2016 Review

In 2016 I read 57 books, or 18,395 pages (I also recently have a string of half-finished audio books that returned to the library before they could be finished and I'm patiently waiting for them to turn back up in my account - so the page number is a little higher). This is a dramatic increase over last year when I read 39 books, or 11,683 pages. I credit the increase in books read to the fact that I discovered audio books to aid in my half marathon training runs and a couple of long car rides that necessitated entertainment. All the reviews this year on the blog were my own fresh from 2016. I'm hoping to enlist a few guest reviews this year.

Longest Book: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. The surprising thing was not how long this book was, but how short Chernow managed to make it given the source material and the endless fascination to be spurred by the details of Hamilton's life. I mean, the guy died in a duel with the Vice President of the United States. I know Dick Cheney shot someone too, but it wasn't on purpose. Chernow was the first author to uncover many of Hamilton's writings from his time living in St. Croix and other details from his early life in the Caribbean. To say this is the book that launched a thousand memes is an understatement. It's the book that launched a musical phenomenon and saved Hamilton's face on the $10 bill. Quite an accomplishment. You can read my full review here.

Shortest Book: Short Stores from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists by J.K. Rowling. I came upon this by accident, but it was very cheap from Amazon one day and I'm basically a sucker for all things J.K. Rowling touches, so I got it. It's length didn't merit a full post, but you can read additional thoughts here.

Best Book: American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I can't explain it, but this book felt very important to me when I was reading it, and it made me think of America and Gods and religion in a different way. I loved the idea of it, and how it was executed. I'm so excited this is becoming a TV show (check out a promo video here). I hope the TV show doesn't suck, because I'll probably watch it anyway and hate myself for it. I told everyone I knew this year that they should give this book a chance. You can read my full review here.

Best Character: This was the hardest one for me to decide. Shadow from American Gods was a great character. He's thoughtful and honest and being with him at the unraveling of the theocratic structure of our country was quite a ride. I also was a big fan of Newt Scamander from the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them Screenplay (you can read that review here). I'm partial to any Hufflepuff who manages to make it big, so to speak. And finally, there's A. Ham himself. I've spent part of 2015 and all of 2016 engrossed and obsessed with all things Hamilton. It kind of reminds me of my pre-teen fascination with The New Kids on the Block, only high-brow. I don't have pins or posters from Teen Beat hung up in my room, but I did actually buy a paper copy of Rolling Stone Magazine this year and I saw the musical twice - once in New York (you can read about that experience here) and once in Chicago. Oh I also read both the biography and the story behind the musical.So in the end, I think I have to go with Mr. Hamilton. Ambitious, tragic, flawed, could have been President of the United States had he managed to get out of his own way at the time. He's fascinating and since he inspired the best piece of pop culture in my lifetime, I think he wins hands down.

Worst Book: Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci. I should have known this one was bad when I realized I had read the prior book and had no memory of it whatsoever, despite having reviewed in on Goodreads. I wasn't impressed with the first book either. This book had crappy characters, a crappy plot, and unbelievable motives. Plus, I was 10 pages away from finishing it on vacation when my eldest woke my youngest up from a nap and we proceeded on a cranky four hour car trip through the Canadian Shield. We were all fed up. So then I finally finished this book and put us all out of our misery. You can read my full review here.

Biggest Disappointment: Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. After coming off reading In a Dark Dark Wood (you can read that review here), I was pretty stoked to read Ruth Ware's follow up. The previous book had made for some good running material as I was completely engrossed and seemed to not notice I was running for hours at a time. But this was was hugely disappointing. The main character was not tolerable, not barely tolerable, she was NOT tolerable at all (see below). So I put on my big girl pants, since the main character was not going to, and finished the book. Only now I feel bad because somehow my mom started reading this on my purported recommendation, and I can't believe I screwed up so badly as to lead her down this path. You can read my full review here.

Worst Character: Lo Blacklock, The Woman in Cabin 10. Typically unreliable narrators are okay for me, but they have to be someone I at least could be in the same room with. Big no for Lo Blacklock. Big big no. See above.


Honorable Mentions:  I should say there were a few books that didn't make the above list but were so good, I wanted to throw a shout out to them. Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad (review here) was excellent, as was Justin Cronin's City of Mirrors (review here) - rounding out his trilogy that began with The Passage.I'd highly recommend either of these books.

Goals for 2017: I've set my goal of 52 books for this year. I know it is doable since I blew that away in 2016. I'll be training for another half marathon soon so I'll have the time to listen. 52 books is a book a week and I know I'll get my Ploughshares love in three times this year.

Will George RR Martin get around to publishing Winds of Winter (signs are pointing to yes!- check out this update), I'm not counting on it (I was similarly disappointed last year) or I would have set the goal at 45. But if it ruins my reading goal for the year, I'd be okay with that.