alaina cyr

The last two years I put together a list of books I read, ranked from the ones I enjoyed the most to those I enjoyed the least. In keeping up with the tradition, here’s my list for this year.

• Books I read in 2017, ranked from best to worst
• Books I read in 2016, ranked from best to worst

This year, my goal was to read a book a week. I’d read for 30 – 60 minutes each night before going to sleep, and for part of the year, I used my lunch break to read (mostly because I was so far behind on my reading goal). I made my reading goal with one day to spare!

Number of books read:

Number of pages read:

As I’ve done before, I’ve broken down the list into different categories based on how I enjoyed the stories:

• Numbers 1 – 11 are joining my list of favourites
• Numbers 12 – 19 were very good, and I would happily read them again
• Numbers 20 – 32 were good. I probably won’t re-read them, but I may recommend them to someone else
• Numbers 33 – 43 were not for me, though I might recommend them to others in very specific circumstances
• Numbers 44 – 52 were definitely not for me, and I’d probably not recommend them to anyone

Best Reads of 2018

1. The Secret History of Twin Peaks by Mark Frost
2. The Fifth Season (Broken Earth #1) by N.K. Jemisin
3. The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul (Dirk Gently, #2) by Douglas Adams (re-read)
4. Salt Fish Girl by Larissa Lai
5. Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice
6. Down Among the Sticks and Bones (Wayward Children, #2) by Seanan McGuire
7. When Fox is a Thousand by Larissa Lai
8. Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City by Tanya Talaga
9. Ring (Ring, #1) by Kōji Suzuki
10. Every Anxious Wave by Mo Daviau
11. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
12. Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson
13. Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children, #3) by Seanan McGuire
14. Loop (Ring, #3) by Kōji Suzuki
15. Viscera by Gabrielle Squailia
16. If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor
17. Little Fish by Casey Plett
18. The Killing Moon (Dreamblood, #1) by N.K. Jemisin
19. On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee
20. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
21. Spiral (Ring, #2) by Kōji Suzuki
22. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour
23. The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill
24. The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
25. Agents of Dreamland by Caitlín R. Kiernan
26. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami
27. A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson
28. The Crossover by Kwame Alexander
29. J by Howard Jacobson
30. Hot Lead, Cold Iron (Mick Oberon, #1) by Ari Marmell
31. The Shoe on the Roof by Will Ferguson
32. Sabriel (Abhorsen, #1) by Garth Nix
33. Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
34. Sabbathday River by Jean Hanff Korelitz
35. 100 Cupboards (100 Cupboards, #1) by N.D. Wilson
36. Dear Martin by Nic Stone
37. The Beast Is an Animal by Peternelle van Arsdale
38. Sex for One: The Joy of Selfloving by Betty Dodson
39. Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman
40. Look Who’s Morphing by Tom Cho
41. Night Watch (Night Watch, #1) by Sergei Lukyanenko
42. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
43. The Robe of Skulls: The First Tale from the Five Kingdoms by Vivian French
44. Wonder by R.J. Palacio
45. Before I Let Go by Marieke Nijkamp
46. The Boat Rocker by Ha Jin
47. The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages
48. Attached: The New Science of Adult Attachment and How It Can Help You find and Keep love by Amir Levine
49. Daughter of Hounds by Caitlín R. Kiernan
50. Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota, #1) by Ada Palmer
51. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
52. Kraken by China Miéville

For 2019, my reading goal is to again read 52 books. But this time around, I’ll be more picky about what I read/finish. There were so many books I read this year that I struggled to get through, which is part of what made my progress slow. No more of that this year. If I’m not enjoying a book within the first 100 or so pages, I will put it down.