Annual End of the Year Survey – 2019

I’m using the questions that were created for the 2019 survey and you can find the original post at Perpetual Page Turner.

I hope everyone has had a good 2019 and my best wishes to everyone for the New Year…!!! I can’t find a better way to end this year’s blogging journey than to sum up all my reading. It has been a great year of reading and blogging for me, discovering new authors, enjoying more blogs and making some amazing friends who share similar passions as me. I hope this momentum continues on into 2020 for me as well as for all of you.

Enough of my rambling….. Let’s get started with my year end wrap-up..!!!! I’m going to try not to repeat the same books for all the answers, but it’s totally unavoidable for some of my favorites. This post is also going to be pretty long, so have some patience friends…!!

Number of books I read: 180

Genre I read the most from: 

From the two graphics above, you can see that I’ve read more Romance by book count, but more Fantasy by page count.

Other Statistics: I also have a few other cool pie charts I would love to share with you all.

As you can see, I read a lot of wonderful books this year. Two thirds of my reads being 4 star and above doesn’t mean I’m a very easy to please reader (though I can be), but that I’ve gotten better at choosing the exact kind of books that appeal to me. I definitely hope I can keep it up.

This chart is actually very surprising because I used to be in the solidly YA column almost until last year. But I guess I am changing as a person, which means my reading tastes are as well. But I don’t change the 26% of YA to go down anytime soon because I still adore my YA Fantasy novels the best.

I thought I read a lot more big books than I actually did, but that’s okay. I can feel a bit intimidated when the page count goes above 500 but I really hope I get over my fear in the New Year and read many more tomes.

This chart truly represents me. I love reading new releases, so it’s no surprise that three quarters of my books read are from this year. But I still have a backlist because there are many more amazing books I could never get to. I definitely wish I can get to a lot more backlist books in 2020 though.

I read about 20% books with no diversity, which I think is okay because quite a few of them are Non Fiction which I couldn’t really categorize. I’m glad I could keep my #ownvoices reads at around 40% but I definitely hope I can make them a majority in the coming year.

1. Best Book You Read In 2019?

This is the toughest question to answer and it’s awful that I have to start with this. I’ll post a more comprehensive list of favorites in January, but for now the best books I think I read this year would have to be Red, White and Royal Blue, The Dragon Republic and Blowout.

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

I’m always excited for a Christina Lauren book and I thought this would be another fun read, but Twice In a Blue Moon turned out to be pretty disappointing.

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

When our Stars and Sorcery Book Club selected the short story The Paper Menagerie as our BOTM, I wasn’t sure how I would feel about it because I don’t always have a great track record with Hugo/Nebula or award winning books in general, and this short story collection is full of winners and nominees. But what a brilliant surprise it was. Reading this collection of stories was an experience I cherish and can’t forget anytime soon. Highly recommend.

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

During the India Lit Readathon my friends organized, a couple of us convinced a lot of the others to read A Spark of White Fire (or A House of Rage and Sorrow) and it was amazing to see the whole gang adore this series.

5. Best series you started in 2019? Best Sequel of 2019? Best Series Ender of 2019?

There are probably many more I can choose for these questions, but these three books are the most memorable.

Best series I started: There Will Come a Darkness

Best sequel I read: The Dragon Republic

Best series ender: The Shadow Glass

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2019?

I can’t help but repeat the same books because I discovered Rin Chupeco this year and I just feel blessed to have read her books. There are ofcourse many other authors too and I will come up with a post discussing all of them, but Rin has definitely been the most wonderful.

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

Classics are probably the furthest from my comfort zone and I haven’t read any in a while, but this year I decided to finally try Agatha Christie. And I have to say, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd blew my mind.

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

The action in Jade City is not all pervasive but when it happens, you feel so immersed in it like it’s happening right in front of your eyes. And once I got used to the pace of the book, I just couldn’t put it down.

9. Book You Read In 2019 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

There’s one which I’ve already reread so many times that I don’t wanna mention it. But I have a feeling that I will be rereading the delightful Bringing down the Duke before it’s sequel releases next year.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2019?

