I saw this #midyearfreakoutbooktag shared by @alyaofwinterfell on Instagram and decided to join the fun -- and then I figured I might as well share my answers here on the blog, too. (Find me on Instagram @knittinglindsay!) Can you believe we're already into mid-August?! I only have four months left to turn my mediocre reading year around! I still have yet to read a 5-star book (though I did just read two 4.5-star novels) but there's hope yet!
I think this is more of an Insta tag than a blog tag, but feel free to "tag" yourself on your blog or on Instagram if you want to play along! (Also, my answers are a bit expanded here because -- as I learned the hard way -- Instagram has a 2,200 character limit!)
Best book I read so far in 2017: Ugh, this is a hard question! I really haven't read any books that have just absolutely knocked my socks off, but some of my better reads have been The Fire By Night by Teresa Messineo, This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel and All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood.
Best sequel: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (really, this is probably the actual best book I read this year).
New release I haven't read yet but want to: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry.
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: Artemis by Andy Weir (!!!).
Biggest disappointment: I've had more 2-star reads this year than ever before (to me, 2 stars basically means I hated it) but I think I was most disappointed by the memoir Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End if the World by Nell Stevens. I was absolutely positive I was going to love it but it ended up being just-ok and almost completely lacking in penguins despite the one on the cover!
Biggest surprise: All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, which deals with the idea of parallel universes. It was a delightful read!
Best new (to me) author: Maybe Laurie Frankel (This Is How It Always Is).
Newest fictional crush: Not new exactly, but six years later I finally read the second Outlander book and I remembered just how sexy a certain rugged red-haired Scotsman can be!
Newest favorite character: Lady Julia Grey (from Deanna Raybourn's historical mystery series).
Book that made me happy: My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella.
Book that made me cry: None, but I'm not much of a crier. I read the first two installments of the March graphic novel series by Congressman John Lewis (about the Civil Rights Movement) and those were probably the most emotional books I've picked up this year.
Best book to film adaptation: Hidden Figures! I haven't read the book but the movie was fabulous!
New-to-me author I want to read by the end of the year: Agatha Christie! The time has *finally* come to read one of her books!
Most beautiful book I've bought: A Penguin Classics edition of Pride and Prejudice (which I've never actually read, despite loving the film/TV adaptations!).
Book I must read by the end of the year: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I even bought this one from Book Depository because my library doesn't have it, but I just never manage to pick it up. (It's that wee little problem I have about reading library books instead of my own books!)
I think this is more of an Insta tag than a blog tag, but feel free to "tag" yourself on your blog or on Instagram if you want to play along! (Also, my answers are a bit expanded here because -- as I learned the hard way -- Instagram has a 2,200 character limit!)
Best book I read so far in 2017: Ugh, this is a hard question! I really haven't read any books that have just absolutely knocked my socks off, but some of my better reads have been The Fire By Night by Teresa Messineo, This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel and All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood.
Best sequel: A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab (really, this is probably the actual best book I read this year).
New release I haven't read yet but want to: The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry.
Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: Artemis by Andy Weir (!!!).
Biggest disappointment: I've had more 2-star reads this year than ever before (to me, 2 stars basically means I hated it) but I think I was most disappointed by the memoir Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End if the World by Nell Stevens. I was absolutely positive I was going to love it but it ended up being just-ok and almost completely lacking in penguins despite the one on the cover!
Biggest surprise: All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai, which deals with the idea of parallel universes. It was a delightful read!
Best new (to me) author: Maybe Laurie Frankel (This Is How It Always Is).
Newest fictional crush: Not new exactly, but six years later I finally read the second Outlander book and I remembered just how sexy a certain rugged red-haired Scotsman can be!
Newest favorite character: Lady Julia Grey (from Deanna Raybourn's historical mystery series).
Book that made me happy: My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella.
Book that made me cry: None, but I'm not much of a crier. I read the first two installments of the March graphic novel series by Congressman John Lewis (about the Civil Rights Movement) and those were probably the most emotional books I've picked up this year.
Best book to film adaptation: Hidden Figures! I haven't read the book but the movie was fabulous!
New-to-me author I want to read by the end of the year: Agatha Christie! The time has *finally* come to read one of her books!
Most beautiful book I've bought: A Penguin Classics edition of Pride and Prejudice (which I've never actually read, despite loving the film/TV adaptations!).
Book I must read by the end of the year: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. I even bought this one from Book Depository because my library doesn't have it, but I just never manage to pick it up. (It's that wee little problem I have about reading library books instead of my own books!)
Interesting post. Very cute kitty too.
ReplyDeleteI just posted on my blog how I haven't had a very stellar reading year either. I hope we both get a couple of strong reads in these last few months!
ReplyDeleteSorry it hasn't been that great of a reading year. I am excited for Artemis too. I love parallel universe books so I have to check out All Our Wrong Todays.
ReplyDeleteGreat tag. I did a version of this in mid-June. I enjoyed reading your answers.
ReplyDeleteI hope you find that book that knocks you off your feet before the year is out - I think all of us bookworms need at least one of those a year.
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