Well, folks. The end of the year is nigh. So let's talk book totals.
How many books did you read in 2017?
Don't be shy in dropping a comment. We all have different reading habits, and what's important is that you're enjoying the books you do read, right?
So, I've got to announce it!
I read 146 books in 2017.
Yep, that's the most I've ever read in a year's time, methinks. And it sure was fun. I'll tell you my secret: Listen to audiobooks. I read more than ever this year, and it added SO MUCH to my overall total. SEE BELOW >>
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Okay! So I thought it might be fun to look back at a couple of years ago to see where I was then... (this is when I thought I was really into audiobooks) *wink* ...
Now, by 2016, things didn't change too much, but I did fit in a few more audiobooks and ebooks to cushion those totals a bit more...
But lo, and behold, check out 2017. Quite a different story. Audiobooks exploded everywhere (almost doubling over last year's total), while ebooks suffered quite a bit. However, I did bump up the hardcopy books I read... and I'll owe that to the 2017 book shelf idea, wherein I told myself I would read every book on the shelf (spoiler: it almost worked).
So, what about you?
Did you find yourself reading more books, ebooks, or audiobooks this year?
192 pages // published in 2017 // Historical Christian Fiction
BOOK DESCRIPTION
When CLARA CHAPMAN receives an intriguing invitation to spend Christmas at an English manor home, she is hesitant yet compelled to attend—for if she remains the duration of the twelve-day celebration, she is promised a sum of one thousand pounds. That’s enough money to bring her brother back from America and reinstate their stolen family fortune. But is she walking into danger? It appears so, especially when she comes face to face with one of the other guests—her former fiancé, BENJAMIN LANE.
Imprisoned unjustly, Ben wants revenge on whoever stole his honor. When he’s given the chance to gain his freedom, he jumps at it—and is faced with the anger of the woman he stood up at the altar.
Brought together under mysterious circumstances for the Twelve Days of Christmas, Clara and Ben discover that what they've been striving for isn't what ultimately matters. What matters most is what Christmas is all about . . . love.
An intriguing story, filled with the personality of Charles Dickens, and with the mysterious plot twists of Agatha Christie. The perfect combination!
When a cryptic invitation arrives, twenty-five year-old Clara Chapman, has a decision to make. To spend the twelve days of Christmas at a home she's never heard of, by an unknown solicitor. Why would she choose to do this? For a hefty sum of money, which she desperately needs.
What she doesn't know is that others are expected at Bleakly House too, including none other than her fiancé who left her at the altar. Yet what he's been through in the past nine months is more grueling than Clara could have imagined. Ben Lane is looking for redemption and freedom, and he can only hope that the miraculous Christmas riddle of Bleakly Manor will save him.
It reads like a perfectly delightful Victorian novel, with some Gothic type elements (things going awry in that great big manor). Which of the manor's visitors would purposely be sabotaging the holiday event?
“The mysteries are starting to pile up in a great heap, are they not?”
- 12 Days at Bleakly Manor (Chapter 13)
Faith: There are some excellent elements of faith brought in, and I can love the book all the more for it.
Romance: It is kept mostly very sweet – just one particularly passionate kiss. But I really loved how even though it's a romance story, there's still so much adventure and puzzles to keep you busy with the rest of the plot too.
Cons? Almost none. There are a couple of phrases that used several times, which seemed a bit too repetitive for me.
Bottom line? The chapters just flew by with all the Victorian jargon and very British traditions. It was all too wonderful while the story lasted. And now I just can't wait to get my hands on book #2 in the Once Upon a Dickens Christmas series, next year!
So I love making a list of my top 10 favorite reads every year (plus it includes some extras, usually, because I just can't help myself). These books were not all published this year -- they were published in any year of days gone by. But 2017 is when I personally read them.
And these books in particular put an extra sparkle in my eye (and made my heart pitter-patter a little faster) as I read them...
In no particular order, my top 10 favorite picks...
Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery
I lied. This one is in fact my absolute FAVORITE read of the year. Nothing could have surpassed it -- almost. And it was basically one of the very first titles I read in 2017, to boot. (The rest of my list is randomized, I promise) >>>
{Read my full review here.}
The Magnolia Story by Chip & Joanna Gaines
Whew, that couple. They are an amazing duo, both in fixing up homes, and in their personal life too. I love their story.
