Kyrie
2019 was a crazy busy year for me. I moved out of state, got a new job, discarded that job and got yet another one (I've now had 3 whole jobs!), made new friends, and introduced my kids to actual winter. Considering I had all that going on, I'm impressed that I managed to get as much reading done as I did!
This year, I decided to start keeping track of where my TBR started and ended for the year. I started with 300 books between my various TBR piles...and ended with 307. Which really, considering how often I throw new books on the TBR pile, I think is a hell of an accomplishment. Honestly, this is the most under control my TBR has ever been, and I have high hopes for 2020. Since this is the end of the decade, as well as the end of the year, I've got two different lists this time around - my favorite reads of the year, and my favorite reads of the decade. (Just because I can!)
1. The Wicked King/Queen of Nothing - This was originally just going to be The Wicked King, but then Queen of Nothing magically decided to grace us with its presence early! Man. The Cruel Prince was on my list last year, but the sequels (esp. Wicked King) definitely stepped up the game. I'm heartbroken that the series is over, but it's prompted me to start going through Holly Black's backlog. Because damn it, I adore the way the woman writes fairy stories!!!
2. The Buying of Lot 37/Who's a Good Boy? - This should come as a shock to no one.
3. In An Absent Dream - I've been reading Seanan McGuire's Doorway series almost since the very start. I like a good portal fantasy. This would absolutely have been my door.
4. Serphina - I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading Seraphina. And really, I only read it because Tess of the Road was published a couple of years back, I wanted to read it because the cover was pretty, and I found out that it was set in the same world as Seraphina. So I turned reading Seraphina into a prerequisite to reading Tess. I'm so glad I did read it. The dragons are so much fun - they're honestly one of the most interesting dragon portrayals I've seen in a while.
5. The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern.And, because my list wouldn't be complete without a couple of honorable mentions...
Honorable Mentions
* Wayward Son - This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. And it was good. The sheer Americanah of it all was just chef's kiss. It's just...it was so short. Not much was really resolved by the end. It felt more like a novella than a full book. And I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at that.
* The Priory of the Orange Tree - I read this one too late in the year. Another great dragon book. Mostly wanted to give it a shout-out for being over 800 pages long, and never feeling like it.
* Sawkill Girls - Sawkill Girls had one of the best atmospheres of all my reads this year. It didn't quite make it to my top 5, but it was definitely definitely up there.And there! Those are my favorite reads of the year.
Now, we move on to a larger list. I tried to keep my Favorite Reads of 2010 List short. I really did. But after a solid day of pouring over my 5-star reads from the past 10 years, I still ended up with waaaaay too many books. So, I did what I do best - I broke that list into 3 different lists! That left me with a decent balance of favorite manga, comics, and regular, non-picture-filled books. (I may have cheated just a bit, by including entire series and counting them as a single book - but again, this is my list. And I couldn't really just pick ONE book in a series. In most cases.)
Manga
1. Puelle Magi Magika Madoka - I'm not a fan of the magical girl genre. I wasn't into Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailor Moon as a kid. So when my husband wanted to watch Madoka with me, I rolled my eyes, but agreed. Because I love him. (And because he's generally got pretty good at knowing what I'd be interested in watching.) And HOLY SHIT, was it not what I was expecting. (Maybe the understatement of the century. I don't think anyone was expecting Madoka to go the way it did.) I love Madoka so much that I've got, not one, but TWO Kyubey plushies. And I don't really collect plushes or figures. And of course, after watching the anime, I had to read the manga. Madoka is by far the manga/anime that has stuck with me the most.
