The Big Fat End of 2009 Post

This year I have surpassed my goal of reading 50 books by reading 58 total. Earlier this month, I was hoping maybe I'd make it to 60 but didn't quite make it. Fifty-nine is a possibility but 60 probably is not (especially since I haven't wanted to read books that are too terribly short since I'm 6 reviews behind right now and need to get caught up).

A little over a week ago, I posted my favorite books from 2009 over at The Book Smugglers for their wonderful Smugglivus event. However, that list has changed slightly since then due to one wonderful book I received for Christmas so I will be posting a revised version, along with my best of 2009 releases read, favorite new discoveries and goals for 2010. I'm mostly going to link to reviews instead of writing about every book since this is long enough as is.

Favorite 2009 Releases

Twenty-one of the books I read this year were 2009 releases, largely due to the increased number of review copies I received during the latter half of this year. Out of those 21, my top 10 are as follows:

1. Fire by Kristin Cashore
2. Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
3. Corambis by Sarah Monette
4. By the Mountain Bound by Elizabeth Bear
5. Silksinger by Laini Taylor
6. Kings and Assassins by Lane Robins
7. Doubleblind by Ann Aguirre
8. Soulless by Gail Carriger
9. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire
10. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie

Honorable mentions to some other books I agonized over removing from the list:

• Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre
• Sins & Shadows by Lyn Benedict (aka Lane Robins)

Biggest disappointment:

• The Drowning City by Amanda Downum (not a bad book but not a particularly good one either)

Favorites of 2009

This list includes every single book read in 2009 regardless of publication date and was much harder to make. If you've seen my best of list already it's the same with one exception - number 1, which I just finished a couple of days ago as my final read of 2009 and LOVED.

1. The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (review forthcoming)
2. The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro
3. Fire by Kristin Cashore
4. Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor
5. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
6. Corambis by Sarah Monette
7. By the Mountain Bound by Elizabeth Bear
8. My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
9. Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale
10. The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente

Honorable mentions (some of which I really agonized over not including):

• Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs (and the rest of the Mercy Thompson books)
• Watchmen by Alan Moore
• Havemercy by Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett
• Black Ships by Jo Graham

Biggest Disappointment:

• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr (I think I am the only person who not only didn't love this book but also didn't even like it)

Favorite New Authors

Discovering new authors is always fun - and is one of the reasons I often neglect books by old authors I love to read ones by new-to-me authors. There are a lot of new authors I'm glad to have found in 2009.

Laini Taylor - Two of her books made it to my top books published in 2009 list and one of those made it within the top 5 of my very favorites of the year. Her writing is amazing and I look forward to reading much more from her, especially as each book I've read by her is even better than the one before.

Patricia Briggs - It's rare these days that I devour an entire series close together but I ended up doing just that after I read the first Mercy Thompson book (other than the book I was waiting for in paperback). It helps that they are short and just plain fun. Mercy Thompson is one of my favorite new characters I've read about this year with her distinct, humorous voice.

Kristin Cashore - Fire was so wonderful that I immediately purchased Graceling and read it by the end of this year.

Jacqueline Carey - I am late to the party for the Kushiel's Legacy books, but if the first one is any indication of the rest, I've got some great reading ahead. Santa Olivia was also very riveting although very different from Kushiel's Dart.

Other new-to-me authors I only read one book by this year but must read more of (in no particular order):

• Tananarive Due
• Joan D. Vinge
• Jo Graham
• Ginn Hale
• Catherynne Valente
• Jaida Jones and Danielle Bennett

Most Anticipated 2010 Books

There are so many books I'm looking foward to in 2010. There are 3 books coming out by 3 of my very favorite authors - Elizabeth Bear, Carol Berg and Robin Hobb. Plus I still have two books in one of my new favorite series to look forward to.

• Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson #4) by Patricia Briggs (I know it's out but I've been waiting for the mass market paperback although I'm not sure if I can hold out another year for book 5 so we'll see how that works out)
• Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson #5) by Patricia Briggs
• The Sea Thy Mistress (Edda of Burdens #3) by Elizabeth Bear
• The Spirit Lens (Collegia Magica #1) by Carol Berg
• Dragon Keeper (Rain Wilds Chronicles #1) by Robin Hobb
• Wings of Wrath (Magister #2) by C.S. Friedman (again, this is out but I'm waiting for the paperback release so my books match)
• Stealing Fire by Jo Graham
• Rebels and Lovers (Dock 5 #4) by Linnea Sinclair
• Hell Fire (Corine Solomon #2) by Ann Aguirre
• Killbox (Grimspace #4) by Ann Aguirre
• A Local Habitation (October Daye #2) by Seanan McGuire (fortunately, I have an ARC!)

2010 Goals

My main goal for 2010 is to make fewer goals for myself. In 2009 I made a whole bunch and I managed to read at least one book that fit into each, even if not as much as I'd planned. But I'm largely a mood reader and like to read based on what I feel like reading at the moment instead of by what I'd planned for the month. So I'm sticking to very basic goals for this coming year that should be fun and easy to accomplish.

