2017 Book challenge (more than) complete!
In December 2016, /u/tbughi1 posted a reading challenge for 2017. I decided to take them up on it... On the hard part of the challenge, where you actually had to read 52 different books, one from each category.
In 2016, I had managed to read 47 books, so I didn't think it would be too much of a stretch... and as /u/tbughi1 said, it would make me better rounded. In 2017, I managed to read 56 books. I thought since I had had such great success, I would share it with all of you here on /r/books as a thank-you for encouraging me to do this! Here's the list of books I read.
I'm happy to answer questions about my journey, but just because I can anticipate a few of them, I guess i should share a little bit about my year in books.
How did you manage to do this? That answer lies in the miracle of the OverDrive app, my library's extensive audiobook collection, and a few actual paper books. Whenever I'm doing something menial (like laundry, mowing the lawn, etc) or driving somewhere by myself, I've got an audiobook on. On long family drives, we collectively listed to audiobooks. And every once in a while, I get to relax with an actual paper book. I'd say that the number of actual paper books I was able to complete was about 7 this year...Which is still more than previous years, because I was really trying hard to get this challenge done. Also, I was always in the middle of two books--one paper, one audio.
What was the best book you read this year? Definitely a hard question, given that I read a bunch of good books... It's probably a tie between The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu and Where Late the Sweet Bird Sang by Kate Wilhelm. The first book pushes the limits of reality and our understanding of the nature of the universe; the second pushes the limits on what we consider to be the nature of humanity. Both awesome.
What was the worst book you read this year? No question here: After Alice by Gregory Maguire. I figured the guy that wrote Wicked would be an OK choice, right? Unfortunately not. Have you ever watched Alice in Wonderland and asked yourself, "Gee, I wonder what Alice's best friend and Alice's sister were doing while Alice was in Wonderland?" You neither, huh? Yeah. I think it was trying too hard to replicate the smart critique of 19th century society... 150 years later... and in a less smart way.
Anyway, those are the answers to questions I can actually think of. Feel free to ask me anything!