2. Death Note - Aside from just being an all-around A+ manga/anime, Death Note was the first anime that my husband and I watched together, back before we'd even started dating. And it was a perfect anime series, with absolutely no live action remakes. Nope. None, whatsoever! * whistles merrily *
3. Spice & Wolf - It's just a nice, fluffy manga/anime.
4. Arki - Another manga that I read because of the anime. I like the randomness.
5. Wakako Zake - I know it's probably weird that I included Wakako Zake on this list. It's not a huge, widely commercialized manga. There's no action, and barely a story. It's a food manga, but not one of those where the protagonist is sent to an alternate world to wow the locals with food from the real world/learn how to cook normal dishes with crazy ingredients. For the most part, the narrator doesn't cook. She doesn't even talk very often. The majority of each chapter is her going out to eat something different, and enjoying a good meal and a drink. But damn, if there isn't something almost therapeutic about just reading about this woman appreciating good food and beer.
Comics
1. Nimona - Nimona is just so well-written, and so interestingly drawn! It made me start following Noelle Stevenson's work. (Which thank goodness for that, or I'd have missed Wander Over Yonder and She-Ra.)
2. The Property of Hate - I found PoH from a Goodreads friend posting in a group. And I am forever thankful for that person for introducing me to PoH, and Sarah Jolley in general.
3. Monstress - The artwork just blows me away, every time. It's such a dense, beautiful comic.
4. Spider-Man/Deadpool - It's everything I've ever wanted in a superhero comic.
5. Gravity Falls: Journal 3 - Gravity Falls was perfect, and this book is perfect. I'd also like to point out that my Journal 3 review is, by far, my most-liked review.
6. Saga - It lives up to its name.
7. Homestuck - I'd started off reading it just to prove it could be read in less than a month...and I ended up really enjoying it. So many iconic moments. I'll never be able to listen to How Can I Live the same ever again.
8. Rick & Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons - Jerry is actually not a punchline in this one.
9. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened - I miss Allie Brosh. Nobody else does comic essays quite the same as she did.
10. 17776: What football will look like in the future - This was compared to a lot of things when it came out...namely Homestuck. But it's really well-written, and made me interested in football. Gotta give the story props for that.
Books
1.The Night Circus - I just loved everything about The Night Circus. The atmosphere, the perfect descriptions, the back-and-forth romance...EVERYTHING. It's overwhelming, and hard to put into words, sometimes, how much this book resonated with me.
2. Welcome to Night Vale - Just...all of Night Vale. I was never big on podcasts. I can't just sit and listen to something, I've got to be doing something with my hands, and then I miss out on half of what's going on because I'm not entirely paying attention to what's being said. It's why I can't really do audio books, even though they'd be crazy convenient for my daily commute. But Night Vale made me pay attention to it. Every now and then, you'll run across a story that's exactly what you need, at exactly the right time. Night Vale was a story that I didn't realize I'd been waiting for until I'd heard it.
3. The Cruel Prince - Look who's back on the list! I'm counting the entire series as this entry, because it's my list, and I can do what I want! But seriously, like I said early, I really, REALLY like Holly Black's takes on fairy stories. As a folklore enthusiast, I'm big on proper Fae depictions. They bring me so, so much joy.
4. Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) - I read. I read a LOT. I read a lot of different genres, by a lot of different people. I'm not generally one of those people who read to see themselves in the story. It just doesn't really happen for me. Except. Sydney Sage. God damned Sydney Sage. This book had me - robot, stone-hearted ME - bawling my eyes out. Because I've never been more represented by a character than by Sydney Sage. It's actually a little intimidating how much I can relate to Sydney. And seriously, my husband is basically Adrian. It's SCARY.
5. Six of Crows - It was going to be Shadow & Bone or this series, and Kaz Brekker wins. I'm so sorry, Darkling.
6. The Lies of Locke Lamora - I blame The Lies of Locke Lamora for how much I enjoyed Six of Crows. What can I say? I love a witty thief, and a good heist story.
7. Fangirl/Carry On - Fangirl really only made the list because of the context it provides for Carry On. I seriously read Carry On three times in a row when it first came out. Enemies to lovers tropes, FTW!!!!!!!!!!
