The Books I've Been Reading in 2016

I grabbed the Mid-year Book Freak Out tag from Shantelle H. The first half of the year has gone so quickly. The heading for finished handwritten first draft of Girl of the Rumours had turned into 30,000 words at about halfway. The other loose idea I had has become bigger and has the beginning of a draft. But this post is supposed to be about reading, not writing. So here it is.

Best Book You've Read So Far in 2016:

I can't answer this question. There;s so many good books. But Waking Beauty by Sarah E. Morin was a very deep thought provoking book. There's a lot about reality and escapism in there. And an unexpected allegory. It was certainly quite out of the ordinary. And the cover is beautiful.

Best Sequel You've Read So Far In 2016:

Deny by Tricia Mingerink. Despite the fact I didn't listen to it almost in one go like with the first book, I was not at all disappointed. It continued in the same high stakes, high faith, encouraging story.

New Release You Haven't Read Yet But Want To:

Defy by Tricia Mingerink. I'm waiting for it to come out in audio though. and then I'll probably wait some more, because I don't tend to buy books. But I do want to hear the next part of the story.

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year:

Lady Dragon, Tela Du, by Kendra E. Ardnek. Though I ought not care about the release so much since I'm a beta reader. What I' really waiting for is Kendra having the next part for us. And the cover reveal.

Biggest Disappointment This Year:

I really have nothing here. There have been books I haven't really liked, but they've been random books I picked up with no particular expectations.

Biggest Surprise:

Captive of Raven Castle by Jessica Greyson. I had hardly read the blurb.  So the beginning was very unexpected. The whole story had little bits I wasn't expecting. But it certainly was good. Quite thought provoking. It made me reconsider some things in my own story.

Favourite New Author of 2016:

Probably Tricia Mingerink. I didn't really read many books by new authors this year. At least not ones that stood out to me. But I did finally get to read a book by Nicole Sager. She was the first home-schooled author I heard about and probably the reason I'm writing now. But I hadn't actually read any of her book till recently. It wasn't as good some, but It was her first book and I was expecting that.

Newest Favourite Character:

Lady Rachel from Samara's Peril. And Elanor and King Balen. Also a lot of characters in Lady Dragon, Tela Du. And Shad and Jamie in Dare and Deny.

Book That Made You Cry This Year: 

I don't tend to cry while reading. I expect I have this year, but I don't remember what book caused it. I think Lady Dragon, Tela Du may have. It's an amazingly complex, emotional, unpredictable book. From what I've read so far I recommend it when it come out.

This really seems to fit that book. Not that it's got nonsense in it.

Book That Made You Happy:

Safety Assured Leaving East of Medicetti by Trish Mercer. Yes that is really the name. It's the fifth book in a series, that though I enjoy I'm not going to wholeheartedly recommend. I need to write a post about that. Anyway characters get a lot of the good and bad they deserve. And some of it is really fun. It almost overcomes the annoyance of the previous book leaving the characters in mortal danger.

Favourite Book To Film Adaption You Saw This Year:

Well, Risen is a very loose adaptation of a small portion of the Bible. Other than that I haven't seen anything.

Favourite Post You Have Done So Far This Year:

13 Things I've Learnt in a Year of Writing

Most Beautiful Book You've Bought So Far This Year:

Samara's Peril. The emotion and character trait thesaurus I got at the same time are extreme useful, but though they are somewhat pretty, I could not call them beautiful.

What Books Do You Need to Read by the End of This Year:

Well I need to read Song of the Sword by Hope Ann so I can review it. Other than that fiction isn't necessary. I want to finish The Conservative Revolution by Cori Bernardi. That will involve starting over because I've forgotten the little bit I have read. But it's only got seven chapters. Also I'd like to get as far as I can through The Institutes of Biblical Law by R. J. Rushdoony. It is thick and much denser than most of what I've read. But it's worthwhile.

Overall this year I've not read as much non-fiction as I intended. But I just grabbed a couple of history books from LibriVox.

And that is that. I'm not going to tag anyone in particular, but if you want to grab this feel free. Let me know in the comments.