{Read my full review here.}
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Yes, I'm a fan of that delightful old film. And now I'm a fan of the book. (Plus, I ended up reading 6 of the sequels this year too!)
{Read my full review here.}
My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Mmm, mmm. Du Maurier knew how to write excellent suspense, and how to the twist plot of this one so well... that even the reader doesn't even know how it truly ended. Whoa.
{Read my full review here.}
Beyond the Heather Hills by Melissa Wiley
This was the last book in a fictionalized children's series about Laura Ingalls Wilder's great-grandmother who lived in Scotland. I'm incredibly sad that I ran out of these books.
{Read my full review here.}
Winter by Marissa Meyer
Another (epic) series I finished. And it clocked in at 827 pages, the longest book I read in 2017. Whew! It kept me busy plugging away at it.
{Read my full review here.}
Dr. Frankenstein's Daughters by Suzanne Weyn
It reads like a sequel to Frankenstein (which I also did squeeze in earlier in the year) -- and in my humble opinion? I somehow just enjoyed Weyn's story better.
{Read my full review here.}
To Live Again by Catherine Marshall
If you've ever enjoyed A Man Called Peter, you definitely need to read this one, which serves very well as its sequel.
{Read my full review here.}
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
It's been too many years since reading a Hugo novel. I wasn't disappointed. And I still don't know whether to laugh or cry over that ending...
{Read my full review here.}
Asking for Trouble by Sandra Byrd
This one surprised me in a good way, as an a excellent choice for tween/teen girls. I'd had my eye on it for a while. Can't wait to read the sequels this next year.
{Read my full review here.}
The Man Who Invented Christmas
How Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol Rescued His Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits
written by Les Standiford
241 pages // published in 2008 // Christmas-themed Biography
BOOK DESCRIPTION
As uplifting as the tale of Scrooge itself, this is the story of how one writer and one book revived the signal holiday of the Western world.
Just before Christmas in 1843, a debt-ridden and dispirited Charles Dickens wrote a small book he hoped would keep his creditors at bay. His publisher turned it down, so Dickens used what little money he had to put out A Christmas Carol himself. He worried it might be the end of his career as a novelist.
The book immediately caused a sensation. And it breathed new life into a holiday that had fallen into disfavor, undermined by lingering Puritanism and the cold modernity of the Industrial Revolution. It was a harsh and dreary age, in desperate need of spiritual renewal, ready to embrace a book that ended with blessings for one and all.
With warmth, wit, and an infusion of Christmas cheer, Les Standiford whisks us back to Victorian England, its most beloved storyteller, and the birth of the Christmas we know best. The Man Who Invented Christmas is a rich and satisfying read for Scrooges and sentimentalists alike.
“Celebrating Christmas without some reference to A Christmas Carol seems impossible, a remarkable fact given that the book was published more than 150 years ago. Indeed, the resonance of the story has remained so strong through the generations that commentators have referred to Dickens as the man who invented Christmas.”
So, this book needs a change in its cover art. If you, like me, judged this book by its Christmasy cover, all red, green, and candy canes... and randomly thought it was a story with a plot featuring Dickens (and true-to-life facts about him), well, that's not accurate. To be clear, it's a biography, albeit, an interesting one that kept me turning the pages.
“No individual can claim credit for the creation of Christmas, of course – except, perhaps, the figure that the day is named for.... If Dickens did not invent Christmas, he certainly reinvented it.”
Dickens' childhood was cut short, as he had to work for his family. His parents spent more than they could earn. His father was held in court for his debts, and eventually the rest of the family too, even Charles and his siblings. As Dickens grew into adulthood, those days of debt and poverty always stayed with him, and is illustrated in many, if not most, of his writings. As the writer of this biography states, “It was as if, in writing this book [A Christmas Carol], he could will into existence a world of universal charity, empathy, and family harmony that he had not experienced in his life.”
