In keeping with the Port Jericho theme, I decided the Jerachi festival akin to New Year’s would be good for the year-end blog report. The Shinugoben Festival is a rather rowdy welcoming of a new year. Think Mardi Gras, Carnivale, things of those nature, all rolled in one. 😆  Pleasant, if you like the quiet… Not!

Moving on…

Top reads of 2017

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

Caraval by Stephanie Farber

Gilded Cage by Vic James

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Missing by Jerico Lenk

Age of Swords by Michael J Sullivan

Keep in a Cold Dark Place by Michael Stewart

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

Barsk by Lawrence Schoen

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Materfield

Himself by Jess Kidd

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Confessions of Young Nero by Margaret George

The List by Patricia Forde

The Brightest Fell by Seanan MacGuire

Sleep, Savannah, Sleep by Alistair Cross

 

 

I mean, really? How was Eugenics Wars my longest book? It certainly didn’t feel like it….

I read 148 out of my 173 goal. I set this year’s goal a bit lower, at 137. Yes, I like the numbers 3 & 7 😆

I did so-so with the challenges I took. I must remind myself often that I have medical issues that drain my energy, and that I can’t do what I used too. Just frustrating at times, ya know?

 

My goal for Herding Cat’s ‘Beat the Backlog’ challenge was to read 42 of my back-logged review copies before year’s end. I managed just over half, so yay?

1. Dark Spirits by Stephen Lancaster/ 4.17.17
2. Fatal Option by Chris Beakey/ 4.22.17
3. Something Wicked by Debi Chestnut/ 4.26.17
4. Zen for Druids by Joanna van der Hoeven/ 5.9.17
5. The Daughters of Carrawburgh by Nigel Plane/ 5.21.17
6. Coming Darkness by Susan-Alia Terry/ 5.27.17
7. Lockdown by Samie Sands/ 6.11.17
8. Lockdown by Laurie R King/ 6.27.17
9. The Asylum of Dr Caligari by James Morrow/ 7.5.17
10. Reflections of Queen Snow White by David Meredith/  7.16.17
11. Meddling Kids Edgar Cantero/ 8.7.17
12. The List by Patricia Forde/ 8.13.17
13. Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller/ 9.2.17
14. The Brightest Fell by Seanan McGuire/ 9.6.17
15. Writing as a Path to Awakening by Albert Flynn deSilver/ 10.22.17
16. Education of a Coroner by John Bateson / 10.23.17
17. HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt/ 11.8.17
18. The Rain Never Came by Lachlan Walter/ 11.20.17
19. Age of Swords by Michael J Sullivan/ 11.24.17
20. I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty/ 11.26.17

21. Quackery by Lydia Kang/ 12.26.17

22. His Royal Whiskers by Sam Gayton/ 12.31.17

I joined Herding Cat’s ‘New to Me’ challenge to push my boundaries. Romance, erotica, LGBTQ, and certain historic fiction subgenres like Western have been on my will not review list. My goal was to read 22 books by year’s end to challenge my limits. I got 10, just under half. It was, verall, an enjoyable experience. I learned that, contrary to my misguided belief, most LGBTQ books are not romance oriented. It was just another aspect of personality. Romance is still a ‘meh’ for me, but I’ll review some now.

1. Lord of Chance/ Erica Ridley/ hist fic romance/ 4.27.17
2. River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey/ LGBTQ/ 6.27.17
3. Freak/ Erin Lee/ LGBTQ/ 7.1.17
4. Mr Prescott by Carlos Dash/ romance/ 8.16.17
5. Mask of Shadows by Linsey Miller/ LGBTQ/ 9.2.17
6. The Missing by Jerico Lenk/ LGBTQ /9.27.17
7. Riters by Roy Harris/ erotica /10.10.17 (unable to post review due to review outlet stipulations)
8. Murder on the Lake of Fire by Mikel J Wilson/ LGBTQ/ 12.14.17

9. Island of Exiles by Erica Cameron/ LGBTQ/ 12.27.17

10. Sea of Strangers by Erica Cameron/ LGBTQ/ 12.30.17

 

I participated in Litsy’s A to Z challenge, reaching 16 out of the 26.

Asylum of Dr Caligari– Morrow

Black Bird of the Gallows– Kassel

Confessions of Young Nero– George

D—-

Echoes of Sherlock Holmes– edited by King

Funeral Flower– Jester

Gilded Cage- James

Himself– Kidd

I—-

Journey to Yonder– Kaur

K—-

List– Forde

Meddling Kids– Cantero

N—-

O—-

Plague Charmer– Maitland

Quiet– Cain

Riters– Harris

S—-

Tune Up– Klingler

U—-

V—-

Writing as a Path to Awakening– deSilver

X—-

Y—-

Zen for Druids– van der Hoeven

 

I’ve joined several challenges for 2018. Fingers crossed I can keep up with them!

First up: I joined the Litsy A to Z challenge again 😄  Must read more this year.

My blog oriented challenges for 2018 can be found here.

-NovelKnight’s Beat the Backlist 2018

-Ginger Mom’s 2018 A to Z challenge

-BookishThing’s Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge

-Passeges to the Past’s 2018 Historic Fiction Challenge

-Herding Cat’s 2018 Blogger Shame Challenge

-Herding Cat’s Read All The Books Challenge

 

2018 Goals

Litsy

*Reach 10,000 Litfluence points

*Reach 600 followers

(Litsy is an awesome book oriented community. There are apps for Android and Apple, too. If you love books, check it out!)

Blog

*Interact with fellow bloggers more

*Comment on others’ blog posts more often

*Respond to comments more often on my own posts

*Post more creative & discussion pieces

Writing & Reading

*Uh, finish writing Language of the Trees

*Get back into my poetry groove

*Share my stories-in-progress with (online) critique groups to help improve my writing

*Start transcribing my Book List to its new notebook/create memory posts from it.

*Complete all of the challenges I’ve joined this year.

Life

*Stick to my liver dietary guidelines

*Reach goal of 96 oz of water daily

*Walk Devil’s Slide Trail one way

*Walk Devil’s Slide Trail both ways

*Travel to London

*Get back into console gaming

That’s a lot going on there! We shall see how it goes.