Friday, January 1, 2016

6th Annual End Of Year Survey

The End-of-Year Survey is an annual survey hosted by Jamie at The Perpetual Page-Turner.

2015 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 82
Number of Re-Reads: 13+
Genre You Read The Most From: YA fantasy. 

Best in Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2015?

(If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)
Illuminae by Amie Koffman and Jay Kristoff. I adore this book so much, and I kind of want to gush about it to everyone ever. And I'm not generally very into gushing.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

Anything from my "The Year in Disappointments" list, really. I was especially let down by The Sin-Eater's Daughter

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  

The Silmarillion! I'm still a little surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is very much outside of my usual novel choices, but I love exploring storytelling with this novel.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

 5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

Best (Full) Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater
Best Start to a Series: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Best Sequel: The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski
Best Conclusion: The Bitter Kingdom by Rae Carson, maybe?

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015?

Probably Maria Dahvanna Headley or Jay Kristoff.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

I already mentioned The Silmarillion, but I've also been getting more into popular science. I read At Water's Edge by Neil Shubin recently, and really enjoyed it.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

ILLUMINAE. But since you're probably getting tired of hearing about that, I also really went through The Fixer.

 9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

A lot of them. I've discussed how I'm kind of an obsessive re-reader. But definitely The Darkest Part of the Forest and Six of Crows.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015?

So many beautiful covers this year! But, because I have to mention it somewhere, I'm going to show off this one, because not only is the cover art beautiful, but there are illustration everywhere and they're all lovely.

11. Most memorable character of 2015?

Isabel Culpepper and Cole St. Clair from Sinner, probably. They're both very... raw? I guess.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015?

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015?

This is always a hard question for me... possibly Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater?

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read? 

The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. I read this lovely bind-up edition of these books. I didn't read them as a kid, but I really enjoyed them this year.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015?

I'm stock on this one. Probably something from Sinner. That book is very quotable.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015?

Shortest: Arthur Spiderwick's Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You by Holly Black and Tony DeTerlizzi
Longest: Winter by Marissa Meyer

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most

(Because of a plot twist, character death, left you hanging with your mouth wide open, etc.)
Illuminae. The storytelling style made it GREAT for plot twists.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!)

I had to think about this one a lot, actually. I decided to go with what immediately came to mind which was Cinder & Kai from The Lunar Chronicles. I think I mostly like them because, for all the chaos and drama in every other aspect of their lives, they're pretty low-drama as a couple.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

The Grace siblings from Spiderwick, maybe?

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

Probably The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black or Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater. Or Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure:

I first heard about The Martian through recommendation, and I quite enjoyed that.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015?

Another year, another complete lack of fictional crushes.

23. Best 2015 debut you read?

The Wrath and the Dawn, I think, unless I can count Magonia.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?

Magonia is definitely up there, the setting is so bizarre and almost dream-like, but also very vivid.

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?

The Fixer had its humourous moments, and The Scorpion Rules, despite having some pretty grim subject matter made me laugh as well. (Is it worrying that an amoral AI and I have a very similar sense of humour? Discuss.) Six of Crows had its moment too.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015?

Illuminae was an emotional roller coaster for me.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

Maybe The Nest by Kenneth Oppel? It is MG, but I think that its a read that could be enjoyed by more than just the 9-12 audience.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

See above comment about Illuminae being an emotional roller coaster.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015?

Since you're probably tired of hearing me go on and on about Magonia and Illuminae, I really liked returning to the world of Seraphina when I read Shadow Scale early in 2015.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?

Most recently Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Grey. That ending. I KNEW it was coming, but arg.

Bookish/ Blogging Life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015?

Hmm, what did I discover this year? I really should keep track of when I discovered what. Recently I've really liked Alexa Loves Books, but I've been following her for a while. Also Happy Indulgence, Bookish Serendipity, and Readers in Wonderland.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015?

I really enjoy writing reviews for books that I loved, so my review of Illuminae stands out to me.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

The "I have a love-hate relationship with my Goodreads Challenge" post was a lot of fun for me to write. I was thinking about this the other day, because I didn't quite reach my challenge this year.

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

I went to the Book Blog Ontario Meet-up this year, which was a new and exciting thing for me. There aren't that many book events near where I live, and even fewer that I can get to in a reasonable amount of time (public transit in Ontario moves like a snail on a good day). It was fantastic, if a little overwhelming, and I'm really hoping that I get the chance to go next year, if they decide to do it again.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015?

I don't know? There were a lot of really great moments. I'm also blogging over at Paper Boulevard, which has been exciting and challenging.

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

The intense bouts of apathy that I occasionally experience toward book blogging. Blogging at Paper Boulevard has been challenging, just because it puts another thing on my to do list.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

Maybe some of my reviews? They sometimes take a lot of time to write, so I'm always really grateful to get pageviews on them!

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Book Outlet has resulted in even more overflowing bookshelves.

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

I didn't quite complete my Goodreads challenge this year (due to a combination of things... chief among which were school, rereading, and terrible time management).

I completed my reread challenge in the first couple months (turn out I reread a lot more than 10 books in a year).

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

Under a Painted Sky, for sure.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)?

The Forbidden Orchid by Sarah Biggs Waller, about twenty others...

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

Rebel of the Sands, or the Star-Touched Queen.

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016?

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater, The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski...

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016?

Get better at keeping a consistent schedule.

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone:

One day I will request more books and have an actual answer to this question...

- See more at: http://www.perpetualpageturner.com/2015/12/6th-annual-end-of-year-survey-2015-edition.html#sthash.ZDOUYtIC.dpuf

2 comments :

  1. Wonderful answers! This survey always takes us so long to complete every year, I feel we should all be awarded a medal just for completing it! I have only read Illuminae in the last few days, so I will have to gush about it in next years survey. I LOVED that book, it was written in such a wonderfully unique way. Plus it definitely can be described as an emotional rollercoaster. I am soooo excited for the second book now. I am happy to find someone else who was disappointed by The Sin Eaters Daughter, that book didn't work for me either. I really enjoyed The Winner's Crime, although that ending has me desperate to get my hands on the final book.

    Great answers :) I hope you have a great 2016 and reading year! Here is my survey, if you want to check out my answers :)

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    1. It is a long survey, but I always have a lot of fun doing it! I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed Illuminae, I feel like it might have appeared too often in this survey, but it was just so fantastic, and I'm so excited for the sequel as well. I'm looking forward to the conclusion to The Winner's Curse after the ending of The Winner's Crime!

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