2016 in books

I started out the year so full of literary promise, and that train derailed quickly. I started binging The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, and I was forcing myself to read books that I wasn't truly into, and the impetus with which the year began soon faded. I know months went by without me cracking a book, and that made me sad because I identify myself as a book lover. It is who I am as much as the color of my eyes. What's a book lover to do when they just aren't loving books? Relationships can grow stagnant without some variety. Interpersonal relationships can get tricky - people can resort to infidelity, friendships can wither and die. But, thankfully, a relationship with books is easily reinvigorated. All it took for me was a little shift in format. In total I read 64 books, by far the most of any other year that I've been keeping track. So here is my list of what I read this year, ranked by the number of stars I gave it on Goodreads:

5 STARS
  • Wayward volumes 1-3 by Jim Zub - all of these volumes got 5 stars and I'm anxiously awaiting vol. 4 in March
  • Reconciliation Day by Christopher Fowler - Bibliomysteries ROCK!
  • Bach and The High Baroque by Robert Greenberg (audiobook)
  • 47 Ronin by Mike Richardson
  • Preludes and Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman
  • Y: The Last Man by Brian K Vaughan - easily one of my favorite reads all year
  • Preacher by Garth Ennis - It didn't start out as promising, but like with Y, there was a point where I just decided it was brilliant. And it is.
  • The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan
  • Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (audiobook)
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 
  • Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood
4 STARS
  • Outcast volume 1 & 2 by Robert Kirkman - I gave the first volume a 5 and the second a four, so until I know where this series is definitely going to fall, we'll just put it here.
  • The Walking Dead volumes 1-17 by Robert Kirkman - this series actually go a mixed bag of stars, so I guess this would be the average
  • The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey (audiobook)
  • William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher
  • Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency: The Interconnectedness of all Kings by Chris Ryall
  • Blankets by Craig Thompson
  • The Sculptor by Scott McCloud
  • Armada by Ernest Cline
  • My Lady Ludlow by Elizabeth Gaskell (audiobook)
  • Great Mythologies of the World by various professors (audiobook)
  • Saga Volume 1 by Brian K Vaughan - I feel like I should love this more than I do, but it hasn't grabbed me yet. The next two volumes are getting pulled for me at the library, so we'll see where it goes
  • A Terrible Beauty by Tasha Alexander
  • Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: The Authorized Adaptation by Tim Hamilton
  • The Chimes by Charles Dickens (audiobook read by Richard Armitage/Thorin Oakenshield. *drool*)
  • Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith
  • A Brief History of Holiday Music by Robert Greenberg (audiobook)
  • QBQ! The Question Behind the Question by John G Miller
  • The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
3 STARS
  • Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
  • The Gunslinger by Stephen King
  • Shirley Jackson's The Lottery by Miles Hyman
  • Paper Girls by Brian K Vaughan 
  •  Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

2 STARS
  • East of West Volume 1: The Promise by Jonathan Hickman - I actually just changed this to two stars while I was writing this. Strange how you can dislike something even more as time goes by
  •  Delphine by Richard Sala 
Here's to reading more in 2017! Hugs, kisses, and that old book smell to all!

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