My Top Reads Of 2016

*This post was inspired by K.M. Weiland’s post which you can read here.

My TBR pile in 2017 pile

I’ve participated and challenged myself with the Goodreads Reading Challenge since 2012 when I read 71 books from my goal of 70. That trend of meeting and even going over my goal continued (2013: 62 from my goal of 60 books, 2014: 70 from 70, 2015: 61 from 60) until this year. This year I wasn’t even able to meet my goal of 52 books. A book a week. *hangs head in shame*

There are a few reasons for this. When I set my reading goal for 2016 I purposely set it lower than previous years because I had a book to edit and a new one to write. Plus, I was doing a lot more beta reading for my friends on a monthly basis. In spite of that though,  I still thought I could manage a book a week! And I did until August when I went home after two years absence and seriously, who can get some reading done when family is around because I sure can’t. So that caused me to I get a bit behind, but I figured I’d bounce back the last quarter of the year and still make my goal. Until November happened. A month that sucked all the creative and recreative mojo out of me and I became a bit obsessed with politics. Ok, maybe more than a bit.

But despite not making my goal, I thought it might be fun to share some of the awesome books I did read. But first some facts.

Total books read: 42

Ratio of fiction to nonfiction: 35 – 7

Ratio of YA books to Adult books: 27 – 15

Ratio of female to male authors: 33 – 9

Ratio of Contemporary to Fantasy/Science Fiction to Historical: 17 – 15 – 3

Number of books per rating: 5 stars (8 books), 4 stars (25 books), 3 stars (6 books), 2 stars (2 books), 1 star (1 book)

My top 5 books of 2016

(in no particular order)

All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely. A powerful book about police brutality and its effects on a community.

The Reader by Traci Chee. An amazingly detailed fantasy with some of the best world building I’ve come across in ages.

Nujeen by Nujeen Mustafa with Christina Lamb. The amazing story of the resiliency of a young Syrian girl who crosses oceans and countries in her search for peace – all while bound to a wheelchair.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff. This amazing SciFi kept me riveted during a 6 hour flight to New York. I’d never been so scared to be in a tin can before.

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. After the disaster that was November, I couldn’t read about people getting hurt. This book, featuring imaginary characters dreamt up by another imaginary character was exactly far enough from reality for me to develop a taste for anything with conflict.

Special Honor: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Because Kaz.

And what about you? What were your top books for 2016?