5. Best series you started in 2016? Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016?
15. Favourite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016?
“One evening she pattered around inside me, sipping something strong that wedged colour into her cheeks, and she dragged all my windows open, putting her glass down to struggle with the stiffer latches. I cried and cried for an hour or so, unable to hear the sound of my voice, so shrill and pleading, but unable to stop the will of the wind wheeling through me, cold on my insides. That was the first and last time I’ve heard my own voice” [Page 23 of White is for Witching, told from the houses perspective]
The shortest was Lumberjanes: Volume 1 at 112 pages. The longest book was The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss at 994 pages but technically I “read” that on audiobook. Next up that I did read in physical form was The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber at a still not insignificant 845 pages. I ran a readalong for this one earlier in the year and I adored it until the ending. That ending still bugs me to high heaven.
The friendship between Nimona and Ballister Blackheart in Nimona was super fun. I was going to go for the captor-prisoner relationship of another of my five star reads of 2016, The Collector by John Fowles but that seemed a bit morbid so fun friendship it is!
20. Favourite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
That’s got to be my re-read of Harry Potter. I barely ever re-read but I decided to finally cave and read the script of Cursed Child but wanted to re-read the series first and I have loved going back to it. I’ve read the first three in the series and am excited to get to Goblet of Fire soon. It’s my absolute favourite so it’ll be a TREAT! It also now turns out that I’ll be lucky enough to see the show next year so the purpose of my re-read is now to read them all so that I can re-watch the films with the friend I’ll be seeing the play with!
I would never have heard of White is for Witching if it hadn’t been for Jean’s BookTube channel, Jean’s Bookish Thoughts, and it turned out to be one of my favourites of the year so that’s as good an example as anything else.
I can’t thing of a single answer to this question so clearly none worth mentioning.
The Joyce Girl by Annabel Abbs was the only 2016 debut I read, I think (I don’t really keep track of debuts and the like very well…), but it was a corker so that’s fine by me.
Ready to be bored by the same answer? The world of the Six of Crows duology is sordid and dark and it feels incredibly real. So, so much better than anything portrayed in the Grisha trilogy.
The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (and its predecessor) are action-packed and glorious. Like reading myths and legends being spun out and so readable despite being incredibly long.
26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016?
I literally always cry at books that are even the remotest bit sad. I’m a crier. I definitely properly cried at the end of A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (bloody hell that book made me cry) and Crooked Kingdom but also a couple of moments from various Harry Potter instalments. Oh, oh! And Illuminae. Many tears at that one!
According to GoodReads, the most obscure book that I read was The Jekyll Island Chronicles, Vol. 1: A Machine Age War. It wasn’t super stand-out but it was reasonable enough. Nothing else that I read could really be classed as “hidden”.
A Tale for the Time Being gutted me in various places. It’s an absolutely wonderful book and I just haven’t a clue how to review it.
I’ll resist the urge to write White is for Witching and instead go with The Collector, which even nearly a whole year later really stands out in my mind.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber. That book made me so bloody cross. 800 odd pages of impeccable writing and character building. 800 odd flipping pages of getting tangled up in the life of Sugar and becoming deeply involved in the story only to encounter a truly terrible ending. Awful. The book just stops.
