My reading progress this quarter was marked by indecisiveness. I couldn’t decide on what to read, so I kept starting books instead of completing them. Despite that, I managed to read 18 books, but that was helped along by audio books, which I’ve learned are pretty quick to get through, and comic books, which are usually fast reads. Thus I’m almost half done with my Goodreads reading goal of 40 books. I decided to go easy on myself. Anyway, here are the stats for this quarter.
Books | Audio books | Comics
Books by month
January
Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed ★★★★★
February
Gilded Cage by Vic James (Dark Gifts, book 1) ★★☆☆☆
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn ★★★★★
The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak ★★☆☆☆ 1/2
March
The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold ★★★★★
Audio books by month
January
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling, narr. by Jim Dale (Harry Potter, book 6) ★★★★★ (re-read)
February
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, narr. by Jim Dale ★★★★☆ 1/2 (re-read)
Eragon by Christopher Paolini, narr. by Gerard Doyle (Inheritance Cycle, book 1) ★★★★★ (re-read)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling, narr. by Jim Dale (Harry Potter, book 7) ★★★★☆ 1/2 (re-read)
Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce, narr. by Trini Alvarado (Song of the Lioness, book 1) ★★★★☆ (re-read)
In the Hand of the Goddess by Tamora Pierce, narr. by Trini Alvarado (Song of the Lioness, book 2) ★★★★☆ (re-read)
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce, narr. by Trini Alvarado (Song of the Lioness, book 3) ★★★★☆ (re-read)
Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce, narr. by Trini Alvarado (Song of the Lioness, book 4) ★★★★☆ (re-read)
March
Comics by month
January
Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer, illus. by Rags Morales ★★★★☆ 1/2
February
The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 1: The Faust Act by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie ★★★★☆ (re-read)
— These are all reviewed in the same post (linked above).
The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 2: Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie ★★★★★
The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 3: Commercial Suicide by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie ★★★☆☆ 1/2
The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action by by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie ★★★★★
March
Favorites of the bunch
The Curse of Chalion
The Wicked + the Divine, Vol. 4: Rising Action
Least liked
Gilded Cage
Did not finish
The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Schiff
A Quest of Heroes by Morgan Rice
Best stories
The Curse of Chalion
Gone Girl
Best writing
The Curse of Chalion
Gone Girl
Best narration (audio books)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Eragon
Best illustrations (illustrated books and comics/graphic novels)
The Wicked + the Divine series
Awesome Cover
*This is the ARC cover, which I think is way cooler than the actual cover.*
Reading challenges hits ‘n’ misses
Goodreads Challenge
books read = 18/40
Books I must read this year
books read = 0
2017 Beat the Backlist
books read = 0
2017 Library Love Challenge
books read = 8
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Gone Girl
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Alanna: The First Adventure
In the Hand of the Goddess
The Woman Who Rides Like a Man
Lioness Rampant
The Curse of Chalion
2017 Read Diverse Books Challenge
book read = 1
The Wicked + the Divine series
— This comic book series is quite diverse in its characters’ race, gender, and sexuality. (I think I forgot to mention that in my review.)
2017 Horror Reading Challenge
books read = 0
Classics Club Reading Challenge
books read = 0
2017 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge
Read a debut novel.
Gilded Cage
Read a book you’ve read before.
Eragon
Read a book that is set within 100 miles of your location.
The Impossible Fortress
Read a fantasy novel.
The Curse of Chalion
Read a book that has been banned or frequently challenged in your country.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Reading stats
Format
Audio books = 8
Physical = 7
E-books = 3
Genre
Fantasy = 14
— Though The Wicked + the Divine is set in present day and, like superhero comics, features humans with heightened abilities, it strikes me more as fantasy rather than sci-fi because the explanation given for the abilities is based in fantasy and mythology rather than science.
Contemporary = 1
— The Impossible Fortress is a YA novel set in the late ’80s, but the narrator is in the present reflecting on what he did in the past. I considered categorizing this as historical fiction.
Nonfiction = 1
Sci-Fi = 1
— I categorized Identity Crisis, which is a superhero comic, as sci-fi.
Thriller = 1
— I categorized Gone Girl as thriller.
Ownership
Mine (bought before 2016) = 0
New (bought in/after 2016) = 3
Friends/Family = 5
Library = 8
ARC = 2
Author gender
Female = 11
Male = 7
Both = 0
Protagonist gender
Female = 4
Male = 6
Ensemble = 7
Currently reading
I’ve been very indecisive since the year started and that is reflected in the many books I’ve started but have yet to complete. The ones I’m actively reading are Mad Ship, which I am buddy-reading with Emily at Embuhlee liest; Eldest, which is a slog; 4 3 2 1, which is ginormous; and Born a Crime, which is pretty good.