8. How's Moving Castle - This was a tough one. I spent a good couple of days pouring over all of my favorite reads from the last decade, and got to the point where I had to break the list down into sub-categories. So Howl's Moving Castle ended up competing against The Princess Bride for the spot on the list as “book that gently pokes fun at fantasy tropes but is also a love story”. Howl's Moving Castle barely squeaked by, but at the end of the day, I've got to pick Howl and Sophie over Buttercup and Wesley. (It's Sophie. At least 80% of my decision was Sophie.) And Dianna Wynne Jones is just AMAZING.
9. The Raven Boys - I read Shiver back when it was popular, and was pretty disappointed. So when people started talking about The Raven Boys, I was...skeptical. But, I was making it a point to try to read books that people were hyped about, mostly as a tactic to find more things to read. And I was not disappointed. I still can't quite pinpoint why Raven Boys works for me when Shiver doesn't - but I think a lot of it has to do with atmosphere. I love the idea of the ancient, magic forest, and a hunt for a long-dead king.
10. Traitor's Blade - Greatcoats makes the list because it's just well-written, with amazing characters. Reading it reminded me a LOT of Lies of Locke Lamora. I loved the characters, the dialogue, and the world of the Gentlman Bastards, but then, it got trapped in development hell. Greatcoats has everything I loved about the Gentleman Bastards. And I just don't run into characters that I like as much as Falcio very often.
And, there we go! If you actually read all that, thanks for sticking around! I'm impressed. I know I tend to ramble, sometimes incoherently...Anyway. New year, new decade. I'm gonna keep whittling away at my TBR list. My biggest goal this year is to try to end the year at a smaller TBR than I start with. But I'm also going to give myself permission to just...DNF a book if I don't like it. Up to this point, I've just been forcing myself to finish everything I start, because leaving a book feels like losing. I think for 2020, I can admit that sometimes, I just don't like a book. And that's fine. I don't have to force myself to read something that isn't working for me.Knowing myself, I'm probably not going to stick to that. Not really. I'm a completionist at heart. But I should spend more time reading books that I actually ENJOY reading.
2019 was a crazy busy year for me. I moved out of state, got a new job, discarded that job and got yet another one (I've now had 3 whole jobs!), made new friends, and introduced my kids to actual winter. Considering I had all that going on, I'm impressed that I managed to get as much reading done as I did!
This year, I decided to start keeping track of where my TBR started and ended for the year. I started with 300 books between my various TBR piles...and ended with 307. Which really, considering how often I throw new books on the TBR pile, I think is a hell of an accomplishment. Honestly, this is the most under control my TBR has ever been, and I have high hopes for 2020. Since this is the end of the decade, as well as the end of the year, I've got two different lists this time around - my favorite reads of the year, and my favorite reads of the decade. (Just because I can!)
1. The Wicked King/Queen of Nothing - This was originally just going to be The Wicked King, but then Queen of Nothing magically decided to grace us with its presence early! Man. The Cruel Prince was on my list last year, but the sequels (esp. Wicked King) definitely stepped up the game. I'm heartbroken that the series is over, but it's prompted me to start going through Holly Black's backlog. Because damn it, I adore the way the woman writes fairy stories!!!
2. The Buying of Lot 37/Who's a Good Boy? - This should come as a shock to no one.
3. In An Absent Dream - I've been reading Seanan McGuire's Doorway series almost since the very start. I like a good portal fantasy. This would absolutely have been my door.
4. Serphina - I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to reading Seraphina. And really, I only read it because Tess of the Road was published a couple of years back, I wanted to read it because the cover was pretty, and I found out that it was set in the same world as Seraphina. So I turned reading Seraphina into a prerequisite to reading Tess. I'm so glad I did read it. The dragons are so much fun - they're honestly one of the most interesting dragon portrayals I've seen in a while.
5. The Starless Sea - Erin Morgenstern.And, because my list wouldn't be complete without a couple of honorable mentions...
Honorable Mentions
* Wayward Son - This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. And it was good. The sheer Americanah of it all was just chef's kiss. It's just...it was so short. Not much was really resolved by the end. It felt more like a novella than a full book. And I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at that.
