GlitterFemme's 2014 reads

*waves* Hi, everyone; it's been a while, but it's time for me to get back to tracking my reading! No point in waiting around until January.

I first tracked books read in 2008, and participated in the 75 in 2009-2012, though the closest I've come is 71. I'll list books I know I've read this year as they come to me, but this will in no way be comprehensive. I'm slowly but surely working my way through a very long list of owned-but-unread books, but my wishlist collection is outpacing my reading by a long ways!

There are a lot of gaps in my reading history - books I wasn't permitted to read growing up make up a large chunk of my TBR, but I will never get to all of them. I do read a lot of YA fantasy and sci-fi as those are my comfort genres, and I read for fun, entertainment, escape. So, you'll see a spate of Brandon Mull and Rick Riordan titles, with an Alice Walker snuck in the middle. Given my "missing pieces" from standard required reading, it is quite likely that I do not know the fate of a character in a book that every single person who has been a high school sophomore in a US high school knows. But, given the pervasiveness of such titles, I hold no one responsible for "spoilers" that would not be, to almost anyone else. :)

One thing I took away from looking back at old threads is that I will definitely keep a running list in this post in addition to updating as I read; it feels like so much more of an accomplishment when you see them all together like that!

So, 2014 in review:

Ready Player One - listened to Wil Wheaton's audiobook narration again, though I also purchased the paperback.
Room - I listened to the audio when it came out and am glad I did that before reading it; I wasn't sure how it would translate.
Stargirl - Spinelli cannot write a book I don't love.
The Fault in Our Stars - I have become mildly obsessed with everything John Green, despite not really liking Hazel very much.
The Maze runner - also on audio. Not really compelled to continue the series, but we shall see.
Inkheart - listened to most of it, and finished it in paper. I have the second book, so that's on the TBR list.
Better Nate than Ever - the author's narration was surprisingly perfect, but I realized while listening to this book that I really prefer to read simply-written books because I can read so much faster than they can narrate!
Hope for the Flowers - a pretty regular re-read.
The House of Hades - it's possible that I read this late last year, but I don't think so. I'm almost certain I've read other Riordan this year as well, but can't say for sure.
Anton and Cecil: Cats at Sea - an ARC I got a really, REALLY long time ago. Oops.

Okay, that's all I've got for now; gonna try to get a bit more reading in before sleep :) Happy weekend, all!

ETA - I was here as Aglaia531 some time ago; real name is Kirsten (Keer-sten). I recognize some of your usernames from previous years' 75s as well as general Talk, and look forward to chatting more with you all :)

Newly finished since original post:

The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood
Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan
All Our Yesterdays, Cristin Terrill
Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple
We Were Liars, E. Lockhart
Anne of Green Gables, L M Montgomery
The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith
Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, Matthew Quick
Texts From Jane Eyre, Mallory Ortberg
Divergent, Veronica Roth
Insurgent, Veronica Roth
Allegiant, Veronica Roth
Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle, George Hagen
The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer Holm
Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein
To This Day, Shane Koyczan
The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
There Will be Lies, Nick Lake
Questionable Content, volumes 1-4, Jeph Jacques
The Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan
Maddy Kettle, Eric Orchard
The Vacationers, Emma Straub
The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters
Bloody Jack, L. A. Meyer
Espionage & Etiquette, Gail Carriger
Curse of the Blue Tattoo, L. A. Meyer
Curtsies & Conspiracies, Gail Carriger
Under the Jolly Roger, L. A. Meyer
The Children Act, Ian McEwan

Welcome back! Looks like some good books.

hi! Great user-name. John Green is impressive--do you follow him on Tumblr?

>2 drneutron: Thank you! I've been pretty happy with what I've read so far this year, though I'm ready for a good literary fiction blow-me-away kind of book. I'm also looking forward to my first OLOB with The Penelopiad in June.

>3 banjo123: Thank you :) I love your gallery-o-kittehs! I began following John Green on Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube, the subway (KIDDING) after reading TFiOS. I infrequently visit Tumblr, but I'm trying to get in more of a habit.

I actually am not much of a social media user, but my daughter signed my up for Tumblr. (She's 17) and had me follow Green. I loved TFIOS, of course.

Just finished The Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker. I can't say that I loved it like I had hoped to, but it was good. Not compelling enough on any level for me to really care about the outcome while reading, or to have feelings about the outcome when I came to the end. I may or may not give the author another go.

I knew I was going to love The Storied Life of AJ Fikry pretty much from the first page, and wasn't disappointed. Read cover to cover today to finish it.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
This was a re-read, and I now understand why it didn't stick with me but for a few small details. I think twice through that one will be plenty for this lifetime :) On to Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore, which has come highly recommended by a few reliable sources.

Game of Thrones, George RR Martin
The Penelopiad, Margaret Atwood

Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan

Good one!

>11 drneutron: I enjoyed it, especially after living in SF on this side of the .com bust ;)

Just finished listening to All Our Yesterdays, thanks to Sync YA summer listening. Not bad, but I think certain sci-fi tropes need to have a really unique take to have a shot at a wide readership, and this one didn't really challenge the usual boundaries of time travel.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette, Maria Semple
I enjoyed this more than I expected to, not really knowing much about it going in. While the narration was occasionally a bit too over-the-top even for the ludicrous caricatures Semple writes, it was mostly spot on and the perfect medium for this novel.

We Were Liars, E. Lockhart
I think I would have enjoyed this more if I'd read it rather than listened to it. The narrator was fine, it was just a simply written book that I could have flown through, so it felt drawn out. As it was, I did enjoy the story, though I never liked the protagonist. I'd read another by the same author if it doesn't have too similar a cast of characters.

