2017/2018 reading

According to Goodreads, last year I read 15,089 pages across 65 books. Pretty good, but a far cry from my personal best of 104 books. I split them into seven categories, and here are my two favorites from each:

Chick Lit (5)
Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

Filipino (12)
Found by Isa Garcia
Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan

Graphic-ish Novels (2)
Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North

Nonfiction (8)
Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh
One Hundred Names for Love by Diane Ackerman

Poetry & Classics (8)
Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley
I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

Well-reviewed (7)
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Beartown by Fredrik Backman

Young Adult (18)
Wonder by R.J Palacio
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

*there were 5 books I couldn't put into any category, but I didn't have any favorites from them.

My 2018 Goodreads reading challenge has been set for 40 books. There are 53 unread books from those I purchased in the last three years, and there are 6 other books I've committed to buddy-read with a bookish friend. I'm sure as the year goes on my TBR will just grow longer and longer, but this year I'm trying to finish those 59 books I've committed to, without any distractions.

You're swamped with work, but somehow your reading slump weighs more heavily on your mind. While you're still ahead of your Goodreads reading challenge, your progress has slowed to a crawl. Piles and piles of unread books taunt you with their unpeeled price stickers and a light coat of dust. Your phone is loaded with dozens of e-books, so you shouldn't have an excuse not to read, but you still aren't reading. Nothing to add to your bookstagram, no quotes for your Twitter, no new recommendations for your friends. Countless people have probably felt this way before, but something about this reading slump makes you feel completely alone.

My Year in Numbers + 20 Favorites

In 2016 I read 106 books. These were:

69% by female authors, 31% male
54% by American authors, 16% English, 12% Filipino
89% fiction, 11% nonfiction
53% e-books, 47% physical copies
49% of physical copies were secondhand, 45% brand new, 6% from the library
76% were published between 1995 and 2015

My favorite books I read were:
Fiction
1. Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman
2. Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
4. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson
5. Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson
6. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
7. The Martian by Andy Weir
8. I'll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson
9. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
10. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz
Short Stories
11. Dear Distance by Luis Joaquin Katigbak
Series
12-15. The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Filipino Fiction
16. Banana Heart Summer by Merlinda Bobis
Nonfiction
17. We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
18. Wouldn't take nothing for my journey now by Maya Angelou
19. Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
20. It was snowing butterflies by Charles Darwin

March, so far.

In my country, March is National Women's Month. I've been trying to read only books by women, and it's been a great excuse for "marathoning" some authors and further explore some categories I want to "specialize" in.

So far:

• Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes
• Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta
• I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron
• The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen
• Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
• Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
• Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
• Act Like It by Lucy Parker
• Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
• Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
• After You by Jojo Moyes

And in special categories:

Books About Books and Reading:

• The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

Fairytale/Folklore/Mythology Retellings:

• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Kid Lit or Middle Grade:

• Beetles, Lightly Toasted by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor