I love New Year’s Eve/ Day! It is always so nice to get a fresh start. I often get the urge to clean and organize my house around the New Year holiday. This includes my bookshelves. I often rearrange them and round up a box of books to be donated to the library. I have a really hard time letting books go, so these are usually books that I finally read over the previous year and don’t feel that I will re-read them. Or they are books that served a purpose during certain periods of my life and are now no longer necessary. Cleaning out and rearranging my bookshelves always makes me anxious for new reads and nostalgic for some old reads, too. Here are my highlights from 2017 and my reading goals for 2018.
2017 Re-cap:
When I reflect on the books I’ve read in 2017, I can’t help but think “Wow!” There were so many great reads this year by new authors and established authors alike. While trying to narrow down my favorite reads for the year, I found myself struggling. This is a great struggle to have! Highlighting a book of the month is a lot easier than highlighting a book of the year. There are far fewer to choose from when it comes to monthly titles. When I try to choose a book of the year, I ask myself what book or books I would want to read again. I also reflect on which books still make me stop and think about them weeks or even months after I’ve put them back on the shelf. Below, I’ve highlighted what are my favorite books from 2017. These are books that I couldn’t put down, books that I plan to re-read in the future, books that I can see expanding into sequels or in some cases trilogies or series, and books that I still find myself thinking about.
Adult Fiction:
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Young Adult:
Hello, Sunshine by Leila Howland
Children’s/ Middle Grade Books:
Differella by Jim and Kay Story
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend
Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly (a Beauty and the Beast story)
If I had to, absolutely had to, choose one book from 2017 to highlight as my title of the year, it would be The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This book not only surprised me but took me back to my favorite genre – the golden age of Hollywood. I loved this combination of an old and modern story being told, I loved the twists and surprises, and I simply loved Evelyn Hugo. What a character! If you haven’t read this book yet, I strongly suggest you add it to your 2018 reading list.
2018 Reading Plans:
My reading plans for 2018 consist of continuing to review books for authors and publishers as well as books that I come across on my own. My reading goals on the other hand primarily consist of one thing: a list of books that I lovingly refer to as My Book Bucket List. These are the books that I am always meaning to read or that I will “read some day.” Some of them are classics or historically important books that I feel I should read in my lifetime. Others are books that I’ve always been curious about, and some are books from my childhood which I remember loving but am a little fuzzy on the stories themselves. So I have vowed to give them a re-read at some point. My big reading goal for 2018 is to check 12 books off of my list. Each month, I plan to read one book from my Book Bucket List and then I will post my review of the book as well as why it made it onto my list in the first place. I’ve shared my planned reading list below, and I invite you to read along each month if you’d like and share your thoughts on the book.
January: Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers
February: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
March: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
April: Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
May: Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
June: Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl
July: The Borrowers by Mary Norton
August: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
September: Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
October: The Shining by Stephen King
November: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
December: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
So, what was your favorite read from 2017? Do you have any reading goals for 2018? Feel free to share in the comments section.
Happy New Year and Happy Reading!
– Kait
Kait's Bookshelf
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