1. Read 50 books

I've done this one two years in row so it shouldn't be that difficult, although it is also not an easy goal for me with the amount of spare time I have. So I've decided not to raise it even though I've done it already.

2. Read more science fiction

2008 was a good year for me as far as reading a lot of science fiction goes, but I didn't read nearly as much as 2009. Because of this my husband got me mostly scifi books for Christmas books so that should make this goal even more attainable.

3. Make progress in some of these series I've started

It's kind of sad how many series I've begun and not finished over the last couple of years - the Mistborn trilogy, the Probability trilogy, the Skolian Saga, and the Miles Vorkosigan series, to name a few. I've decided to concentrate on reading more of the latter two since I already have most of the books in both series and it goes with goal #2 since they're all space opera.

4. Read the following books that are on my bookshelf

Some of these I keep putting off because they're long or maybe I just keep putting them off for new-to-me authors. Then there are two that I have decided I must read because I have heard such wonderful things about these writers.

• Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
• Calenture by Storm Constantine
• Night's Master by Tanith Lee
• Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier (new to me author that I keep hearing about)
  
• Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (new to me author that I keep hearing about

So that's 2009 and what I hope for in 2010. What were your favorite books of the year? Is there anything you've decided is a must-read for 2010?

First Half of 2009

The first half of 2009 is officially over so I've been thinking about my favorite books read so far. So far this year I've read 28 books and reviewed 27 (all of them except for Last Argument of Kings, which I may just skip other than putting up a few thoughts since it's been pretty thoroughly covered on other blogs and I haven't had much time lately).

Here are my top 10 so far regardless of publication date:

1. The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro
2. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
3.Watchmen by Alan Moore
4. Corambis by Sarah Monette
5. Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs (along with the other 2 books in the Mercy Thompson series)
6. Kings and Assassins by Lane Robins
7. Feast of Souls by C.S. Friedman
8. The Oracle Lips by Storm Constantine
9. Dreamdark: Blackbringer by Laini Taylor
10. Blue Diablo by Ann Aguirre

This year I've read a lot of books I've really enjoyed reading but very few that I really loved and kept thinking about after I was done. The top 5 on this list are easily the cream of the crop of what I've read this year (even if I didn't like Corambis quite as much as the other books in the series it was still excellent and better than most of what I read this year).

What are your top reads of the year so far?

Looking to 2009

Happy 2009!

2008 was a pretty good year for reading some good books and here's hoping 2009 will be even better. There are some books coming out I can't wait for, especially Corambis by Sarah Monette, Hope's Folly by Linnea Sinclair, and Kings and Assassins by Lane Robins. Elizabeth Bear also has a new Edda of Burdens book (By the Mountain Bound) coming out later in the year and the next of Ann Aguirre's Sirantha Jax series (Doubleblind) will be out as well as the first book in her new Corine Solomon series (Blue Diablo). I'm sure there will be many, many more too.

Over the last week I've been thinking about some reading goals for 2009:

1. Read 50 Books

I really considered making this number higher since I made that goal in 2008, but in the interest of being realistic with my goals I ended up deciding to just aim for 50 again. If I'm going to continue to review every book I read, I just don't think I'll have time for much more than that unless 2009 is the year I become independently wealthy.

2. Read some urban fantasy

While I've read a few books considered to be urban fantasy, such as Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and Elizabeth Bear's Promethean Age series, I haven't read that much. I can't think of a single werewolf or vampire book I've read where they weren't background characters or in a parody. So I thought this year I'd try to read some more urban fantasy, especially the types of books very different from what I have read before. To work toward that goal, I did get Moon Called by Patricia Briggs and Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison.

3. Read more science fiction that scares me

Although I've become a huge fan of space opera this year, there are some science fiction books that still frighten me because I think they will be too dry or won't have good characters. Not having actually read these books, I don't know that, though, and maybe they aren't as scary as I think. It's time to find out.

4. Read more comic books

Since reading Sandman, I haven't read any graphic novels. On my list is Watchmen and at least the first of the Lucifer comics (which are a spin off of the Lucifer from Sandman).

5. Challenge myself to read one book a month that I'm hesitant to read

This goal is mostly so I'll read some of those books that have been sitting on my shelf for whatever reason (most of these will be books that are there because they're very long, because they're science fiction that scares me, or because the first book is part of a long series/short series containing long books). I might be challenging myself or having John challenge me or do some of both; I haven't decided yet. After I told John about my goal (and my decision for January's book challenge, which is reading Childhood's End, a book he told me I should read), he wanted to give me a book to read every month. So I may try that for a while unless I find I'm not getting to a lot of books that have been sitting on the bookshelf for a while that I want to get off my conscience.

I'm still going to try to manage it so I only read the longer books when I'm behind on reviews and have some catching up to do since I only avoid long books now because I have nothing to review if it takes me forever to read a book.


I thought about having a goal of reading more book published in 2009 than I did books published in 2008 last year but decided that wasn't a very realistic goal if I'm going to only be able to manage about 50 books for the year. There are too many older books I still need to read.

So that's it for reading goals. Anyone else been setting goals for books to read this year?