There are just so many adorable covers to choose from but some of my favorites are King of Scars, The Lady Rogue and Descendant of the Crane.

11. Most memorable character of 2019?

I thought a lot for this question but ultimately realized that Lady Tea from The Bone Witch trilogy is undoubtedly my most memorable character of this year.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2019?

While anthologies can usually be a hit or miss, Hungry Hearts turned out to be utterly beautiful inside and out. Can’t recommend it enough.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2019?

I read some brilliant non-fiction books this year but the most thought-provoking would have to be Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, and She Said.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2019 to finally read?

I’ve known about The Song of Achilles for a couple of years now but I have no valid reason for not picking it up till the beginning of this year. Wow what a read..!!!

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2019?

I’m a huge highlighter, so I have numerous quotes to choose from. But there’s one from  Good Talk that has haunted me since I read the book and it’s this:

“Sometimes the people who love you will choose a world that doesn’t.”

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2019?

I had to look up Goodreads for the shortest one, which apparently is Emergency Skin. But the longest book of the year is obviously The Priory of the Orange Tree.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most

The Test is a short novella set in a near futuristic dystopia with such a shocking premise, that I was left dumbfounded after finishing it.

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

Credit : Venessa Kelley

Well, this is kinda obvious isn’t it. It has to be Red, White and Royal Blue. I would die for Alex and Henry, my disaster babies.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year

Credit : Anne-Marie

I think it has to be Nathaniel and Silas from Sorcery of Thorns. They are a master/servant, bound by magic and they deny their feelings a lot, but they care for each other so much and it’s beautiful to read about.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2019 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

There are actually quite a few but I particularly wanted to mention There’s Something about Sweetie and The Red Scrolls of Magic, both of which I found thoroughly entertaining.

21. Best Book You Read In 2019 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure/Bookstagram, Etc.

I’m not a fan of the middle grade genre at all but my dearest friend Nandini convinced me to read Aru Shah and the End of Time and I instantly fell in love.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2019?

This is a pretty recent one, and I now have a huge crush on Silas from Superfan because he is the sweetest and best book boyfriend ever.

23. Best 2019 debut you read?

I’ve actually read some wonderful debuts this year and the list can go on, but I specially want to mention Color Me In because it has some very insightful commentary about finding your voice and identity; the other one is The Merciful Crow which tackles systemic oppression and subjugation of a whole caste of people within the fantasy world while also giving us an adventure and love story.

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

Another question where I can easily list multiple books but Three Parts Dead is special because the world is utterly unique and the alamgamation of magic, gods and bureaucracy is something I’ve never seen before.

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

Well, I can’t just stop talking about my favorite book of the year now, can I?? It’s obviously Red, White and Royal Blue. I was smiling so much all the way through the book that my cheeks started to hurt.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2019?

Apparently this is also a huge list which is not surprising because I gravitate towards books that can make me cry. A recent read which made me so emotional that I sobbed through a large part of the book is The Clergyman’s Wife. While A Scarcity of Condors didn’t make me cry as much as the previous books in the series, it definitely was very emotional to experience.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year?

This one has to be The Candle and the Flame. Not enough people have read this beautiful book and I wish everyone would. Another book which is a bit old but I found adorable and very very one of it’s kind due to the setting is One Giant Leap.

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul?

Wow.. I’ve already mentioned some of them above but another book that just about crushed me was the graphic novel adaptation of Kindred. What a brutal book to read and the illustrations make it even more difficult, but I totally understand now why it’s considered a classic of the genre.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2019?

It almost feels like the word unique was invented for This is How You Lose the Time War. What a lovely poetic book this was. Absolutely mesmerizing.

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

Sita’s character in The Forest of Enchantments made me a little mad because of all the things that she let go just to keep the peace in her marriage. Another reason for my reaction may also be due to the fact that I do a lot of the same things in my real life that she did, and it didn’t feel nice seeing it depicted on page.