Anne of Green Gables, L M Montgomery
I've just finished the audiobook, one of the free editions provided through Sync summer listening. It's an old favorite that I've not read in a while, so it was nice to have in the background as I did other things over the last week. The narration wasn't perfect, but wasn't bad, either.

The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith
I definitely enjoyed it, though not as much as I hoped to. Looking forward to the next book, at any rate.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
I was unsure how I would feel about this during the first chapters, but I quickly became engrossed in the story. There are several mysterious things set up at the start and I was pleasantly surprised that not all of them turned out to be the predictable answers.

Texts From Jane Eyre, Mallory Ortberg
This was a super fun little volume, read it in probably under an hour. It's impossible to miss Ortberg's particular brand of humor, and I was laughing aloud before I'd gotten 10 pages in. Fans of Ortberg as well as avid readers with a similarly quirky appreciation for mockery and absurdity will love this book and find themselves thinking of particular lines whenever they're reminded of the works satirized here.

Divergent, Veronica Roth
Insurgent, Veronica Roth
The story isn't bad - not terribly original, but the characters are fairly well developed. Emma Galvin's narration really makes it, IMO - good pacing, and her methods of differentiating between voices don't feel forced but make it easy to follow dialog.

Allegiant, Veronica Roth
I wondered why they'd changed it up and gone with a split narration for this one, but that was answered for me eventually. Not a bad conclusion, and the epilogue didn't make me roll my eyes as much as most do. I'm interested to see the first movie; I don't recall anyone I know saying much about it either way, so not sure what to expect.

Gabriel Finley and the Raven's Riddle, George Hagen
The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer Holm

I really enjoyed Gabriel Finley, and will read further books in the series (there's no way this won't be a series). It has elements of The Mysterious Benedict Society and The Phantom Tollbooth, favorites of mine in the independent reader range. The Fourteenth Goldfish was more juvenile fiction, but a cute book, and took me no time to read.

Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein
I can't recommend this book highly enough. I love the epistolary style, and the narrators were superb.

To This Day, Shane Koyczan
I got this e-galley through NetGalley. Immediately upon finishing, I reached out to my therapist friend who specializes in adolescent treatment to recommend she get a copy. The spoken word piece on YouTube is also wonderful.

The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
Between this and Code Name Verity, I'm going to have significant book drop after this week. Two extraordinary works, finished within days of each other. I actually procrastinated finishing this one until today because I couldn't make myself give it up.

I also thought that Code Name Verity was pretty awesome. I had the audio version, which was very well done.

>24 banjo123: The audio was spellbinding. Both narrators were so, so good. And I loved the undertones of their friendship, the dashing, chivalrous protector and the elegant, cheeky Lady - very butch-femme, which I adore.

There Will be Lies, Nick Lake
I read this over several weeks, more out of a sense of obligation because it was an early ARC than because it was compelling. It had several good components, but none of them really lived up to its potential.

It had to happen eventually - accidentally posted as a library instead of as myself :-P And then, when I tried to delete, LT argued with me. I'm gonna go back to my widgets now...

Questionable Content, volumes 1-4.
I was introduced to this webcomic last Friday, and started binge reading from strip one. When I woke up Saturday morning with a Cold From Hell (tm), it seemed like a good idea to just keep going: clicking "next" is easy enough, and the story arcs didn't require too much brain. So, over the course of the long weekend, I read all 2,808 strips. Each print volume is 160 pages, made up of 300 strips, so really I read more like vol 1-9, but we'll go with what's actually been published :)
Readathon is this weekend! Gonna do another fundraiser, and it'll be even more poignant this time around, as it lands on the one year anniversary of my Mamau's passing. I borrowed the latest Heroes of Olympus from the library today, have half of the new Sarah Waters left, and have a number of galleys and new print volumes I'm excited about, so I think it's going to be a good one.

>29 kgriffith: *snerk* I'm having visions of you sitting in front of a computer trying to figure out who you are this time... :)

Ha. Glitching like Vanellope in Wreck-it Ralph? I'm a library, I'm a person! I'm a library...

The Blood of Olympus, Rick Riordan
Maddy Kettle, Eric Orchard
Readathon books - 12 hours in, and only 600 pages read. Must find another swift read!

Just finished The Vacationers by Emma Straub on audio. Kristen Sieh was a decent narrator, differentiating between characters well enough, but the book itself felt a bit like someone found an old diary and pasted it together with a few faked up outside perspectives and tried to make the whole thing come together with a Profound Meaning. Utterly lacking in that department. While it touched on the classism and racism and privilege of the characters at the center of the novel, it never really came to a conclusion that they were, in fact, classist and racist and privileged. If anything, the ending was the opposite. Made me feel like I'd been listening/reading with a hope that went unfulfilled.

The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters
I waited so long to start this one because I didn't want it to end, as books are wont to do. Between her books, I sometimes forget just how fantastic a writer Waters is.
Bloody Jack, L. A. Meyer
Listening to Katy Kellgren's narration of this series; she's a blast!
Espionage & Etiquette, Gail Carriger
Fun offshoot series for the YA crowd, from the author of the Parasol Protectorate series.

Curtsies & Conspiracies
Another fun jaunt in the world of lady intelligencers who are learning to outwit vampires and run with werewolves. Gail Carriger's steampunk world is a lively one, and her characters are a delight, from the plucky protagonist to the briefest cameo. A fun series I hope will see many more adventures.

To wrap up 2014, I finished The Children Act by Ian McEwan. It was an engaging and speedy read, and I would have finished it much sooner had my copy not disappeared for a couple of months.