2017 was not the greatest year. It was a trying year for my country. 'Nuff said. Then, between the stress of relocating across country again, and my mental health taking a nose dive into extra-ville, I think it's fair to say that my seven-year relationship's endurance was tested. I've come out of this trial-filled year with some important lessons about myself learned and with more determination to make 2018 kick ass than ever before, so every cloud does have a silver lining, I guess.
One thing that didn't suck in 2017 was that I finally got my reading mojo back! I really want to take a moment here to thank Multnomah County Library. Every city I've lived in has had a solid public library system, but it wasn't until this move to Portland this past Spring that I really embraced it. I think it's a combination of Multnomah County's great inventory, easy to find and use locations, and, probably most importantly, a stellar app that let's me place items on hold, extend holds and checkouts, and check due dates all from my phone. Also, to the awesome librarian who joined in my search for diverse children's picture books on world mythologies AND didn't judge me for getting distracted by Not Quite Narwhal, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Another big contributor to my reading mojo returning, which still wouldn't have happened without my library access, was my Nancy Drew Review project. While I've been terrible about posting updates for the NDR, I have been steadily reading my way through the original 64 books. There hasn't been a lot of rhyme or reason to the order I'm reading in, it's largely determined by what I find on the shelf at the library and which titles appeal most to me. Right now I am halfway through the NDR with 32 out of 64 books read. I've learned that it takes me almost exactly 2 hours to read one of them, making them excellent filler/reading slump books. At the moment, I need to whittle my current TBR down a bit before I check any more Nancy Drews out, I might just back in in a few weeks.
Like I said, if 2017 was only good for one thing, it was good for me falling back in love with books and reading. I completed a total of 85 books in 2017. I tracked my reading throughout the year on Goodreads, because it's easiest on the go, and the barcode scan function helps me make sure I pick the correct edition.
My favorite read this year was Wicked Like A Wildfire by Lana Popović - it was magical, has me anticipating the next in the series, and just really inspired me. My least favorite read was Zombies Vs. Unicorns edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier - I was disappointed, didn't end up enjoying most of the stories, and had to make myself finish it.
In 2018, I'm aiming for 100 books read, but I'm over feeling pressured by that goal. It'll either happen or it won't. But I do want to continue reading women, authors of color, queer authors, and works in translation (which was only 3.5% of my reading in 2017). I'm also really committing to Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge this year.
So how was your 2017 in books? Any goals for 2018? If you want to see the books I'm especially excited about in 2018, check out my Most Anticipated Books of 2018 post.
