The End of Year Book Survey is a pretty sweet post created by The Perpetual Page-Turner. I did it last year and thought I’d do it again this year.
The survey is pretty long though I’ve omitted a few questions.
Number of books read: 88
Books: 40
Audio books: 8
E-books: 14
Comics/graphic novels: 23
Mangas: 3
Number of books reread: 14
Number of books I didn’t finish: 5
Genre I read the most: Fantasy
Everyone’s doing these favorites posts and I want to do it too. I look forward to these posts at the end of the year because they are great sources for book recommendations. Often the books included in these end-of-year favorites lists are ones that have great staying power. They are ones that readers often reminisce on throughout the year and might even consider rereading, which, to me, means they are good reads.
I was unable to shorten my list to the usual 10, so instead I have 16 favorites of 2016! (I did not plan that.)
I’ve broken the list into the following sections: novels, which includes picture books and audio books; comics, which includes mangas; and other, which is a mish-mash of nonfiction and poetry.
Here’s the second of many wrap-ups that will be posted on this blog over the next few days. The following is a quick summary of the books and comics I read in the last quarter of 2016. I finished the year pretty strong by reading 24 things, but many of them were quite short or were audio books, so I got through them very quickly.
I started the year intending to read 60 books, but was discouraged in the early months and dropped my reading goal to 30 books. However by the end of the second quarter, I was doing so well that I bumped it back up to 60 and now, at the end of the year, I’m able to end with a strong 88 books read, which includes comics and audio books. I’m a pretty happy booknerd at the moment. 😀
It’s December, which means it’s wrap-up season. Everyone’s wrapping up something, whether it’s presents or the books, or posts, or goals. I was at a loss at first on how to do this because there is an overkill of wrap ups in the blogosphere and I tend to do two wrap ups every quarter: one is a monthly wrap up, a new feature I started this year, and the other is a quarterly wrap up. I thought it would be too much for readers if I should do both of these plus the several reflection posts I usually do at the end of the year, but then I thought about why I blog and that made me feel better about doing whatever the hell I want.
I love having people read and like my posts, but the only way I can maintain my sanity on here is to remember why I blog and that is to entertain my damn self. 🙂 With that said, here’s what I consumed since my last What’s on Your Nightstand post.
What’s on Your Nightstand, is a monthly meme hosted by 5 Minutes for Books on the last Tuesday of every month that summarizes what you’ve read for the month, what you’re currently reading, and what you plan to read next. For my posts, I also include articles, music, art, TV shows, and whatever else I did in the month.
Yes, I know Christmas has passed, but I was so busy last week that I didn’t get the chance to do all the Christmas tags I planned to do and I really want to post something today so… here’s a Christmas-themed tag! 🙂
I hope you all had a wonderful, fun Christmas filled with lots of love and cheer. Mine certainly was. All my family members weren’t here to celebrate, but I had a good time with those who were present. As for presents, I received a few but didn’t give any. I guess I’m a bit of a Grinch this year, eh.
Well, let’s get to the tag.
It’s my favorite holiday of the year: Christmas! 😀
This year, I’m celebrating the holiday on here by featuring this cool illustration that I found on Deviant Art. It was created by Sandara, who does some really cool fantasy pieces (you can see more of her work here).
This one is entitled “Cosfest Christmas.” It seems that she entered it for an art contest. Though it doesn’t say Christmas outright, I think it contains the Christmas spirit: the feeling of unity and sense of enchantment in the air. It also calls to the child within us all, which I think tends to come out when Christmas comes around. Everything is lighter and happier at Christmas. 🙂 Such a wonderful holiday and this illustration does a great job of capturing how I feel about it.
Continue reading “Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas to All!!”
I’m in a book tag mood so I thought I’d double up and do two in this post. First up:
Christmas is almost here, which means winter has already arrived. I know everyone loves a white Christmas, but I hope it doesn’t snow. Sure it would make the day seem magical, but I’d really rather not worry about snow on Christmas. I want a carefree Christmas.
I found this tag on the Book Window last month and decided to do it now because it fits the season. It was created by booktuber JackEatsLife.
Continue reading “Winter Wonderland and the Jingle Bell Book Tags”
I’m not a huge fan of superheroes. I’ll watch the movies whenever they are in theatres because I love the graphics and fight scenes, but other than that I’ve never expressed much interest in learning their stories. Therefore since I started reading comics, I’ve never been inclined to pick up any based on superheroes (except Watchmen because Brandon Sanderson and his buddies said it’s great). However, a couple weeks ago a coworker leant me Superman: Red Son saying that I would enjoy it and though I was skeptical about it at first, I’m glad I gave it a try.
Superman: Red Son by Mark Millar, illus. by Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett (pencils), Andrew Robinson and Walden Wong (inkers), and Paul Mounts (colorist)
Genre:
Action/adventure; science fiction
Quick overview:
Superman: Red Son is Mark Millar’s reimagining of the superhero’s story, in which Superman is a proponent of communist values, rather than an all-American superhero.
In this comic, Superman is raised on a collective farm in Ukraine and later becomes a leader of the Soviet Union who strongly believes in socialism and strives to expand the Warsaw Pact. Concerned about the wellbeing of his people, he decides to keep them all safe by building them a utopia, where he protects them from all dangers and alters the minds of those who oppose his government. And because of his superpowers, he is successful in this goal.
However, despite minimizing crime and disease in the lands under his control, there are some (Lex Luthor and the Americans) who believe Superman is a control freak with a god complex so they plot to undermine him. But it’s hard to defeat one as powerful as Superman and one wonders how they’ll outwit him.
Great and refreshing because it’s different from the books I usually read.
Goodreads overview:
They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.
Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.
A love story for this generation and perfect for fans of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart? 
Wishes for My TBR Pile is a monthly post where I list and sometimes discuss the books I’ve discovered and would like to get and read.
I’ve discovered so many new to me books since I last did one of these posts that I procrastinated in doing this one. Also, I wasn’t in much of a blogging mood during the past couple weeks. But I’ve got my blogging groove back and since Christmas is mere days away, I thought it best to throw this post up in case someone needs gift ideas or is bored and need to past time while waiting for Christmas.
Continue reading “Wishes for My TBR #18: Just in Time for Christmas”
Zezee with Books 