This long, arduous, tiresome year of 2016 has finally come to a close and I know a lot of people are with me here when I say good riddance. It wasn't a bad year per say personally, but just a year you wished didn't exist. A meh year. A nothing year. Some exciting things happened and some terrible things for the world happened, but I'm still here in the same place as last year and I don't feel like much has really changed. It's that 'the world's moving around you, while you're standing still' sort of feeling. Maybe I'm looking for a change that hasn't found me yet or more specifically I haven't gone looking for it yet. But while I'm waiting for that change, at least like every other year, in 2016 there were always plenty of good books around to get lost in.
I only ended up reading about 65 books this year. To some that might seem like a lot, but to others that is a pittance of a number. My goal had been about 80, so 81% of my goal isn't all that bad. If I were still in school that would be a solid B-...which leaves a lot of room for improvement (I'm looking at you 2017). I was going over all the books I read this year and I decided that handing out some bookish themed awards was in order. So without further adieu, I present to you My 2016 Book Awards!!
Favorite Fantasy: The Keeper of the Mist by Rachel Neumeier
Best Love Story: The Sun is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon (Not gonna lie I cried a little bit...but only a little bit)
The Worst Love Story: Recreated by Colleen Houck (three love interests do not make for a good book)
Favorite Diverse Book: Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee
The Book I wanted to read again almost immediately after finishing the last page: The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Favorite Last Book in a series: Winter by Marissa Meyer
Favorite Fairy Tale retelling: Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson
The Best Worst Book: Remembrance by Meg Cabot
Most Informative and Fascinating Non-fiction Book: We Are All Stardust by Stefan Klein
The Book I most wished to chuck across the room: The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright (It had a British flag on the cover, so of course I had to read it and I immediately regretted it)
The Book I would let my cats use as a bed/scratching post/whatever else a cat would and could do to a book: One Day by David Nicholls
The prettiest Book that you read mostly because it was pretty: Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine
The Greatest Science Fiction Novel of the year: Morning Star by Pierce Brown
A Book you surprisingly liked after giving it a second chance: Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Most Disappointing Book this year: Lady Renegades by Rachel Hawkins (this book series had so much promise and I thought the last book just ended kind of flat)
A Book With a Terrible Cover that is Actually Worth Reading: Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan
Best Listening a.k.a. Fav, Audio Book: The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan (to be honest it was the only audio book I listened to this year, but if I had listened to more I still probably would have picked it as the best)
A Second Book in a series that was way better than the first: A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
A Book You Wish Didn't Exist: Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (so awful, just ugh)
A Book that made you think: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel (So bloody freakin' good!)
A Book you wish you had written: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
A Book to take on vacation: Dreamology by Lucy Keating
A Book that made you happy: Games Wizards Play by Diane Duane
