2018 Reading Wrap Up & FAVOURITES

It is that time of the year when one reflects on the year gone by and starts making New Year Resolutions. I feel like 2018 is the year when I truly enjoyed being a reader/ bibliophile. I started getting more and more involved in the bookish community and my love for books amplified. According to my goodreads account , I have read a total of 54 books this year. This was way beyond my expectation.  
You can check  out my good reads account (here) to see the ratings I gave to all these 54 books that I consumed last year. Below I am going to list out some favourites of mine which made a huge impact to my reading life.

TOP 5 FAVOURITE BOOKS

Following consists of my favourite books that I read in the year 2018.

1.       Harry Potter series by JK Rowling – It may sound insane but this year, I read Harry Potter for the first time. As a kid, I had watched a couple of harry potter movies and enjoyed it. Reading these books as an adult was extremely enjoyable. Except for the first two parts in the series, I did not find anything juvenile about these books. Infact, I am planning of re-reading this series next year.

2.       The Book Thief by Markus Zusak –  I feel like this book features in almost all of my posts . That proves how impactful this book has been to my life. I just can’t get over it. The main protagonist Liesel is one of my favourite characters . My biggest take-away of this story was the power of words.

Words have the power to make or break a bond – in the novel, Liesel and Hans Hubermann develop their bond when they both try to learn alphabets and words.

It also mentions how Hitler uses words and not guns to conquer the world  and influence his followers.

The book burning scenes in the book signifies the fear of the bad guys who were very much aware of the power of words in spreading ideas/ opinions  and hence they tried to keep people away from books by burning them.

I can go on and on about all the things this story has taught me but let’s move on.

3.       The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson- The reason why this features in my favourite book is because initially  I was extremely intimidated by its sheer length and complex story. For a beginner like me , simply finishing this tome can be termed as resounding success. It took me almost a month to finish it and I enjoyed every bit of it.

       Check out my full review (here) where I can’t seem to stop gushing about it.

4.       The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon- This is  the best book to binge read. It is incredibly addicting and compelling . You simply can’t put the book down once you are immersed in its story. Also, any story which has a plot focussing around  books or bookstore /library or anything bookish related  is always fun to read. See my full review (here).

5.       The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid – This one features one of the most badass female characters that I have ever encountered in books. Evelyn Hugo is a goddess and I can’t get enough of her audacious attitude .  The story reads like a daily soap with drama, betrayal and lots of juicy gossip of Hollywood. See my full review (here).

 

 

 HONOURABLE MENTIONS –

The Collected Works of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin- This is a book meant for booklovers . It is about a bookstore owner whose life revolves around books . See full review (here)

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi – A super hyped book that I actually ended up enjoying. It has everything that one expects from a fantasy story and more . See full review (here)

Scythe by Neal Shusterman- this riveting fast paced book is based on one of the most fascinating concepts of “ what if humans conquer death?” It is set in a  utopian/dystopian world where the world is so advanced that human race has conquered everything – even death. People no longer die of natural causes or accidents . This led to population explosion and in order to control this, there are these Scythes who are in the charge of gleaning(killing) people. Rowan and Citra are the two main leads who play apprentices to a Scythe Faraday . The story follows their journey where they learn the art and purpose of killing those who may or may not seem innocent.

TOP 5 FAVOURITE CHARACTERS-

1.       SHALLAN from The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson: The fact that in this almost male dominated novel , I was constantly looking for Shallan’s story shows how incredible this character was. This epic  story has a huge plethora of characters and multiple plot lines to keep up with. But at the end, it was Shallan who stood out for me. She is a student/scholar who is curious, ambitious , funny and somewhat relatable. I can’t wait to see where her story takes us  in the upcoming books.

2.       EVELYN HUGO from The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: Evelyn Hugo was the kind of ambitious woman who would go to despicable lengths to get what she desires. This trait may not be liked by everyone but I personally loved how unapologetic and unabashed she was. Also, she never tried to prove herself. She is flawed, complex and still realistic.  Her extraordinary story could make you feel really small. LOL .. !! I mean this woman practically accomplished everything she aimed and much more. She also faced hardships with grace and panache.

3.       LIESEL from The Book Thief by Markus Zusak: I think I have a fascination for characters who are into books. Most of my favourites are booknerds of some kind. I really loved Liesel and her love for books. As mentioned before this story talks about the power of words through the eyes of Liesel.

4.       AJ FIKRY from The Collected works of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin : AJ Fikry is kind of a book snob who tends to judge people based on their reading tastes/preferences which was unlikeable to me at first but this character started to grow on me while I was reading it. His love and passion for books was incredible. I would love to have someone like him in my real life.

5.       FRANCES from Radio Silence by Alice Oseman : Frances reminded  so much of Me during my school/ college days. Just like her, I was a study machine and had a tough time socialising with people and making friends. This relativity factor is what made me like this character so much.