Hosted by Jamie @ Perpetual Page Turner, I like how this survey delves into the specifics of books read and gives me a chance to review all I read and wrote this year. I removed some questions that weren’t relevant to me, so be sure to visit the original post if you’d like to complete the survey. Links to reviews where applicable. My annual overview will go live on January 2nd after the Cybils shortlist is announced.

2019 Reading Stats

• Number of books read – 93. I inched past my goal of 90. At one point, I was four or five books ‘behind schedule’, so I’m pleased with this result.
• Number of re-reads – 3 (The Hobbit, White is for Witching, Middlegame). I never read a book twice in once year til I started reading Seanan McGuire (Every Heart a Doorway in 2017 and then Middlegame this year).
• Genre you read the most from – I don’t track genres but I have a hunch it’d be middle grade speculative fiction (about 25 titles).

Best in Books

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• Best book read in 2019 – In order of which came to mind first, these are my personal favourites:
  • Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (adult speculative fiction)
  • The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman (young adult speculative fiction)
  • A Mind Spread Out on the Ground by Alicia Elliott (adult non-fiction essays)
  • Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge (middle grade speculative fiction)
  • Thisby Thestoop and the Black Mountain by Zac Gorman (middle grade speculative fiction)
  • Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend (middle grade speculative fiction)
• Book you were excited about and thought you were going to love more but didn’t –  Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown. I finally tackled this book for a buddy read. It was a lot different than I expected. I enjoyed it but didn’t fall in love.
• Most surprising (good or bad) book read – Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga. A beautifully written middle grade novel in verse. Not my usual cup of tea, but I found it moving.
• Book you ‘pushed’ the most people to read – Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. I feel this book is vastly under-read!
• Best series started/ended/continued – The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden. I found each book in the trilogy better than the last. I cried during this final book. How am I going to kick off my new year winter reading now that this trilogy has concluded??
• Favourite new author discovered –  Hazel Jane Plante debuted this year with Little Blue Encyclopedia. I look forward to reading more of her work. Likewise for Allison Mills, Christine Lynn Herman, and Lindsay Lackey. Anna Meriano isn’t a 2019 debut but I read her Love Sugar Magic series for this first time year and adored it as well.
• Best book from a genre you don’t typically read – Little Fish by Casey Plett is an incredibly well-written work of CanLit* set in and around my hometown. I don’t read many books by Manitoba authors and I don’t read many fiction books that deal with the subject matter that Plett deftly navigates (alcoholism, sex work, suicide), so this stands out for me.
  • * I hesitate to use the term, given the authors usually associated with it, but Little Fish is a literary novel set in Canada by a Canadian author.
• Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book – MIDDLEGAME. (I sense this will be most frequent answer this year.) I remember putting it down to go make supper, standing up, walking to the kitchen counter, wondering why I stopped reading, then going back to pick up the book again…
• Most likely to reread next year – …Middlegame?
• Favourite cover – Not quite as many stand outs as last year. I chose I Can Make This Promise to represent all the pretty 2019 MG covers that had pinky orange and purple 😛 The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a favourite because I love momiji, the Japanese maple tree whose fall leaves are depicted on the cover.