* The Priory of the Orange Tree - I read this one too late in the year. Another great dragon book. Mostly wanted to give it a shout-out for being over 800 pages long, and never feeling like it.
* Sawkill Girls - Sawkill Girls had one of the best atmospheres of all my reads this year. It didn't quite make it to my top 5, but it was definitely definitely up there.And there! Those are my favorite reads of the year.
Now, we move on to a larger list. I tried to keep my Favorite Reads of 2010 List short. I really did. But after a solid day of pouring over my 5-star reads from the past 10 years, I still ended up with waaaaay too many books. So, I did what I do best - I broke that list into 3 different lists! That left me with a decent balance of favorite manga, comics, and regular, non-picture-filled books. (I may have cheated just a bit, by including entire series and counting them as a single book - but again, this is my list. And I couldn't really just pick ONE book in a series. In most cases.)
Manga
1. Puelle Magi Magika Madoka - I'm not a fan of the magical girl genre. I wasn't into Cardcaptor Sakura or Sailor Moon as a kid. So when my husband wanted to watch Madoka with me, I rolled my eyes, but agreed. Because I love him. (And because he's generally got pretty good at knowing what I'd be interested in watching.) And HOLY SHIT, was it not what I was expecting. (Maybe the understatement of the century. I don't think anyone was expecting Madoka to go the way it did.) I love Madoka so much that I've got, not one, but TWO Kyubey plushies. And I don't really collect plushes or figures. And of course, after watching the anime, I had to read the manga. Madoka is by far the manga/anime that has stuck with me the most.
2. Death Note - Aside from just being an all-around A+ manga/anime, Death Note was the first anime that my husband and I watched together, back before we'd even started dating. And it was a perfect anime series, with absolutely no live action remakes. Nope. None, whatsoever! * whistles merrily *
3. Spice & Wolf - It's just a nice, fluffy manga/anime.
4. Arki - Another manga that I read because of the anime. I like the randomness.
5. Wakako Zake - I know it's probably weird that I included Wakako Zake on this list. It's not a huge, widely commercialized manga. There's no action, and barely a story. It's a food manga, but not one of those where the protagonist is sent to an alternate world to wow the locals with food from the real world/learn how to cook normal dishes with crazy ingredients. For the most part, the narrator doesn't cook. She doesn't even talk very often. The majority of each chapter is her going out to eat something different, and enjoying a good meal and a drink. But damn, if there isn't something almost therapeutic about just reading about this woman appreciating good food and beer.
Comics
1. Nimona - Nimona is just so well-written, and so interestingly drawn! It made me start following Noelle Stevenson's work. (Which thank goodness for that, or I'd have missed Wander Over Yonder and She-Ra.)
2. The Property of Hate - I found PoH from a Goodreads friend posting in a group. And I am forever thankful for that person for introducing me to PoH, and Sarah Jolley in general.
3. Monstress - The artwork just blows me away, every time. It's such a dense, beautiful comic.
4. Spider-Man/Deadpool - It's everything I've ever wanted in a superhero comic.
5. Gravity Falls: Journal 3 - Gravity Falls was perfect, and this book is perfect. I'd also like to point out that my Journal 3 review is, by far, my most-liked review.
6. Saga - It lives up to its name.
7. Homestuck - I'd started off reading it just to prove it could be read in less than a month...and I ended up really enjoying it. So many iconic moments. I'll never be able to listen to How Can I Live the same ever again.
8. Rick & Morty vs Dungeons & Dragons - Jerry is actually not a punchline in this one.
9. Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened - I miss Allie Brosh. Nobody else does comic essays quite the same as she did.
10. 17776: What football will look like in the future - This was compared to a lot of things when it came out...namely Homestuck. But it's really well-written, and made me interested in football. Gotta give the story props for that.
Books
1.The Night Circus - I just loved everything about The Night Circus. The atmosphere, the perfect descriptions, the back-and-forth romance...EVERYTHING. It's overwhelming, and hard to put into words, sometimes, how much this book resonated with me.