1. New favorite book blog/Bookstagram/Youtube channel you discovered in 2019?

I discovered a lot of new blogs this year and have loved interacting with all these wonderful people, some of them being Ahana, Dany, Jane, Caitlin Althea, Krisha and Fanna. The three youtube channels I started enjoying a lot are I Should Read That, Merphy Napier and Daniel Greene.

2. Favorite post you wrote in 2019?

How do I even choose between my own posts… I really do love them all. But my review of Red, White and Royal Blue is a favorite. Other favorites are the reviews of She Said and The (Other) F Word.

Two of my favorite non-review posts are Books That Have Defined my Reading Life, and Books related to the Mahabharata.

3. Favorite bookish related photo you took in 2019?

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

I only attended one festival this year – Baltimore Book Festival – and I had such an amazing time there that I wrote a whole post about it.

I also had an awesome time virtually taking part in the India Lit Readathon, which happened to be the only time I ever did an Instagram live.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2019?

The highlight was obviously reaching the 1200 follower milestone and it just happened 2 days ago … I just can’t believe that so many lovely fellow bloggers are interested in what I have to say.

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

Being consistent on the blog has always been my biggest challenge alongwith trying to follow a proper schedule. But by the second half of the year, I think I got a hang of it and it’s definitely helped me plan future posts better too.

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

Apparently my review of Red, White and Royal Blue is the highest viewed post on my blog this year, which makes me insanely happy because I poured my heart out in it. But it’s also very surprising because reviews usually don’t get so much love. I guess it’s just the magic of this amazing book.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

I always wish that my other reviews get a little more love, but it’s okay. I’m just happy that there are readers out there who like what I have to say about my favorite books.

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

I don’t think I’ve had many bookish discoveries other than finding some wonderful new authors and discovering my love for planners and spreadsheets to help with blogging.

I do love the Bookly app on my phone which has many interesting features to keep track of reading, but I always end up forgetting to use it because I’m too much into my book.

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

I had three major reading challenges this year and following are my final updates:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 180/130

Stars and Sorcery Book Club: I read all our BOTMs except one and I think I’m okay with that.

Around the Year in 52 Books: 51/52. The last prompt left was Psychological thriller and I just couldn’t make myself pick a book for it because I hate the genre.

Year of the Asian 2019: 49/30

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2019 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2020?

I really really wanted to read The Tiger at Midnight in 2019 but it didn’t happen. It probably won’t be my Number 1 priority in the New Year, but I definitely wanna read it soon.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2020 (non-debut)?

Ironically, Shorefall was my most anticipated book of 2019 as well but it got pushed to 2020, so it retains the spot. And I just happened to get the ARC a couple of weeks ago, so I’m gonna get to it pretty soon.

3. 2020 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

I’m actually very surprised I don’t have a huge list of debuts but hopefully it’ll grow as the year goes by. But two desi author debuts I’m looking forward to are The Trouble With Hating You by Sajni Patel and Star Daughter by Shveta Thakrar.

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2020?

The sequel I’m really looking forward to is We Unleash the Merciless Storm and my highly anticipated series ender of the year is Night of the Dragon. I have a feeling these two books are gonna break my heart.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2020?

I never thought I would reach 1000 followers but I did, so my next hope is for 1500-1600 in 2020. Other than that, I hope I’ll find some courage to be more open about my opinions and also maybe contact an author or two all by myself for an interview.

6. A 2020 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone (if applicable):

I’ve been trying to read books closer to the release date so that I don’t miss out on all the rest of the current releases, so I’ve very few 2020 books. But my favorite is The Secret Chapter from the Invisible Library series because it was very very entertaining and it’s such a joy to be back in this world.

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If you have stuck through till the end of this looooooong post, THANK YOU so much…!!! This amazing year would not have been possible without all you lovely bloggers and friends who have encouraged and motivated me everyday. I hope our relationship continues in the next year too and I wish everyone a great New Year. Happy Reading..!!!