2018 Book Survey
Last year I filled out this Book Survey for the first time and had a blast reminiscing about all the books I’d read that year. So, it’s time to tackle 2018!
If you’re looking for more, head on over to Perpetual Page Turner’s blog for her linkup. Lots of other bloggers will be adding their results over the next month. Join in with a comment here too!
2018 Reading Stats
Number Of Books You Read: 89 (as of Dec 10)
Number of Re-Reads: 6 (low number for me – usually I reread a lot more)
Genre You Read The Most From: Literary fiction
- Best Book You Read In 2018?
The Lord of the Rings series – There’s a reason these are adored around the world. I’ve heard complaints that it’s too wordy or descriptive, but I don’t find that to be the case at all. The characters, setting, and action are one of a kind.
- Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?
The Clockmaker’s Daughter – I had a few of these, but the most disappointing by far was Kate Morton’s latest. My full thoughts are here.
- Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?
See below – A Court of Thorns of Roses series was a ton of fun. I convinced a coworker to read it and we spent lengthy amounts of time swooning over Rhys.
- Best series you started in 2018? Best Sequel of 2018? Best Series Ender of 2018?
A Court of Thorns and Roses – Hands down. I fell hard for this series and absolutely devoured these YA fantasy books!!
- Favorite new author you discovered in 2018?
Sally Thorne? – The Hating Game was such a fun modern workplace romance and I cannot wait to read and review her newest 99 Percent Mine next year!
- Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?
Girl Wash Your Face – Nonfiction is rare enough, but I hardly ever get into the motivational / memoir type. I listened to this on audiobook and was blown away by how much I enjoyed and identified with Rachel Hollis.
- Book You Read In 2018 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?
The Snow Child – A retelling of a Russian fairytale about a child made of snow that comes to life. It’s magical realism at its finest.
- Favorite cover of a book you read in 2018?
The Bear and the Nightingale – Maybe I’m picking this because it’s currently winter, but the small cozily lit cabin set against a dark wood backdrop is just wonderful.
- Most memorable character of 2018?
Everyone from Beartown? – In no surprise, I picked a Fredrik Backman character last year too. His ability to write nuanced, flawed, yet relatable characters is unmatched.
- Most beautifully written book read in 2018?
Marilla of Green Gables – Returning to Prince Edward Island to hear about Marilla’s life was a delight. Sarah McCoy did a phenomenal job of seamlessly integrating this story into L.M. Montgomery’s series.
- Most Thought-Provoking Book of 2018?
Beartown – I flew through this in less than a day, but still think about the characters, their choices, and their reactions to various events.
- Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2018 to finally read?
Ender’s Game – Somehow this didn’t make it into my required reading or for-fun reading when I was younger. The story is entertaining even now, though.
- Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2018?
Longest – The Princes of Ireland – 800 pages (IT by Stephen King should be the longest, but I’m still working on finishing that one…)
Shortest – We Should All Be Feminists – 52 pages
- Book That Shocked You The Most
The Circle – The parallels between the terrifying privacy invasions in this book and the direction our society is going are uncanny.
- Favorite Book You Read in 2018 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
Still Me – I thought JoJo Moyes misstepped with the second book in this series, but this final installment was much better.
- Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2018?
Rhys from A Court of Thorns and Roses – Because obviously, right? I dare you to read this whole series and not fall for him.
Aragorn from The Return of the King – Ok, this was a reread so it’s not new, but it’s Aragorn. He’s the best of the best.
- Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
The Lies of Locke Lamora – Jay recommended this fantasy to me and I was completely swept away by the story. I could easily picture the city of Camorr and subtle magic and manipulations within.
- Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
Anne of Avonlea – There’s no one like Anne with an E to bring pure joy and happiness into your reading life.
- Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2018?
Us Against You – The sequel to Beartown was just as emotional and I was crying big ugly tears by the end.
- Hidden Gem Of The Year?
A Storied Life – I’ve followed Leigh Kramer’s blog for a while, so I was thrilled to find out she was writing a book!
- Most Unique Book You Read In 2018?
The Almost Sisters – This novel covers a huge range of topics and interests (geek culture, one night stands, aging family, murder, race relations in the South), but it’s all tied together in a heartwarming and thought provoking story that I completely adore.
- New favorite book blog you discovered in 2018?
The Hungry Bookworm – Books AND food!! Megan is a great writer and has such a fun niche sharing recipes inspired by the books she reads.
- Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?
The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa – Each year you can apply to be part of this secret santa by answering a bunch of questions about your bookish interests. Each participant is assigned another person for whom to shop and send a package. I had such a blast “getting to know” my secret santa and shopping for her. Now, I’m eagerly waiting for my own package to arrive!!
- Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?
Top 10 Books that make me want to travel – Hooray for Pinterest success!
- Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?
Indirectly related, but Canva was an amazing discovery this year. I always admired other people’s fancy blog and Pinterest graphics and now I can create my own!!
Share your answers to some or all of these book survey questions in the comments below!
*Disclosure – I receive a small commission for any books purchased through my links above. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Oh my gosh, I love this and I’m totally going to do it now — how have I not seen this before?! Also, thank you for the shoutout. I love your blog too!! 🙂 🙂
Wow! You read a lot of great books this year 🙂
So happy to see The Snow Child made the list! I had never heard of this book, but discovered it a few weeks ago when I was browsing winter books for my book club. Something about that description just spoke to me. I picked up a discounted copy on Book Outlet, and it’s high on my winter TBR.
Hooray for cheap copies! I found a gorgeous UK paperback while I was in Ireland and immediately snatched it up. Then realized when I got home I already owned the US version, but I’m happy with both 🙂
I have owned The Snow Child for about two years but somehow STILL haven’t read it. The shame!
Kate Morton’s latest was agonizing to get through.
So glad I’m not the only one who felt this way 😉
HOw fun is this!! What a great way to recap the books you read this year too!
Love this! May do something similar on my blog, but I usually do it in January of the new year. The Almost Sisters was great, most books either feel “historical” or “modern” but that one overlapped really nicely, with all the race/flashbacks+comic/tech stuff.
Completely agree about The Almost Sisters. It’s a bit hard to describe since there are SO many topics, but they’re woven together masterfully.
A Court of Thorns and Roses is on my TBR, I own all of them so just need to get stuck in. I am currently reading the last in her Throne of Glass series, so once I’m finished with that I’ll move on to the Court books.
LOTR is one of my fave series EVER. So good.
The cover for the bear and the nightingale is sooo gorgeous. Love it.
I still think about Beartown too. So good.
Love this. Im a re-reader too. I just love to revisit good books! TFS
What a great post! Thanks for sharing. Just purchased The Lies of Loche Lamora – I need a good fantasy!
If you’re looking for more fantasy, I absolutely adore the Name of the Wind series by Patrick Rothfuss and just read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson too!
I read a ton of nonfiction and it always makes me happy when I see a non-nonfiction reader read and like one of those books.
This is a fun survey!
This is such a fun questionnaire, and I love how you can go back and take a look at what you read during the year. I’m totally with you, you can’t not fall for Aragorn!
There are so many books listed here that are on my TBR and I’m like ugh – I gotta read that soon! It’s a good problem to have though, right? 😀 I’ve been meaning to read The Bear and The Nightingale but it felt like a winter-time story (that cover) and hey – it’s winter. I’m such a freaking genius.
Aragorn = crush for life! I’ve been curious about the Marilla book, but I was nervous to read it because I’m such a big fan of the original books. Now I’m going to have to!
I think you’ll enjoy Marilla almost as much as you enjoyed the original series!
Reading A Court of Thorn and Roses is going to be one of my reading goals for 2019. I just had my daughter read it and she really enjoyed it, but we had to return it to the library. I liked Girl, Wash Your Face and I agree Backman creates great characters. I loved Beartown.
What a fun survey, and swooning over Rhys and Aragorn is time well spent 🙂
The Bear and the Nightingale is one of my all-time favorite books. I can’t wait to finally read the finale! I need to read The Snow Child. OMG YAS! ACOTAR and Rhys forever and ever. I may or may not have bought the coloring book upon completeing the series. I even love the novella which I know a lot of people did not love. I’ve “made” a lot of people read these! No shame! 🙂 Here from SUYB! XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
I have literally just finished The Bear and the Nightingale. I loved it, but it was about my limit for horror. And I had such a literary crush on Aragorn when I first read LOTR at age 10!
He’s so dreamy 🙂
I loved this post so much I decided to join in the survey as well. Thanks for sharing!
That’s exciting!! Looking forward to checking yours out!
This is such a fun way to summarize your reads for the year – might have to do one for myself! The Bear and the Nightingale and Beartown are both books that I find myself mentioning over and over again. Look forward to seeing what you read in 2019!
I loved The Snow Child and just finished the author’s second book, To the Bright Edge of the World. It’s quite a different book but the magical realism is still fascinating, the love story is authentic and sweet, and the history is intriguing. I loved it!
You can’t go wrong with Aragorn!
I just recently finished up the second Locke Lamora book – Locke and Jean are a couple of my favorite characters. I can’t separate them! 🙂
Check out my End of Year Survey
The Almost Sisters sounds good & I’ve heard great things about We Should All Be Feminists.
Here’s my 2018 book survey! https://ahappylittlebookworm.wordpress.com/2019/02/01/my-favourite-reads-of-2018-early-2019-extremely-late-end-of-year-survey/