2. Welcome to Night Vale - Just...all of Night Vale. I was never big on podcasts. I can't just sit and listen to something, I've got to be doing something with my hands, and then I miss out on half of what's going on because I'm not entirely paying attention to what's being said. It's why I can't really do audio books, even though they'd be crazy convenient for my daily commute. But Night Vale made me pay attention to it. Every now and then, you'll run across a story that's exactly what you need, at exactly the right time. Night Vale was a story that I didn't realize I'd been waiting for until I'd heard it.
3. The Cruel Prince - Look who's back on the list! I'm counting the entire series as this entry, because it's my list, and I can do what I want! But seriously, like I said early, I really, REALLY like Holly Black's takes on fairy stories. As a folklore enthusiast, I'm big on proper Fae depictions. They bring me so, so much joy.
4. Silver Shadows (Bloodlines #5) - I read. I read a LOT. I read a lot of different genres, by a lot of different people. I'm not generally one of those people who read to see themselves in the story. It just doesn't really happen for me. Except. Sydney Sage. God damned Sydney Sage. This book had me - robot, stone-hearted ME - bawling my eyes out. Because I've never been more represented by a character than by Sydney Sage. It's actually a little intimidating how much I can relate to Sydney. And seriously, my husband is basically Adrian. It's SCARY.
5. Six of Crows - It was going to be Shadow & Bone or this series, and Kaz Brekker wins. I'm so sorry, Darkling.
6. The Lies of Locke Lamora - I blame The Lies of Locke Lamora for how much I enjoyed Six of Crows. What can I say? I love a witty thief, and a good heist story.
7. Fangirl/Carry On - Fangirl really only made the list because of the context it provides for Carry On. I seriously read Carry On three times in a row when it first came out. Enemies to lovers tropes, FTW!!!!!!!!!!
8. How's Moving Castle - This was a tough one. I spent a good couple of days pouring over all of my favorite reads from the last decade, and got to the point where I had to break the list down into sub-categories. So Howl's Moving Castle ended up competing against The Princess Bride for the spot on the list as “book that gently pokes fun at fantasy tropes but is also a love story”. Howl's Moving Castle barely squeaked by, but at the end of the day, I've got to pick Howl and Sophie over Buttercup and Wesley. (It's Sophie. At least 80% of my decision was Sophie.) And Dianna Wynne Jones is just AMAZING.
9. The Raven Boys - I read Shiver back when it was popular, and was pretty disappointed. So when people started talking about The Raven Boys, I was...skeptical. But, I was making it a point to try to read books that people were hyped about, mostly as a tactic to find more things to read. And I was not disappointed. I still can't quite pinpoint why Raven Boys works for me when Shiver doesn't - but I think a lot of it has to do with atmosphere. I love the idea of the ancient, magic forest, and a hunt for a long-dead king.
10. Traitor's Blade - Greatcoats makes the list because it's just well-written, with amazing characters. Reading it reminded me a LOT of Lies of Locke Lamora. I loved the characters, the dialogue, and the world of the Gentlman Bastards, but then, it got trapped in development hell. Greatcoats has everything I loved about the Gentleman Bastards. And I just don't run into characters that I like as much as Falcio very often.
And, there we go! If you actually read all that, thanks for sticking around! I'm impressed. I know I tend to ramble, sometimes incoherently...Anyway. New year, new decade. I'm gonna keep whittling away at my TBR list. My biggest goal this year is to try to end the year at a smaller TBR than I start with. But I'm also going to give myself permission to just...DNF a book if I don't like it. Up to this point, I've just been forcing myself to finish everything I start, because leaving a book feels like losing. I think for 2020, I can admit that sometimes, I just don't like a book. And that's fine. I don't have to force myself to read something that isn't working for me.Knowing myself, I'm probably not going to stick to that. Not really. I'm a completionist at heart. But I should spend more time reading books that I actually ENJOY reading.