Top Ten Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

I love this prompt and find it really fascinating. A lot of these books I have read over the last year or so but they were released in different years. I had the most trouble with the last three years because there were others that almost made the cut.

1. 2009 - The Help by Kathryn Stockett - I think this is up there with To Kill a Mockingbird for me. It's definitely going to be a classic.
2. 2010 - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - I think this book should be required reading in school. I believe I read this for a banned book challenge and it is one of those books I am utterly shocked by. It's important and it is a great starting point for many important discussions to be had.
3. 2011 - Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - This is my all-time favorite book and I was happy to find that upon reread...I still love it just as much as I did the first time I read it, which may have been 2011/2012 time period. Too lazy to go look.
4. 2012 - Saga, Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples - I LOVE Saga. It's everything I like in a fantasy world. The artwork is incredible. The characters are so awesome. The plot is devastating.
5. 2013 - Pivot Point by Kasie West - This is an alternate universe type of book and it was so well done. It's still my favorite Kasie West book by leaps and bounds.
6. 2014 - I Must Say: My Humble Life as a Comedy Legend by Martin Short - I listened to this book in the last year (I believe in late 2018) and have to say that it is one of my favorite memoirs ever. I can't say I was ever a superfan of Short, but I did adore his works and found him to be so hilarious. This book covers his comedy career, his friendships, and his marriage to his late wife, Nancy. I laughed and cried while listening.
7. 2015 - Truth or Beard by Penny Reid - 2015 books weren't much to write home about. I should say the ones I've read aren't much to write home about. So my top is this smutty gem.
8. 2016* - Scythe by Neal Shusterman - Another top top book for me. Everything about this book was well done and incredible.
9. 2017* - Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - My favorite book about a character with anxiety. I really connected with Eliza and I love the artwork in it.
10. 2018* - Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa - This book is one I struggled to get through until I picked up the audiobook. It's now my new favorite of 2019. I'm not sure anything will top it. It's heavy on Japanese lore and there's lots of action!
    

Honorable mentions:
2016: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, My Lady Jane by the Lady Janies, The Hating Game by Sally Thorne, The Delphi Effect by Rysa Walker, and Heartless by Marissa Meyer
2017: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Daughter of the Pirate King by Trisha Levenseller, The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, Flame in the Mist by Renee Adhieh, Warcross by Marie Lu, Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows, Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, Renegades by Marissa Meyer, and Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills
2018: Starry Eyes by Jenn Bennett, Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston, and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

Bout of Books 25 [Days 5-7 Progress + Finish Line]

To sign up for Bout of Books, go here. It's a low pressure readathon and I love participating. I'm an expert once again, so I will be encouraging as many readers as I can :) To see my TBR and goals for BOB, see my TBR and Goals post.

[DAY 5 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 46%, ended at 52% (25 pages)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - started at 45%, ended at 70% (2 hr)

DAILY TOTAL: 25 pages + 2 hr // 0 books finished
READATHON TOTAL: 131 pages + 9 hr 51 min // 1 book finished
READING UPDATE:  7AM I got a good little bit of reading done yesterday AND got a good bit of reading done for school too. Hoping to keep up with that trend today.
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[DAY 6 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 52%, ended at 56% (17 pages)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - started at 70%, ended at 100% (2 hr 24 min)
There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins - started at 0%, ended at 6% (33 min)

DAILY TOTAL: 17 pages + 2 hr 57 min // 1 book finished
READATHON TOTAL: 148 pages + 12 hr 48 min // 2 books finished

READING UPDATE: 12PM I think I'm going to be able to finish Sadie today. I would like to make another huge dent in Serious Moonlight - maybe even hit 75% - that would be goals!
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[DAY 7 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 56%, ended at 61% (21 pages)
There's Someone Inside Your House by Stephanie Perkins - started at 6%, ended at 17% (1 hr 1 min) 

DAILY TOTAL: 21 pages + 1 hr 1 min // 0 books finished
READATHON TOTAL: 169 pages + 13 hr 49 min // 2 books finished

READING UPDATE: 10AM I cannot believe it's the last day of the readathon already. I feel like it's flown by at the same time it's been dragging too. Nick gets home today and it's the series finale of GOT so I don't know how much reading will take place. We will see :)
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[FINISH LINE]

TOTAL: 169 pages + 13 hr 49 min // 2 books finished

FINAL THOUGHTS: Had a very successful reading week and accomplished all the goals I had set for myself. I finished The Wicked King by Holly Black and Sadie by Courtney Summers. I participated in one chat and did a little bit of cheerleading throughout the week. It was a ton of fun. I cannot wait for August!

Top Ten Page to Screen Books I Haven't Read Yet

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. More information here.

Keeping it relatively short and sweet today, these are the ten books that I either own or have access to at the library that are already adapted with the exception of The Knife of Never Letting Go (released in 2020). It's a wide array of different books and I want to read them all!!

1. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
2. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
3. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
4. Bird Box by Josh Malerman
5. Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
6. The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
7. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
8. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
9. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy
10. Five Feet Apart by Rachel Lippincott

April Book Haul

PHYSICAL BOOKS

1. The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston - preordered hardcover on Amazon for $14.10
2. Fake It Till You Break It by Jenn P. Nguyen - won paperback ARC on Goodreads 
3. Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor - purchased hardcover with store credit at local bookstore
4. The Diviners by Libba Bray - purchased paperback with store credit at local bookstore

KINDLE BOOKS

1. One Word Kill by Mark Lawrence - received on Amazon First Reads for $0.00

LIBRARY BOOKS

1. The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick - borrowed the audiobook from my local library
2. The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith - borrowed the audiobook from my local library
3. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West - borrowed the audiobook from my local library
   

What did you buy, borrow, or receive in April?

Have you read any of my books?

Bout of Books 25 [Days 1-4 Progress]

To sign up for Bout of Books, go here. It's a low pressure readathon and I love participating. I'm an expert once again, so I will be encouraging as many readers as I can :) To see my TBR and goals for BOB, see my TBR and Goals post.

[DAY 1 PROGRESS]
The Wicked King by Holly Black - started at 63%, ended at 100% (3 hr 49 min)
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 21%, ended at 22% (4 pages)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - started at 0%, ended at 12% (57 min)

DAILY TOTAL: 4 pages + 4 hr 46 min // 1 book finished
READATHON TOTAL: 4 pages + 4 hr 46 min // 1 book finished

READING UPDATE: 10PM Today was kind of a little hectic and I was zoning out a lot trying to work on college. I did finish the audio book for The Wicked King (spoiler alert: 5 stars!) and started the audio for Sadie. I will probably read a little of Serious Moonlight in bed here in a few minutes. I popped into the chat as well, so I am 2 for 2 on goals.
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[DAY 2 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 22%, ended at 24% (8 pages)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - started at 12%, ended at 20% (38 min)

DAILY TOTAL: 8 pages + 38 min // 0 books finished
READATHON TOTAL: 12 pages + 5 hr 24 min
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[DAY 3 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 24%, ended at 36% (51 pages)

DAILY TOTAL: 51 pages // 0 books finished
READATHON TOTAL: 63 pages + 5 hr 24 min

READING UPDATE: 7AM Yesterday was a little hectic and I didn't get much read. I ran a few sprints and will be again today over on my twitter @sjanee11. I need to catch up on college today, so I am unsure of how much I will be able to read.
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[DAY 4 PROGRESS]
Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett - started at 36%, ended at 46% (43 pages)
Sadie by Courtney Summers - started at 20%, ended at 45% (2 hr 27 min)

DAILY TOTAL: 43 pages + 2 hr 27 min // 0 books finished
READATHON TOTAL: 106 pages + 7 hr 51 min

READING UPDATE: 7AM As expected, I didn't get a whole lot of reading done yesterday. Honestly today might be more of the same because I have to stay on task for my class. I may run a few sprints today.

Bout of Books 25 [Goals + TBR]

It's time for BOB readathon once again. I am participating for the 22nd time! Bout of Books 25 runs May 13 to 19 and is hosted by Amanda and Kelly. I am going to try and update on Twitter and Goodreads. My goal is to just read because I'm also in college full-time and just started one of the big four classes. As always, my goals are small and attainable because I want BOB to be a success!

[GOALS]
**Read a little every day
**Finish one book
**Participate in one Twitter chat
**Be a cheerleader!

[TENTATIVE TBR]
(Finish my current reads)
**Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
**The Wicked King by Holly Black
**Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
**There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Interested? Sign up here!

I'm also an Expert again and will be trying to visit tons of blogs and tweets to encourage my fellow BOB-ers - as well as run some sprints on Twitter!

Books I Read in April

I read 6 books in April.

• Wildcard by Marie Lu (Audio, 10 hr 51 min, 2018, YA Sci Fi, Library) - 3 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal, series challenge, and Popsugar challenge
• The Reason You're Alive by Matthew Quick (Audio, 5 hr 38 min, 2017, Adult Contemporary, Library) - 2 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal and Popsugar challenge
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Paperback, 418 pages, 2012, YA Fantasy, Purchased) - 5 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal, series challenge, and Popsugar challenge 
• The Way I Used to Be by Amber Smith (Audio, 9 hr 36 min, 2016, YA Contemporary, Library) - 3.5 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal and Popsugar challenge 
• The Distance Between Us by Kasie West (Audio, 6 hr 42 min, 2014, YA Contemporary, Library) - 3 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal 
• Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston (Kindle, 425 pages, 2019, NA Contemporary, Netgalley) - 3 stars | My Review - Counted towards Goodreads goal and Netgalley challenge

Pages read: 843 + 32 hr 47 min
Pages DNF: 0
Total pages: 843 + 32 hr 47 min

May Monthly TBR & Challenge Updates

In the month of April, I managed to read two 400+ page books and listen to four audio books during the busiest month I've had all school year - both for myself and my big kids. I'm behind a few books on my TBR - three, in fact. So I need to try and catch up if I can before attempting my tentative TBR for May.

My Tentative TBR for May:

• Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor
• There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon [Netgalley]
• Ask Me Anything by Molly E. Lee [Netgalley]