Time for my end-of-year books-in-review post. It’s been a pretty amazing year for books. I’m not sure I’ve ever read as many as I did this year. I love having a place to put my book reviews!! Hopefully people aren’t too annoyed with my excess of reviews!

So, here is a wrap-up of what I’ve read this year:

Total books: 87
First-time reads: 72

Novels: 70 (Speculative: 31, Realistic: 39)
Nonfiction: 14
Collections: 3

Children’s and YA: 28

Classics: 27

In translation: 9

New to me authors: 44

Best book: Other than rereading my favorite, Possession, I’d have to pick The Grapes of Wrath. Some close seconds were The City of Ember, The Lost Stradivarius, Memoirs of a Geisha, and a couple of Lois Lowry books.

Worst book: Tough one. I’d have to say The Bookseller of Kabul, though Oracle Night and Don Quixote come close.

Most forgettable: I’d have to say The Lost Legends of New Jersey. I remember like three things about that book total.

Most surprising: 1) The Grapes of Wrath – I expected to hate it, I’ve always avoided it, but I ended up loving it and couldn’t stop reading. 2) The Jane Austen Book Club – once again, I expected to not like it too much, but found it engaging and added it to the rare modern fiction book I enjoyed. 3) Memoirs of a Geisha – I thought this one would be good, but didn’t expect it to be quite so wonderful! It blew me away.

Most disappointing: 1) Don Quixote – it’s so classic, I wanted to love it, and hated it. 2) The Bookseller of Kabul – I thought I’d learn something about Kabul culture, and instead it was an offensive, westernized attack; preying on the fears of our current time in order to sell lots of copies, grr. 3) American Gods – because for some weird reason, I really wanted to like Neil Gaiman. 4) The Handmaid’s Tale – because I usually love dystopian novels, and this could have been good.

Best book-related discovery: Lois Lowry. I thought I’d read some of her books when I was younger, but hadn’t. She’s great. I’m so glad I discovered her this year. I plan to read lots more by her.