Mark (Carve the Mark #1) by Victoria Roth
27. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J.K. Rowling
28. The Hired Girl by Laura Amy Schlitz
29. Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab
30. The Crown’s Fate (The Crown’s Game #2) by Evelyn Skye
31. A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir

This is a shorter list than those of the past couple years because working full-time, year-round has decimated my free time, but I hope I’ll be able to stick to it and maybe have some room to intersperse some unplanned surprise titles.

I hope you’re inspired to read something you’ll fall in love with this year. Happy reading in 2018!