Another year, another reading reflections post. I tried to keep it brief!
My year-end wrap ups share my GoodReads collages and I take a few minutes to reflect on the highlights and lowlights as I go. I don’t like to try to rank my favorites or single out anyone that was too terrible, but you’ll get the idea. I do point out my genre and series favorites as I go.
Anyway, thanks for following along with me here in year three on OneReadingNurse.com and let’s jump into it♥️
Ok so I started out the year strong by finishing The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. I listened on a binge to this wonderful YA series narrated by Rebecca Soler. These are by far my favorite YA books (and series) of the year.
Scythe and The Latecomer are oddly enough the two book reviews I wrote which still get daily views. A YA dystopian and a literary fiction. Obsidian by Sarah J Daily was also a great read courtesy of Angry Robot, and she interviewed for Sunday Brunch.
January was probably my strongest month of reading so these two will be longest. I discovered Murderbot and just, shamelessly binge read all of it. So Murderbot as my favorite series of the year, and The Magicians trilogy by Lev Grossman was my favorite trilogy. I just, love love love everything about those books and if you ever see me bingeing a whole series, take me seriously!
Fate’s Ransom concluded Jeff Wheeler’s First Argentines series and he actually sent a tissue emoji at me when I said I was bawling at the end😂 lovely series conclusion.
Conversely I think I am the only one that didn’t like A Touch of Light. He tried the style where you read and learn about things later on, which is amazing when it’s done well, except he never told us anything useful 😅
I finally tried some David Sedaris essays and found him delightfully funny. He self narrated them live, highly recommend for audio. Zorba… Zorba…Zorba was hard. I read hard classics this year. I also found Strange the Dreamer great for YA, but never read the sequel
This month is where I hit the full length Murderbot and just fell in love even more. I also decided to knock out another backlist series and binged The Harbinger Series by Jeff Wheeler. All five books, no regrets
The Outside and Elsewhere we’re both I believe one star reviews, some of my least favorites of the year.
On a brighter note I finally read Gardens of the Moon ( Malazan ) and wrote a great piece for first time readers like myself.
Here lies another great month of reading. Deadhouse Gates (Malazan #2) is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. Also finally getting Human Hearts by Mary Beesley was amazing and a fitting end to her Draco Sang trilogy.
Speaking of endings, At the Threshold of the Universe by TA Bruno was an incredible series ending. I’m not just saying that because I’m quoted on the dust jacket either, I really truly loved the book 😅
Also hey look at that, I finally started The Gunslinger series by Stephen King!
The Greatest Knight was my favorite nonfiction read of the year, about the knight William Marshal (who Jeff Wheeler’s Ransomcharacter is based on).
My biggest let down of the year, as in I expected and wanted to love it but it truly was just not good, was Aftermath by LeVar Burton.
This month I had been pretty loyal to continuing series. Skullduggery Pleasant on audio (funny to start but I fizzled out after four books) and the military sci-fi Frontlines series by Marko Kloos. I fizzled out after five books but will keep going. I was also reading a bunch of David Rosenfelt – dogs and detectives, say no more.
Other Birds was probably my favorite standalone fiction of the year, while I’ll Be Gone in the Dark was my favorite true crime and an amazing piece of nonfiction.
Otherwise this was the month of reading first books in series that I didn’t have time to continued. (Gunmetal Gods, Blacktongue Thief, Foundryside…) Truly good books all but I had too much going on to read trilogies and mean to go back in 2023 😭
Also I THINK Wizard and Glass was my favorite Dark Tower book so far (and I talked about why I can’t finish series).
Noteworthy here are a few indies: 8 that month! I binged the rest of Jordan Loyal Short’s Dreadbound Ode trilogy, liked The Trials of Ashmount by quasi local author John Palladino, and was in total love with Wistful Ascending by JCM Berne. I also read Goodbye to the Sun but wasn’t a huge fan.
This is it, the end! I was honored to grab an ARC of Rubicon by JS Dewes. I’m finally reading the Blake Crouch back catalogue. Lastly- right at the end of the month, finished yesterday, I FINALLY read The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie! Wow do I have a lot of great series to continue next year.
The only book that didn’t appear was Fairy Tale by Stephen King, which I hope to finish tomorrow morning!
So pardon my super long reading reflections post, did you see anything here that you read as well? Anything you liked or disliked?
If you want to see how I did this last year, here’s my 2021 reflections post!
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