Goal: 20
Books read: 30
Pages: 9,544
Avg. rating: 3.93
This awful year is finally ending, which means that it's time to do a wrap up of all the books I've read these past 12 months. When the year started I didn't plan to read that much —I had a full-time job that only gave me one-to-two days a week to actually rest, so I wasn't eager to read on my free time, I just wanted to sleep— but neither did I think we'd suffer a global pandemic, and here we are, so the facts that I lost my job in March, that I couldn't go out for months and had plenty of time made me go back to reading a lot of books every month, and also to finally get into blogging seriously. So now, I want to welcome everyone who has discovered me this past year and thank you for giving me a new purpose to keep writing. I post here mostly because I love to share my thoughts on what I read, but the fact that so many people is actually interested in what I write makes it even better, so thank you all for reading and following me, you're all incredible!
I've divided this post in four different lists: Upside down top 5, ARCs, Other reviews and All the books, you can click on the title you're interested in to go there directly, or you can keep reading if you want to read the whole post!
Upside down top 5
I want to start with my top 5 books of the year, since I got to read so many books it was quite a challenge to choose only five, but I finally decided for these five, though not all of them have five stars, but they all made me feel deep things, somehow connected to the characters in a personal level, and also made me enjoy the whole story, the writing and the vibes they gave me. That's why I've chosen them.
5. The Shortest Day, Colm Tóibín (★★★★)
4. Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas (★★★★★)
3. Normal People, Sally Rooney (★★★★★)
2. A Discovery of Witches, Deborah Harkness (★★★★★)
1. The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (★★★★★)
The Shortest Day gave me those winter and magical vibes I'm longing for the whole year, though I wish it would have been longer, since it's a short story, but it was really worth it. House of Earth and Blood took me back to Sarah J. Maas' personal world, her books always make me feel like coming back home for Christmas, and they give me a comfortable feeling I wish I'll never lose. Normal People gave me a love-hate feeling, and I personally love it when a book makes me feel opposite feelings, this book was like reading anyone's life but at the same time realizing that nobody is normal, we all have our own lives and that's what makes us all different from everyone else. A Discovery of Witches is my new obsession, if you follow me on my bookstagram you may already know that, it has everything I love to find in books: the dark academia vibes, fantasy, witches, vampires and pretty accurate History. The Goldfinch is definitely my absolute favourite of the year, I read it in March and I still thinking about it every now and then, Donna Tartt's writing is exquisite.
ARCs
This year, I got to receive some great ARCs from authors, publishers and pages such as NetGalley and BookSirens, and I couldn't be more grateful. Here are the books I've received and reviewed, I still have some I haven't read yet but plan to next year. If you want to read my reviews and thoughts on them click on their titles, they're sorted by my personal rating.
Pigeon, Richard Natale (★★★★★)
Pleasant Grove, Jason Price (★★★★½)
Girl with Three Eyes, Priya Ardis (★★★★)
The Shortest Day, Colm Tóibín (★★★★)
The Silent Bluebird, Elle M. Holmes (★★★★)
Bloodlaced, Courtney Maguire (★★★★)
May Day, Josie Jaffrey (★★★★)
Killian's Dead, Josie Jaffrey (★★★½)
The King's 100, Karin Biggs (★★★½)
This Side of Tomorrow, Sally White (★★★½)
Comet's First Christmas, Delilah Night (★★★)
Magic, Mike Russell (★★★)
An American COVENant, Lucile Scott (★★½)
Dakota and the American Dream, Sameer Garach (★★)
Other reviews
Here you'll find books I've read and reviewed because I felt like sharing my personal thoughts on them. If you want to read the reviews click on the titles!
Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies, curated by Scarlett Curtis (★★★★★)
The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt (★★★★★)
Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (★★★★½)
All the books
Here are the covers of the 30 books I've read this year, to see my rating place the cursor on each cover, and if you want to add them to your Goodreads TBR, click on their covers!
So much love,
Great post! I am planning on reading Frankenstein this year. 👏💯