2016 was a weird reading year for me…

Ah, that time of year(s) again. My blog and YouTube feeds are full of end-of-the-year wrap-ups, best and worst lists, and more. But for me, my reading year feels so unusual that I can’t quite do the same.

I set my 2016 Goodreads Challenge for 60 books this year. Previously I’d done 50 and read a little bit more, so I figured I would challenge myself. After all, I was starting college–wouldn’t I have more free time?

Ha. Yes, I did have more free time, but I tended to spend them with other people, so reading and other solitary activities dropped a lot in priority. I did read quite a bit for school, but they were mostly short stories. (This year, though, I want to get more back on track, now that I know my new friends better.)

According to Goodreads, I read 55 out of 60 books–not actually that different from the previous counts. However, I found that this year I probably read more formats and genres than usual (less novels). Of those 55 books:

• 2 were short stories (“Harrison Bergeron” and “Master and Man”–these were not the only short stories I read over the year, though
• 1 was a graphic novel (Hyperbole and a Half)
• 1 was a single-issue comic (The X-Files: Origins #1)
• 1 was a book of poetry (Original Bodies)
• 9 were plays
• 3 were nonfiction, mostly memoirs/essay collections (Furiously Happy, A View from the Cheap Seats, Writing Fiction, The Revolution Was Televised, Bad Feminist)
• 1 humor book (Literary Starbucks)
• 3 short story collections (The October Country, Sweet Home, St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves)
• The remaining 34 were novels–mostly middle grade and YA, but there are a few others. Also, a lot of them had LGBTQ characters and/or characters struggling with mental illness. 2 were listened to on audiobooks (Meet the Austins and A Ring of Endless Light)

I’m not going to run the numbers, but that composition is much more varied than previous years, which were mostly novels and maybe some more graphic novels. I read more plays this year (mostly for school) and more nonfiction (mostly not for school), which has made me much more interested in these two mediums.

Favorites/Books That Have Stuck With Me

(These are in the order I read them, not the order of preference. I don’t like ranking reads that are so different from each other.)

• Macbeth (Shakespeare)
• Betrayal (Harold Pinter)
• Meet the Austins and A Ring of Endless Light (Madeleine L’Engle)
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making and its sequel (Catherynne M. Valente)
• Radio Silence (Alice Oseman)–I bought the UK edition of this one, but the U.S. edition will be out this spring!
• The Importance of Being Earnest (Oscar Wilde)
• The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
• Some Kind of Happiness (Claire Legrand)
• George (Alex Gino)
• Challenger Deep (Neal Shusterman)
• The Miseducation of Cameron Post (emily m. danforth)
• Still Life With Tornado (A.S. King)
• Finding Perfect (Elly Swartz)
• Wit (Margaret Edison)
• The Revolution Was Televised (Alan Sepinwall)–discussion inspired by this is forthcoming
• History is All You Left Me (Adam Silvera)–I was fortunate enough to win an ARC of this, so I will post a review closer to the pub date (1/17!)

2017 Reading Goals

• Read more racially divese books from authors of color: As I mentioned above, I gravitate a lot toward LGBTQ characters and mental health topics, but I failed to read much in the way of racial diversity this year. I’ll be starting with The Color Purple and Beloved because I have them and have been planning to read them, and I need to make that a priority.
• More nonfiction! More plays! More short stories! (As much as I can around my required reading, which contains more novels than last semester.)
• I want to continue exploring classic middle grade and YA books and blogging about them. This includes finishing the Fairyland series and reading more Madeleine L’Engle, probably.
• I’m planning on doing this challenge to read and review/blog about diverse books.