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• Most memorable character – Dodger from Middlegame
• Most beautifully written – Nothing stands out as ‘beautifully written’ this year…some stories were emotional and moving, but nothing that calls to mind exceptionally beautiful prose.
• Most thought-provoking/life changing book – Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism wasn’t significantly life-changing but it helped me think about using digital technologies in a healthier way.
• Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2019 to finally read – There were a few of these titles, but the one that’s been on my TBR the longest is The King of Elfland’s Daughter by Lord Dunsany.
• Shortest book – You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann (114 tiny pages)
• Longest book – Middlegame by Seanan McGuire (528 pages), but The Return of the Shadow by J.R.R. Tolkien (512 pages) was a lot more dense (tinyyyy font).
• Most shocking book – Dry by Neal Shusterman? It was intense, at least, and I gasped a few times.
• OTP of the year (you will go down with this ship!) – Ummmm…Isaac and Violet from The Devouring Gray? I hope to see them become solid canon in the sequel, lol.
• Favourite non-romantic relationship – Roger and Dodger in Middlegame
• Favourite book read by an author you read previously – Middlegame by Seanan McGuire
• Favourite book read solely based on a recommendation – Little Blue Encyclopedia wouldn’t have been on my radar if a friend hadn’t invited me to the book launch, so I’ll count that as a recommendation.
• Best 2019 debut – Ahh, I read so many 2019 debuts! Personally, I loved The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman, but I have to mention a few others (that aren’t mentioned elsewhere in this post):
  • I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day (middle grade contemporary)
  • The Ghost Collector by Allison Mills (middle grade speculative fiction)
  • All The Impossible Things by Lindsey Lackey (middle grade contemporary with a hint of spec fic)
  • Just South of Home by Karen Strong (middle grade speculative fiction)
• Best world-building – Cuckoo Song by Frances Hardinge
• Most fun to read – Both of the Nevermoor books. Easily digestible and entirely compelling.
• Made you cry – The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden

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• Hidden gem – Little Blue Encyclopedia by Hazel Jane Plante (adult fiction, 26 Goodreads ratings) and Silver Batal and the Water Dragon Races by K.D. Halbrook (middle grade speculative fiction, 65 Goodreads ratings)
• Crushed your soul – Middlegame. In the best way possible.
• Most unique – You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann
• Book that made you the most mad – Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Your Bookish Life

• New favourite book blog discovered – I have been making an effort over the past month to find some new-to-me blogs. A few that come to mind are Afoma Umesi’s blog, Books Beyond Binaries, and A Little Haze.
• Favourite review  – I wrote an entire post on this topic for my reflection series ^^; The Devouring Gray tops the list.
• Favourite non-review post – I started a new feature called “I Can’t Believe I Haven’t Read That Yet”. The first installment received a lot of comments and I’ve been having fun with the feature ever since.
• Favourite bookish photo – I’m quite pleased with this one (that’s my bedspread in the background):

📖 What have I been reading lately? Shiny new purple #mglit! 💜 (Books by @ByChristineDay, @LindsayWrites, and @henakhanbooks) pic.twitter.com/dRr40Njxca

— Jenna (@fallingletters) November 20, 2019

• Best moment of bookish/blogging life – Attending the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth exhibit in New York City
• Most challenging thing about blogging/reading life – Not having stability in my personal life (see this post for more)
• Most popular post – By views, “Bookish Highlights from my New York Trip, feat. Tolkien: Maker of Middle-Earth” was most popular. 🙂
• Post you wished got a little more love – “Anna-Marie Mclemore’s Dazzling Debut [Review + Discussion Questions]“
  • I scanned through all my posts from Jan. – Nov., looking for ones that didn’t receive any comments. Of 53 posts, only 5 weren’t commented on! So that’s very nice to see ❤️ Thank-you to everyone who takes the time to leave a comment~
• Best bookish discovery – The cute lil bookwyrm pin I found at the Strand 😛
• Completion of challenges/goals – To be discussed in my “wrapping up, looking forward post” on January 2 (The short of it is I’ve done alright! You can get a sneak peek by looking at my reading challenges page.)

Looking Ahead

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• Most anticipated debut –  Ghost Squad by Claribel A. Ortega
• Most anticipated sequel – Come Tumbling Down (Wayward Children #5) by Seanan McGuire.
• Most anticipated non-debut – Dark and Deepest Red by Anna-Marie McLemore
• One book you didn’t get to in 2019 but will make a priority in 2020 – Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee. Been waiting for my hold for awhile, but it should be ready in January.
• One goal for your reading/blogging life – Post three times/week once my personal life stabilizes

And that’s a wrap on 2019! Let me know if you completed this survey. Happy New Year’s Eve! See you on the other side 🙂