Rounding Up 2017: Books I read and hitting my reading goals

Now that we’re into the new year, I’m looking back on the books I read during 2017.

In 2017 I read:

This came to 26,526 pages and these were all new reads to me. 2017 was a great year for exciting new books too, so most of the my picks were new releases.

Unsurprisingly, you can see that my most-read genre was fantasy. *pretends to be shocked* This was closely followed by Manga/Comics (which includes manga, graphic novels, and web comics) and contemporary fiction. (YA and adult books are grouped together here.)

One of my goals for 2017 was to read more diversely, and I managed to read 20 books that were either Own Voices, or included marginalised representation. I want to increase this figure again in 2018, but for now, here are some of my favourites.

The Hate U Give was undoubtedly the best debut I read in 2017, and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue was my final read of the year and also my final 5 star book.

I usually reserve my 5 stars for books that absolutely stun me. They have to have lyrical, inspired writing, complex characters, and intricate, dynamic sub-plots within the main plot. These were the books that held all those things for me in 2017:

 

Other favourites were:

These are only a few of the genres I read, but each book (or series/anthology) left a lasting impact that I know will continue on long into the future. A couple of other honourable mentions are:

The Arsonist by Stephanie Oakes for inter-generational mystery and friendship.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien for raw emotional power.

Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman for action and character interaction.

Moxie by Jennifer Matthieu for feminism.

In my 2017 reading goals post, I set myself five reading aims for the year. Now that we’re into the new year, I can finally look back to see if I met them.

1. Read 75 books
I finished my 75th book on the final day of 2017. A close call, but I did it. (I’m pretty sure I lay on the floor in relief once I was done.)

2. Read more translated fiction
I read The Vegetarian and Strange Weather in Tokyo this year, both of which were translated fiction. I also read a lot of manga and Korean web comics that are translated, but I’d still like to work on reading more translated novel in 2018.

3. Read more diversely and support diverse books
20 of my 75 books were either Own Voices or included marginalised representation as an important part of the story. I feel like I’ve made a big step forward towards this goal in 2017, but there’s still so much more I want to do (and so many more books I want to read) so support diversity in publishing.

4. Read more graphic novels
I started Monstress and Lumberjanes in 2017, so that’s two new series under my belt, but I also ended up reading Noblesse, Check! Please, Tripping Over You and several other web comics that are very much like online graphic novels. So I’d say that goal can be firmly ticked off.

5. Read more new releases
I definitely did this in 2017. I bought more books soon after they were released, and was also lucky enough to get a number of physical and e-ARCs before they were published.

So I did manage to meet all of my goals, but #2 and #3 are definitely ongoing and I’ll be continuing with them into the new year.

And finally, here are a few books that I was so keen to read, but somehow still didn’t get to in 2017, so they’ll be top of my list in 2018.

 

In general, 2017 was a pretty good year for me. I came back from an incredible trip to Japan, moved house, and did work experience with two separate publishing companies. I started a new job, went to YALC for the second time, met my favourite author for the second time (V. E. Schwab, my Queen), celebrated my second anniversary with my boyfriend, and visited Le Havre and Stockholm. All in all, I feel pretty blessed, but I’m still aiming high in my aspirations and hoping for even more excitement in 2018.

What did you read in 2017 and did you meet your reading goals? Was it a good year for you overall and what do you hope you read/achieve in 2018? Drop me a comment and let me know!