Concerning A Christmas Carol, his publishers actually didn't believe in the success of the story, and they wouldn't take on the project to publish it themselves. So Dickens had it published, paying for all the costs, etc. He had to go to more extraordinary lengths than his other writings to get it published. In other words, it was the novel that almost wasn't. And this was all for a story that was about the Christmas holiday, which at the time, “ranked far below Easter, causing little more stir than Memorial Day.”
There are 4 main parts to the book. But it is part 3 that piques my interest the most, and has the information I was waiting to read. Things like how traditions may not be the same without his little book entering the world. Or how we might not so easily recognize a Victorian Christmas as a quintessential time if we didn't have A Christmas Carol. In fact, Christmas was quite different in the 1840s than it is now. The biography writer brings this about to tell what the holiday was all about back then – and it usually was not gift-giving. Other notes of interest: People ate a Christmas goose – not a turkey or a ham. Christmas cards hadn't even appeared on the scene before. Christmas trees weren't commercially sold. There's quite a bit of interesting history to learn in part 3, and I loved reading all about it.
I found out much about Charles Dickens that I just didn't expect. Some of it is about his family life, some about his celebrity, some about his books. For example, Oliver Twist may just be the first novel to have a child as protagonist; it may also be the first Victorian novel. It was neat to hear about how Dickens kept writing more “Christmas” novels each year, and the annual history behind each. Something else I was quite surprised to hear about was that copyright almost didn't exist in Dickens' day. Publishers could pirate off their own versions of popular novels and make good money doing it. Authors usually didn't get paid (or paid well) when plays (dozens of them) were put together, based on an author's novel. It was one of Dickens' fights in life to see about copyright issues for every author. He was certainly a man who had many tricks (and creative ideas) up his sleeve.
Reading The Man Who Invented Christmas definitely will get you in the mood not only for A Christmas Carol, but many of Dickens' other works. Charles Dickens will remain in our hearts because of his use of goodwill, the pleasures of good friends, family, and charity in his stories. Because the topics he used in A Christmas Carol and his other works really get us our the heartstrings, that's why people still want to read his books. I know I can't wait to read more from him.
I'd recommend this as an adult read – teens could enjoy it too, but there is some minor alluding to some mature topics.
For as long as I can remember, I've kept a stack of books somewhere in my bedroom containing books I wanted to remind myself to read... SOMEDAY.
Well, that plan worked sometimes. But eventually I would notice that even in a short stack (perhaps 12 or less books), some of the same titles would remain in the stack for maybe 2 or 3 years -- even if I truly wanted to read them -- while others would get added and more promptly get read. Sometimes I would set goals for myself to read certain ones in a certain amount of months, and that was helpful on occasion, but some titles still stayed there forever...
I had enough of that about this time last year. I decided to pull a variety of books off my shelves, of titles I definitely intended to read during the year of 2017. In total, I know there were more than 50 books (but didn't get an exact count). Well, I still didn't pull it off. I guess there were just too many (or too many other good choices on other shelves, if you know what I mean). There's a dozen leftovers from my attempted 2017 shelf. That's alright, they'll rollover into my 2018 shelf (yes, I'm trying it again!), and this next year those leftovers will be TOP PRIORITY to make sure they do get read, and soon.
After my attempt at down-sizing the number sitting on my 2018 shelf, right now it's right at almost 40, as long as I don't add any more (...unlikely though). Maybe I could conquer the whole shelf this next year?
#LetsDiscuss2017
What are your thoughts on having a yearly TBR shelf to inspire your reading choices?
And what other ways do you make sure to finally read those books you've owned for years?
As usual, I'm excited to participate in the Mount TBR challenge, to help me get all those piles of books finally read! Since I was able to achieve Mt. Everest in 2017, I'm shooting for that level again in 2018 [Read 100 books from your TBR pile/s]. I still don't think I'm ready for the next level, so 100 books it is.
I tried this classics challenge for the first time in 2017 and sooo enjoyed it! Each month I tried to choose one of the categories and knock out one of the 12 books on my potential list... it was a lot of fun for me, and am happy to do it again this next year.
And for later in 2018, some short-term challenges I will be hosting,
right here at In The Bookcase...
Oh! And here's a 2017 challenge I just discovered, and would like to participate in during this December -- the last month of the whole thing. Signing up for the 1-10 – Discussion Dabbler level, since I don't have much time to get extra posts together.
