I set my Goodreads challenge to complete 15 books, and I read 73.  There’s something to be said for underestimation.  I low-balled it because last year, I put 20 on my challenge, but only finished 19; however, I discovered that by putting books on my schedule/to-do list, I could complete them like a fiend.  At some points I was reading eight at a time, but I mostly stuck with my favorite number: seven.  That…was too much though, and while I love to read, I also want to have enough time to do other things.  So I cut down to four, which might still sound like a lot, but one is a Kindle that I read on my lunch break; one is a fiction/fantasy; one varies between a classic or a non-fiction/reference (before I was reading one of each); and the last is a graphic novel/manga, which are easy to breeze through.  Compare this to two Kindles, one fiction/fantasy, one classic, one non-fiction/reference, one graphic novel/manga, and one library book. I’m currently borrowing Death Note from the library for my manga, and I’ll borrow fictions/fantasies from there, too.

Total Books Read: 73

1. Tuf Voyaging by George R. R. Martin
2. In the House of the Wyrm by George R. R. Martin
3. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
5. Rest in Piece by B. W. Ginsburg
6. The Missing Orchid by Fia Black
7. The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
8. The Quantum Door by Jonathan Ballagh
9. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater
10. The Illustrated A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
11. Descendants by Rae Else
12. The Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton
13. Riddled With Senses by Petra Jacob
14. The Quantum Ghost by Jonathan Ballagh
15. Radiance by Grace Draven
16. Saga: Volume 1 by Brian K, Vaughn
17. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
18. Eidolon by Grace Draven
19. A Father’s Protection by K. J. Hawkins
20. Saga: Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughn
21. The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia (edited) by Patrick Thorpe
22. Saga: Volume 3 by Brian K. Vaughn
23. Silent Child by Sarah K. Denzil
24.  A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas
25. Saga: Volume 4 by Brian K, Vaughn
26. Saga: Volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughn
27. Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
28. Saga: Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughn
29. An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
30. Talon by Julie Kagawa
31. Saga: Volume 7 by Brian K. Vaughn
32. Stone & Iris by Jonathan Ballagh
33. Gaslight Hades by Grace Draven
34. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
35. Locke & Key, Vol. 1: Welcome to Lovecraft
36. My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Volume 1 by Katie Cook
37. Poetic Edda: The Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes by Anonymous
38. Never Never: Part One by Colleen Hoover
39. The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
40. Never Never: Part Two by Colleen Hoover
41. Never Never: Part Three by Colleen Hoover
42. The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess by Akira Himekawa
43. Goldie Vance Volume 1 by Hope Larson
44. Shadows on Snow by Starla Huchton
45. Red as Blood and White as Bone by Theodora Goss
46. Monstress #1: Awakening
47. An Unattractive Vampire by Jim McDoniel
48. A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir
49. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman
50. The Archived by Victoria Schwab
51. Dweller by Jeff Strand
52. Abstract Clarity by B. W. Ginsburg
53. Chobits, Vol. 1 by CLAMP
54. The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare
55. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
56. Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom by Tsugumi Ohba
57. Master of Crows by Grace Draven
58. Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
59. The Diamond Tree by Michael Matson
60. Promethea, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore
61. Blink Once by Cylin Busby
62. Death Note, Vol. 2: Confluence by Tsugumi Ohba
63. The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
64. The Daemoniac by Kat Ross
65. The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
66. Death Note, Vol. 3: Hard Run by Tsugumi Ohba
67. Death Note, Vol 4: Love by Tsugumi Ohba
68. Gyo by Junji Ito
69. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
70. Parallel by Anthony Vicino
71. Death Note, Vol. 5: Whiteout
72. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
73. Death Note, Vol 7: Give-and-Take by Tsugumi Ohba

Total Fiction/Sci-Fi/Fantasy: 46 (63%)

Total Classic: 3 (4%)

Total Non-Fiction/Reference: 4 (5%)

Total Graphic Novels/Manga: 20 (27%)

I was going to do this whole shebang with “Most Read Author,” “Favorite New Author,” “Favorite Series,” and all this other stuff, but I decided on just doing a Top 20 with that number as an increase from the original 10.  I marked around 14 books as potential Tops and figured I could find six more.

20. Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman

One of the best parts of reading this book was the perfect timing when I read it: in the midst of watching a Let’s Play of SOMA, which I’ve spoken of at great length (even though the review/essay is still to come).  Incognito explores the intricacies of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious processes and how the latter two form the foundation of the first.  It’s written in such a way that psychological novices can still follow with relatable analogies and examples, but the volume is not without some major issues, which I started noticing around Chapter 4 with Eagleman’s views on beauty/attractiveness that spiraled unfortunately towards racism (yes…really).  He also didn’t fully explore the reasons behind why we have unconscious biases, which never just come out of a vacuum.  While the author has a flair for piquing interest in subjects that could easily come off as tedious, his essentialism and (seemingly) unwillingness to take environmental influences into account raises my brows (and hackles) a bit (e.g. his insistence that having a Y chromosome essentially makes one more violent without considering this propensity could be due to how those perceived as having a Y chromosome are treated from [often before] birth is only one of many).  While I enjoyed the book for what information it imparted, especially for those unfamiliar with psychology, the fore mentioned (and other) issues prompt me to insist it be read with a discerning eye and copious grains of salt.

19. Dweller by Jeff Strand

This novel was like a more fucked up version of Harry and the Hendersons, if the Hendersons were a once brutally bullied loner and Harry was a man eating abomination.  I really wanted to know where the monster came from.  Was he some government experiment gone wrong?  A throwback from an early time?  A creature from an alien dimension?  Everything about him just breeds more questions, but his relationship with Toby is both poignant and disturbing.  A lot of fucked up things happen in this book.  I was initially unsure about Strand’s writing style, but it grew on me as did Toby’s character.  It made sense why the author wrote it in this way: it perfectly reflected the MC’s mental state.  This is one of those books that has the perfect ending, as in there’s no other way it could’ve ended for these characters that would’ve been as satisfactory.

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