2017 Book Roundup

One of my goals for 2017 was to read 100 books. I read 56, so just over halfway to the goal.

This list only includes books I finished. There are dozens that I started but didn’t finish (often not even the first chapter) either because they were poorly edited or didn’t hold my interest. I also didn’t include textbooks or journals that I read for school.

Here’s a breakdown of what I read:

21 (38%) were either kids or young adult; the rest were adult. 10 of those were Percy Jackson books that I read with my son, and a handful more were YA books I read before taking them into work (I currently work with teens/tweens who love to read).
2 (4%) were nonfiction and the rest were fiction.
4 (7%) were single short stories, and 3 (5%) were short story anthologies.
I know the authors of 20 (36%) of the books.
14 (25%) were in a series where I read at least 1 other book in the same series. 4 more were the first books in the series and the next book hasn’t been released yet, while 5 more were the first books in the series and I wasn’t impressed enough to track the next books down (or even to see if they’re out yet).
4 (7%) were from Amazon’s first read program, where they offer a free ebook to Prime members.
5 (8%) were translated from another language or from a non-Western country. 3 of those 5 were from the Amazon Crossings imprint, and 2 were ones I picked up in India.
3 (5%) were ones I’d read previously.

Best books I read in 2015:

The Dirt and Stars series, books 1 and 2, by Kevin Killiany. They’re YA, about the US space program, and set in an alternative near future. I was expecting fluffy sci-fi, but instead they’re a great look at how racism permeates society and how individuals can fight back. I’m really looking forward to book 3.
The Boy Who Speaks in Numbers by Mike Masilamani was a beautiful tale of life inside a Sri Lankan refugee camp, told from the POV of a boy too young to realize just how horrible most of humanity can be.


Blood and Circuses by Aliya Smyth is a wonderfully researched vampire tale set in ancient Rome.
Palm Trees in the Snow by Luz Gabás tells of one family’s experiences with colonization in 1950’s Equatorial Guinea.

If you challenged yourself to read a set number of books in 2017, how did you end up doing?  What were your favorites?  Anything you particularly disliked?