2018 End of Year Wrap Up

     So November and December were a bust for Book club. This tends to happen around holiday time because it is hard to gather such a large group when everyone is also dealing with extra family, cooking, cleaning, and all things dealing with presents. January will also be a no book club month because for some reason this year we all seem to need some down time after Christmas. We will resume book club meetings in February when we come together after reading Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty.

    I thought we could start off the new year by talking about how last years reading goals went for us and what our reading goals look like this year.

Sam: I read 38 books and my goal was 24! I didn't meet all my goals though because I didn't finish the read harder challenge and I also stopped keeping track of what I had read which is really disappointing. I'm really hoping to keep track of everything this coming year and finally finish the challenge! In 2017 I finished 9/24 of that year's book riot read harder challenge, and 6/12 of the reading for fun 2017 challenge. So I did better in 2018 on both! 11/24 and 8/12! Learn more about the Read Harder challenge here.

My favorite books this year were Akata Witch, The Summer of Jordi Perez, The Best Burgers in Los Angeles, We Were Witches, The Fire and Thorne Series, and The Winternight Trilogy

The one book I read and HATED was Every Day by David Levithan.

In 2019 my goal is to read 35 books this year and do better on both challenges!

Annie: My reading goal in 2018 was 50 books and I ended up reading 52.

I really liked An American Marriage by Tayari Jones because of the letter writing style and character dimensions as well as the content related to a family coping with false accusations and unjust imprisonment.

I liked the Beartown books by Fredrick Bachman because they have just the right balance of grit and heart.

My least favorite was Hiddensee I think due to expectation management - Gregory Maguire is one of my favorite authors but this one didn’t have me glued to the story or characters.

This year my goal is to read 50 books again!

Leanne: My favorite book this year was Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn; I loved the rawness, mystery, and grittiness. It’s made my personal Top Ten list of books ever. P.s. The HBO adaption is amazing and has a great soundtrack.

I feel bad calling it my least favorite because the author was only a teenager, but The Movie Was Better Than The Book award definitely goes to The Kissing Booth by Beth Reekles. Major props for being so young and having a book and movie though.

Rachel: My goal for 2018 was to read 40 books. I read 85! 

I can't pick a favorite but my least favorite book was Stray: Memoir of a Runaway.

In 2019 my goal is to read 52 books. 

Beth: I maybe got through 3 whole books all year. But I did read The Golden Compass and The Subtle Knife and those were great!

Heather: I had a goal of 16 books and surpassed that. I read 20 which is more than I’ve read in many years. My favorite this year was probably What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. It confirmed for me that she is an amazing author as three of her books that I’ve read have not disappointed me yet. It was a well-written book about a married couple who had grown apart over the past 10 years. When Alice has an accident, her brain takes her back to when they were newly married and in love. It was a sweet reminder as a married woman of how much can change and to make sure you make your spouse a priority. My least favorite was Say You’re Sorry by Melinda Leigh. It had the potential to be amazing but I felt it fell short. It was a Gone Girl feel to it, but I’m finding that most of the mystery/crime books I read fall short at the end. Overall, I feel like I did amazing but not as well as I could have since I majorly slacked off after July (when we put our house on the market).

In 2019 my goal is to read 20 books.

Brandy: My goal in 2018 was to read 50 books and I read 77! My least favorite was Honey Roots by Sydney Migues, it was just all over the place. My favorite was Verity by Colleen Hoover. It was so different from anything else she's written!

In 2019 my goal is to read 

Nicole: In 2018 my goal was 75 books. I almost always set my goal at 50 and I just pass it every year. In 2018 I wanted to push myself so I picked 75 books. Then I blew my goal out of the water by reading 134 books! I have no idea how this happened but I loved every second of it. I found some great new authors like J.D. Horn, Riley Sager, and Colleen Coble. 

It is hard to pick one favorite but some of my favorites were All the Little Lights by Jamie McGuire, Crazy House by James Patterson, and The Rule of One by Ashley and Leslie Saunders. 

By far my least favorite book was Jame's Patterson's You've Been Warned - Again. I still have no idea what it's about. 

This year in 2019 I went back to a goal of 50. I am worried I might have burned myself out last year (although saying that..we're a week into the new year and I've already read 3 books). If I get to the end of March and it looks like I will definitely hit 50, I will up it to 75.