#AMonthofFaves This Is How We Read

Our last prompt for #AMonthofFaves [The 2019 Edition] is a look at how and what we read this year.

✧ TANYA PATRICE ✧

# of books: 46.This is a decrease by 6 books from last year – part of it was because I had a long reading slump in the summer, and another part is because in December, I decided to read less and try to get more blogging stuff done.

The first book I finished in 2019 was The Pure in Heart (Simon Serailler, #2), Susan Hill. I thought it was just OK and decided not to continue with the series. The last book I completed this year was Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legend of Orisha #2), Tomi Adeyemi, which I listened to as an audiobook and really liked.

Number + % new vs old – 24/46 books were new, published in 2019, which has been an increasing % over previous years when I used to read mostly back-list books. I think the increase is due to writing about books here on the GXO which makes me want to stay somewhat current and read the “hyped” books. Another 12 books were published in 2018 – so 78% of the books I read were published in 2018 and 2019.

54% of the books I read were by authors I had read before – so about half and half – old and new authors – love that!

Genres & Diversity: The majority of the books I read were mysteries and thrillers … this changes from year to year – but looks like right now I’m feeling mysteries. About 30% of the books I read was written by an author of color which is about the average for me over the last few years. Always trying to increase that number though.

• Mystery / Thriller – 15
• Contemporary – 11
• Fantasy -7
• SciFi | Dystopian | Post-Apocalyptic – 5
• Horror/Dark Fiction – 5
• Historical Fiction – 2
• Classics – 1
• Short Story Collections (Contemporary) – 1

The Good … Best of the Best – My list of Favorite Books Read This Year topped out at 14, but if I had to choose one overall fave, it would be Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens.

The Bad -There were only 2 books read this year that were less than 3 stars for me … The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay – which is really just below 3 … and just because the audiobook narrator doesn’t do voices of multiple characters well, and while there were some interesting parts – overall the story was unbelievable and didn’t really go anywhere most of the time – just gratuitous violence. The Hundredth Queen, Emily R. King is another book that I gave 2 stars. My reading notes on Goodreads say, “… reads more like the young” part of “young adult” so be prepared for all the tropes – insta-love, savior complex of the heroine, and to be generally annoyed while reading this … and plenty of eye-rolling.”

The Ugly – I was more ruthless this year about giving up on books after a few pages if it didn’t look like I would enjoy them. I don’t even count those as “Did Not Finish” because I stopped reading pretty early in – and I didn’t keep a record, BUT there were 3 books that I read 25-50% of and just couldn’t finish – Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James … this book made some best books of the year lists … I just don’t see how~ ; In the Woods, Tana French … this series is much loved by many, so I’m sure I’ll give the other books a chance in the future; and The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls, Annisa Gray … the plot was slow, and I just didn’t care about any of the characters enough to continue plodding through.

How I Read – 95% audiobooks and the rest physical books – no eBooks. Last year I said I wanted to read more physical books, and I failed at that miserably. I love audiobooks, but sometimes I get burned out on them – which causes a reading slump – so if I want to read more books this year, I definitely need to get back into reading physical books as well.

I read the most books in January and November – 6 books each month. And the least in September – only 1 book, The Institute, Stephen King. That was the month I was a little burned out … on everything. Travel for work all summer long and doing the most with entertaining every holiday and all throughout the summer and making up family time when I wasn’t traveling – all left me exhausted by September.

Most Memorable Character(s): There were quite a few, but Queenie from Queenie, Candice Carty-Williams is my fave. She’s the one I’d most like to hang out with in real life.

Reading Goals for 2020 – ✧ Read more books ✧ Read more physical books ✧ Post about all the books on our Instagram account – Awesomerxoxo.

So tell us about the highlight of your reading year. If you’re participating in #AMonthofFaves [The 2019 Edition] link up to your blog post (or Instagram picture) below.