Zezee with Books 
That is a very productive First few months. And some great books too!
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Yea, they were great, some of them.
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The Half Blood Prince is my favorite Harry Potter book. I have read it five times I bet, It has been about a year since the last time, so I could not add it to my Goodreads challenge. I am a huge fantasy fan as well, and a Indy Author, so I am working through The Song Of Fire And Ice series again. I learn a lot from that series as a writer. I don’t see any George RR Martin on your list. I would recommend his work. Even some unknown stuff like Fevre Dream if you don’t like Game of Thrones. Keep up the reading. Great Job!
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Recently, I’ve begun to appreciate Half-Blood Prince. When I was younger, I didn’t like the later books much because they were so dark and serious, but now I appreciate them for their depth and further development of the characters.
Thanks for the recommendation, but I’m already hooked on GRRM. 🙂 I’m a huge fan of his Song of Ice and Fire series and I was in the midst of rereading it last year and then stopped or paused (or forgot why). I would like to try his other works as well to really cement him on my bookshelves as a favorite author.
🙂 Thanks for dropping by and for the book recs too.
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Try Fevre Dreams next. You will love it!
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Thanks. I will.
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Wow. Good reading mate! 🙂
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Thanks!
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Wow, amazed how you can keep your reading habits so well organised!!! Amazing!
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It helped that a vlogger created an Excel spreadsheet to help peeps keep track. That’s what I use.
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Love that idea! Do you have a link?!
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Yea. You can download it here and the YouTube video shows you how to navigate it. It’s a lot, but it’s very useful, if you like to keep track of your reading.
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Looks like you’ve had a good year so far! I read Curse of Chalion a few years ago and really loved it. Bujold is one of my favorite authors. Very few duds.
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Yea, so far, so good and I’m glad to have discovered Bujold’s book. That was a great read.
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Thank u for sharing, I will be going through each of the books you have suggested and let you know.
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I hope you find something that matches your interests.
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A few of the books you’ve read for the first quarter of 2017 are on my own TBR: The Night Circus, Gone Girl, and Eragon in particular.
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And all three were good! Well, Night Circus n Gone Girl was great but Dragon was okay. It’s better by audiobook it seems.
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It seems like your quarter went well,. Glad to see that you really enjoyed Gone Girl. I look forward to your review of Tevor Noah’s book. Happy reading and have a wonderful April.
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Thanks. I hope you have a great April too. And so far Noah’s book is going good. I admire his mom.
It also pisses me off cause of what apartheid is and has done.
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It’s okay. I’m 10 books behind what I thought I’d have read. But I’m see I’ll catch up with my goal. I’m really hoping to grab tiny beautiful things soon.
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Oh cool! 🙂 I think you’ll like it.
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Looks like you had a productive first quarter, and you’re doing awesome on your challenges! Keep it up!
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Thanks. I’m surprised the challenges or going well. Well, kinda cause I haven’t started on a few.
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Oh, Curse of Chalion. I absolutely loved that book. Then I read the sequel. Paladin of Souls is better in every…possible…way. I love any Bujold, and am glad to find any blogger with the good taste to recognize her awesomeness.
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Ah! So glad you said that. I’m looking forward to Paladin of Souls. I just want to learn more about the religion and the magic system.
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Paladin of Souls is awesome. You will enjoy it, and I agree with Nathan, its even better then Curse of Chalion which is saying a lot!
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I’m glad to hear that and I look forward to reading it sometime this year.
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This was a nice little breakdown of your progression so far! Pretty curious to hear your thoughts on Paul Auster’s book. Not exactly an author that I see people check out. Have you read his New York Trilogy? :O
– Lashaan
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So far I love how he tells the story but I’m not too far in yet. It’s the first of his books I’m reading. Have you read his work?
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Nop! I have only heard about them hahah I heard about the NY trilogy from Trang when she read the French translation, I’ve been meaning to try and read it in English. I have yet to run into it at a secondhand bookstore though. Maybe your thoughts on 4 3 2 1 will push me to check it out earlier though! 😛
– Lashaan
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🙂 Well my thoughts on 4 3 2 1 will be a long time coming. It’s so damn long.
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Awesome month you got there!! Hope April is going to be even better 😍
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I hope so too
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How are you liking The Encyclopedia or Early Earth?
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I actually like it, I just need to spend a day reading it uninterrupted. I think it’s a better read that way.
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I still cannot wait to start The Curse of Chalion!!! It may be a while still, but everything you and another trusted blogger has said, lead me to believe I will love it 🙂
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Well when you do get to it, I hope it’ll be good to you too.
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Soon!
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