2018 Reading Wrap Up

Courtesy of Josephine Wall 


2018 Reading Wrap Up 


Yikes, I only read 37 physical books versus ebooks this year and explains why my book stacks didn’t decrease much.  Plus it tells me I've been spending way too much time on my Ipad getting distracted by the internet. 
During your travels did you have time to stop and smell the flowers with our Blossom Bookology challenge or explore a plethora of mysteries with 52 Books Bingo? 
I finished the Blossom Bookology spelling challenge and squeaked by the last three months with flowers mentioned in the stories as colors or characters.  I forgot to keep track of all the reference mentioned in my reads, but pretty sure there were more than a few mentions of a variety of flowers so I'm calling this challenge completed. 
Did you stay on the detective bus, join the rebel bus or hang around with Bertram Wooster?  
I joined the rebel bus and bounced back and forth between London.  I did manage to make it to London Scotland Yard, York, Buckinghamshire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Somerset, Kent and back again to London.
·         London: Spymaster's Lady What Angels FearMidnight Riot as well as Last Chance Christmas Ball
·         York - Sunne in Splendour as well as I found You
·         Buckinghamshire - Flowers from the Storm
·         Herefordshire - Foxglove Summer
·         Leicestershire – Dinner Most Deadly
·         Somerset - For Deader or worse  and Cozy Tea Shop in the Castle
·         Kent – Midsummer Moon
Did you remain earthbound or take off for worlds unknown? I think I remained pretty much earthbound although I did visit quite a few alternate realities.  I also traveled through different centuries to England, Africa, Germany, France, Antarctic, Ireland, Canada, Amsterdam, and Ceylon.
Did you reach your reading goal or did you decide to just meander about and follow rabbit trails and end up getting lost in the enjoyment of reading?  I totally lost track two thirds of the way through the year but I did make my goal of 100 books.
Did you set any aside to read again at some point and savor the story all over again?   Oh yes. Rachel Caine’s Great Library series, Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling trinity with Silver Silence and Ocean Light, as well as Roxanne St. Claire’s Dogfather series are all well worth rereading.  
Which books intrigued or entertained, made you laugh, cry, dance or sing?  So many and it is hard to narrow it down.
  • Anna Richard’s The Road Home and Laura Kinsale’s Midsummer’s Moon touched my heart.  Thank you to KarenI  for introducing me to these two authors.
  • Lian Dolan’s Elizabeth the First Wife and  Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm made me laugh.
  • Robyn Cadwaller’s The Anchoress and Julia Drosten’s The Elephant Keeper’s Daughter enthralled me while and Sharon Kay Penman’s The Sunne in Splendour pulled me into the history of the times.  
  • Tahareh Mafi’s Shatter Me and Mindy McGinnis’  A Madness So Discreet and Dean Koontz Innocence gave me the chills.
  • Mark Helprin’s Soldier of the Great War pulled me from the present into the past and back again and put my emotions through the ringer.
  • Two WWII novels - Leon Leyson’s The Boy on the Wooden Box made me cry while John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pajamas irritated me with the child’s naivete.
Stats Wise
I read 114 Fiction books and 9 non fiction. I read quite a few series so have many repeat authors I enjoy which include Nora Roberts aka J.D. Robb, James Rollins, Keri Arthur, Nalini Singh, Jennifer Estep, Roxanne St. Claire, and Faith Hunter to name a few. 
Female authors -  47
Male authors – 11
New to me authors – 29
The majority of my reads were Fantasy and Mystery/Suspense/Thriller with quite a few contemporary romance, historical and a few nonfiction thrown in.