Reviews

My 2019 in books

maddalena@spaceandsorcery

 

Happy New Year!!!

 

As a new year begins, it’s customary to look at the one that just ended and see how it went, book-wise. While 2019 went reasonably well, at least according to my usual reading range, this time I did not manage to read as many books as in previous years, and I believe the “culprits” are both the usual lack of time and the number of DNFs that did not even make it to the point where I felt comfortable enough to express an opinion – even a negative one. There have been a few false starts of this kind which meant some lost time between books, but who’s counting?  😉

Anyway here is the list of the 48 books I read in 2019:

 

 

The titles were fairly distributed among my favorite genres, with 19 for Fantasy, 16 for Science Fiction, 7 for Urban Fantasy, 4 for Horror and 2 Thrillers. All in all a good overall sample.  As for ratings, the lion’s share goes to the ones who gathered from 4 to 5 stars, which means that I mostly enjoyed what I read and reviewed, and only one book received a 2,5 rating. Not bad.

A separate groups of books includes the seventeen novels in the Vorkosigan Revisitation I started in November for Sci-Fi Month – always an amazing and delightful experience – and ended on the last day of the year: I did not actually re-read these (lack of time, what a surprise…) but simply re-acquainted myself with them, also thanks to a re-read I had managed a few years back, and was pleasantly surprised at how much I still remembered. But well-loved stories do indeed tend to stay with you… 🙂

 

 

My projects for the new year? Well, since no reading plan survives contact with the enemy  😀  I always try not to make any, but at the very least I’m set on finally reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy, because his new novel A Little Hatred finally led me to dust off those books which had been long languishing on my TBR, and also read the stand-alone books in this series. And to balance out the Fantasy with some Science Fiction (I’m a Libra, I love balance!) I would like to finally sample Neal Asher’s Polity series, since all of my fellow bloggers who mention it, do it with great enthusiasm.

And I guess that’s enough. What about you? How did your 2019 fare, book-wise? And what are your 2020 projects?

 

25 thoughts on “My 2019 in books”

  1. That is a great reading list, Maddalena – a fair sprinkling in amongst them are books I’ve also read and thoroughly enjoyed. Yes… I know what you mean about the DNFs – there was one mid-way through the year that brought my ebook reading to a complete halt for nearly a week – if it hadn’t been for the audiobook I was listening to as I worked on chores, there would have been nothing. And by contrast, your revisitation of the Vorkosigan Saga was a complete joy – thank you so much for that! Let’s hope this coming year brings more gems of delight and less of the duds:)

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    1. On the other hand, the not-so-good books help us appreciate more the ones we enjoy – no light without darkness and all that jazz… 😉 Jokes aside, there is no better cure against a disapointing book than to launch oneself into a new one and hope for the best!

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  3. I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve never read the Vorkosigan saga, but I picked up 2 of the bundled collections, along with some of the Honor Harrington books. I’m planning to get more sci-fi in this winter.

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    1. The Honor Harrington series felt very close to the Vorkosigan Saga when I started reading it – up to the point where it started to become too military/technical and less focused on people. Still, I remember it fondly 😊

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  5. I’m so impressed by your ability to read so many books, then to write such detailed and insightful reviews.

    I do have a recommendation for you: The Wanderers by Chuck Wendig. I know you weren’t a fan of “Blackbirds” but this book is totally different. I honestly didn’t know what to make of it yet couldn’t put it down. Maybe I’m hoping you’ll explain it to me 😀

    Happy New Year and happy reading!!

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  6. Happy new year! Considering you also had your Vorkosigan project on top of all your regular reads, that’s a super productive year for 2019! I read a lot of great books last year, though probably didn’t have as many “standouts” as previous years. So in 2020, I resolve to be pickier about my books, and try to make fewer requests while putting a heavier focus on books already on my tbr and try to read at least one backlist book a month. We’ll see how that goes though, like you said, “No reading plan survives contact with the enemy!” 😀

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    1. Trying to… prune down my TBR is something I always try to do, and never manage: some of the book sgathering virtual dust there have been in my possession for a long, long time, and yet I keep getting distracted by other titles and my good intentions disappear like a mirage…. 🙄
      The idea of at least ONE book from the bottom of the pile is a great one, and I will do my best to keep that promise. Maybe…. 😇

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  7. 48 would be a huge success for me, so well done!!

    I have written down the Neal Asher books to consider. I need to prepare some SciFi for the ‘time after the Expanse’ in the future 😀

    ..but omg, that series is BIG! Do you read that chronologically or is it more complicated?

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  9. Sounds like t was mostly a good year for you even if you didn’t quite complete as many novels as you hoped! I think it’s better to DNF if you aren’t enjoying it anyway. Why punish yourself?

    I don’t have any goals for 2020 yet but I’m hoping to cobble something together soon.

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  10. Love the balance puns hahah Definitely looks like you went through some fantastic books. I liked the Vorkosigan readthrough that allowed all of us to learn much more on a series that I at least never knew about. Hope 2020 has great things in store for you. And from the sound of it, The Blade Itself is an EXCELLENT way to begin things. 😀 😀

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  11. Love your post. I’ve decided no plans. I have books that I need to read because they’re review books and on top of that I would like to read my own books so we’ll see how the balance works out.
    Lynn 😀

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