I've seen quite a lot of booktubers doing this so I thought I'd give it a go here, and seeing as it's half way through the year (over half way but who's counting?) I thought it'd be a great time to see how my reading for the year has been going. So let's get onto the questions...
01. Best Book You've Read So Far in 2015?
This is such a difficult question as there's about four books I've read this year that have become all-time favourites. It's probably a tie between Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig (which you can read my review of here).
02. Best Sequel You've Read So Far in 2015?
I think this would have to be the second and third books in the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness. I read The Knife of Never Letting Go for my university course in 2013 and hadn't got around to finishing up the series until this year. It was so worth the wait, this series is incredible and I urge you to read it now if you haven't already.
03. New Release You Haven't Read Yet, But Want To?
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee was released at the end of last month and I haven't got around to buying it yet because my local independent bookshop keeps selling out and I want to buy it from there. Despite some of the negative reviews I'm determined to go in with an open mind and I'm really hoping to get to it soon.
04. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2015?
There's a few that I'm really looking forward to but the only one I've actually pre-ordered is The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness, because Waterstones are selling exclusive signed copies and I'm ridiculously excited to get mine. I love Patrick Ness and the concept of the book just sounds so interesting so I'm really looking forward to that. You can read about my top five most anticipated releases for the rest of the year here.
05. Biggest Disappointment?
I think that would have to be Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. Everyone and their cat seemed to raving about this book constantly and saying how amazing the characters were and how the writing was so beautiful so I was really excited to pick it up. And then I read it...and I couldn't stand it. The characters irritated the living shit out of me and the writing was like when an introductory creative writing class goes wrong. I know I sound so rude but it just got on my nerves so much and I was so disappointed.
06. Biggest Surprise?
Despite my huge disappointment with Shatter Me, I reluctantly decided to carry on with the series because everyone said that it only got better...and it did! The irritating overly flowery and metaphorical writing toned down significantly and the characters got way less annoying. Oh and Warner, oh Warner. That's all I'll say.
07. Favourite New Author?
Although I already liked Patrick Ness, I've read four more of his books this year and he's now become one of my favourite authors. I'll basically read anything that he puts out and I can't wait to get my hands on the books I haven't read yet.
08. Newest Fictional Crush?
Oh where to start, I'm a bit of a fictional crush floozy to be honest. So here's a select few of the guys who I've desperately wanted to be real this year;
- Warner from the Shatter Me Trilogy
- Park from Eleanor and Park
- Captain Wentworth from Persuasion
- Cricket Bell from Lola and the Boy Next Door
- Etienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss
- Nikolai from the Grisha trilogy
*sigh*
09. Newest Favourite Character?
That's a tough one. But just off the top of my head maybe Desdemona and Lefty from Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, their story is beautiful and heartbreaking and inspiring and complicated and I just have so many feels about them.
10. Book That Made You Cry?
I'm not sure I've actually cried at a book this year! I always have super intense feelings but I'm not much of a book crier. I think I teared up a little at the end of my re-read of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix even though I've read it so many times, because come on, I'm not a robot.
11. Book That Made You Happy?
Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins made me really happy. They were just such sweet, feel-good reads that I found my heart lifted a little and I couldn't stop smiling throughout.
12. Favourite Book To Movie Adaptation You Saw This Year?
I haven't seen many book to movie adaptations this year and none that I really liked, but Paper Towns comes out really soon and I know I'm going to love it, even though it's my favourite John Green book so the pressure's really on.
13. Favourite Review You've Written This Year?
I think my review of Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig because I just had such a strong emotional reaction to that book that I just needed to share it with people. Also Matt Haig read it and tweeted about it so yeah that was nice :). You can read that review here.
14. Most Beautiful Book You Bought So Far This Year?
Definitely my special collector's edition of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, the hardback cover has beautiful etchings and the fanart on the end pages is so beautiful I could stare at it all day.
15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End of The Year?
Well I'd really like to get my physical TBR down to under 100 books and keep it there so that's a goal. I really really should start the Divergent series and the Mortal Instruments series, because I really think I'm the only person on the planet who hasn't read them yet. So yeah...don't judge me.
Well that was fun! If you're reading this then I tag you to do this also! This tag was created by readslikewildfire and Ely so go and check them out. That's all for now!
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