Hahahahaha wow it's been over three years since I last touched this blog. Whoops. Well, obviously I wasn't enjoying writing the reviews I was writing, but I do hope that I can someday make this blog into something I can enjoy. So, you know, I'm going to dip my toe back into this with a post that should hopefully be more chill and more fun for me to write than an actual formal book review. All right? This is a year-in-review post to highlight some of the reads that stood out to me in 2017, using the common fanfiction format known as 5+1. (Please note: The 5 are in the order in which I read them, not the order in which I favor them.) Without further ado, here are five books I loved in 2017, and one book I hated:
1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Carry On was a really exciting and fun book overall, with an assortment of well-developed and lovable characters, but the thing that made me really love this book was how satisfyingly easy the romance was. I really, really don't do well with relationship angst, and in most cases of enemies-to-lovers, there's a whole lot of people tying themselves up in unnecessary knots because oh, the person I love would never love me back, and sure, they kissed me that one time, but that was just a fluke because I know that they've always hated me and always will. (Listen, I'm not spoiling anything here, because if you know anything at all about this book, you know who the main pairing is.) And I completely expected angst here, too—I sensed the moment coming and was ready for it—but there wasn't any. NO ANGST! It was beautiful, it was wonderful, it was glorious. It was so smooth and easy and straightforward, and reading it didn't require any cringing at all, and it felt so good. I loved it.
Here is a link to my review of Carry On on Goodreads. It's not very thorough, but ah well. It does note that I recommend reading Rowell's Fangirl first, since it's a good introduction.
2. Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman
I'd wanted to read this book for a while, but finally actually did so in August since I knew that the movie adaptation would be coming out at the end of the year. And wow, I am so glad I did. This book is beautiful and striking and so vivid, and so sensual, and so intimate—so intimate that it almost made me uncomfortable at times. (Peach scene, anyone?) Mostly, though, I was enthralled, and also what I think kids these days call "hot-and-bothered." Okay, no, I'm not saying that I was turned on, but boy, I was definitely on edge, and not at all in a bad way. For the first two parts—which were primarily focused on the building of tension, and only somewhat with the release of it—especially, I was on the edge of my seat; I was prone to face-fanning and internal screaming, and I'm pretty sure I contracted a semi-permanent blush that lasted the entire four days I spent reading this book. I've honestly never read anything like it. And man, I can't wait to see the movie; it still isn't showing anywhere in my county and I'm dying.
Here is a link to my Goodreads review!
3. Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
This book affected me a lot more than I expected it to. It felt, to me, very true to the spirit of fandom culture, and explored depression and anxiety in a very genuine way. As someone who is quite active in fandom and has also had experience with depression, I saw a lot of my own feelings in this book, and it spoke to me on a very personal level. I've read a few books dealing with fandom before, but this is the first that really seemed appreciative of it, and its approach to mental health also felt very respectful. I was both very moved by and very satisfied with how everything in this book was addressed; I never would have predicted it, but this is probably the most important book I read in 2017.
Here is a link to my Goodreads review. (And I know I mention Fangirl in a less-than-positive way in it, which might seem strange since I recommended that book earlier in this post, so I'd just like to clarify—I did like Fangirl. I just had some problems with it as well.)
4. I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest
It still surprises me every time I think about it, but I Am Princess X was probably my second-favorite book of 2017. I'm not sure if my love for it was more or less unexpected than my love for Eliza—see, with Eliza, I didn't really expect much from it, so I was surprised to get so much; with I Am Princess X, I did have expectations, and they were mainly for a certain amount of disappointment. Reading the blurb told me exactly what story I wanted from this book, but it led me to expect a story for which I felt far less enthusiasm; I did want to read this book, but had been putting it off because of my low expectations, and the only reason I finally read it this past September was because I needed an X book to finish my 2017 Alphabet Reading Challenge. I am so glad I did. This book did end up being what I wanted it to be, not what I expected it to be, and it was such a suspenseful, exciting, thrilling ride—it pulled me in right away, and I finished it in five hours. Also I think I screamed a little bit at the end. Anyway, this book is awesome, and gee whiz I would pay so much money to see it adapted into a movie. It would be a spectacular movie.
Here is my Goodreads review. It doesn't cover much more than what I just said, though.
5. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
I started this 846-page behemoth in 2014, because it was required reading for a class I was taking, but then I dropped out of school. I'd been enjoying the book quite a lot, but in the interest of my mental health, I needed to take a huge step back from everything to do with school, and it ended up taking me three years to inch my way forward again. Since it had been so long, I had to start the book over (which was painful, as I'd gotten a full quarter of the way into it the first time), because this book is, well, dense. I don't mean that negatively, at all—I just mean that there's a heck-ton of material and a heck-ton of information, and most of that information is the kind that, when incomplete, doesn't stick so well if left in the back of my brain for three years. Now that the information is complete, though, it's sticking pretty darn well, and that's because of the world-building. This book was tied for the last place on this top five list, and it was Clarke's world-building that broke the tie—I couldn't not include her world in this post. Her book takes place during the Napoleonic Wars, in a just-slightly-alternate universe in which Northern England is positively soaked in magic. Now, Clarke could've just told her story by itself, and this still would've been a good book, but she made this book truly special by delving deeply into the world around her story—its history of magic and its magical publications, in particular. All of this supplemental information is very neatly organized into footnotes (some of which are long enough to fill multiple pages), so one could read only the regular text and still understand the story perfectly well, but then all the charm of the incredibly well-rounded world that Clarke created would be lost. The footnotes may seem daunting, but they were one of my favorite parts of this book. (And I'd just like to note: I did watch the 2015 television miniseries, and it was a fair adaptation with very appealing visuals, but it cannot hold a candle to the book. A lot of the world-building was lost in translation, and, imo, it completely ruined the ending.)
Here is my Goodreads review, but honestly, it's not very thorough at all, and is pretty much completely redundant after the big chunk you just read.
Honorable Mention: The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan because yes I know I'm only supposed to do five, but this is a selkie book; I have to mention it. But that's all. See my review on Goodreads for actual information.
+1. Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Ugh I hated this book so much; it's been over seven months and I'm still pissed off. The first half was so good??? And interesting??? Like, super intriguing and all folklore-y and motivated by familial love. I was totally into it. And then, bam, romance. Bad romance. (No, not Lady Gaga. Dammit.) The worst kind of romance! On the one hand, it was bad for the story, because the entire plot just splatted when the romance took over. On the other hand, the romance was extremely abusive and unhealthy. It made me sick to read this book, knowing how high the reviews were and that so many readers saw the main relationship as incredibly romantic, thinking that there were probably young, impressionable girls out there who would someday find themselves in abusive relationships and not realize the danger because that's what YA literature told them true romance looks like. It still scares me to see that this book (currently) has a rating of 3.61 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. It scares me that, for many teens, YA literature sets the example for what romance should look like, and this book's example is an abusive relationship.
Here is my Goodreads review, which contains a full examination of everything I hated about this book, including a (spoilery; beware) discussion of why the romance is so toxic.
ALL RIGHT, there are my top five and bottom one! I actually did have a little bit of fun writing these blurbs, thank goodness. And I'd be happy to talk about any of these books (or rant, in the case of the last one) any time; if anyone wants to know more, just drop me a comment here or on my Goodreads review pages. (I'd recommend the latter, as I don't know how alert I'll be to notifications here.) Thanks for reading, assuming you did!
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