What I read in 2016:

Happy new year!

Before I knew it, another year was over. I’m still not sure what this blog is for, since I really don’t think I like blogging much. That’s why it will remain this mostly empty page with occasional spouts of nonsense and contemplation as I feel like it.

This year I was super determined to FINALLY HIT MY READING GOAL FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!! I kept the same goal as last year, a pretty reasonable 40. BUT I STILL COULDN’T DO IT!! Actually, early in the year I was doing really well, I was going at a very good pace and was a few books ahead. And I was thinking, wow! This is actually working? Maybe after 4 years of failure, I’ll finally reach my reading goal for the first time!! But alas, it wasn’t to be.

My reading stopped entirely at August, when my honours workload and thesis started to hit hard. The next few months were thesis-writing hell and I basically wanted to die the whole time until the thesis was due and I still wanted to die for like the next week afterwards. Anyway, I didn’t get to resume my reading till November, but by then it was too late to catch up. I spent most of December in Japan too, so not much reading happening while I was busy having fun and trying to erase the traumatising honours year from my mind hahaha. So in the end, I ended up with only 30 books for the year of 2016.

Favourite and stand-out books for the year are bolded and Australian authors marked with an asterisk. There were also a few solid books this year that I thought had admirable qualities, but did not quite hit “favourite or stand-out”. I’ll comment on those a little later, but for now, here are the 30 books I read in 2016:

1. Paperweight – Meg Haston
   
2. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore – Robin Sloane
   
3. The Pigeon – Patrick Suskind
   
4. James and the Giant Peach – Roald Dahl
   
5. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie – Muriel Spark
   
6. Our Happy Time – Ji-young Gong
   
7. One Whole and Perfect Day – Judith Clarke*
   
8. Strange Weather in Tokyo – Hiromi Kawakami
   
9. Flowers for Algernon – Daniel Keyes
   
10. Grow Up – Ben Brooks
    
11. Taipei – Tao Lin
    
12. Every Last Word – Tamara Ireland Stone
    
13. Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock – Matthew Quick
    
14. Other Words for Love – Lorraine Zago Rosenthal
    
15. Story of a Girl – Sara Zarr
    
16. Me and Mr. Booker – Cory Taylor*
    
17. Strange Case of Dr. Jekell & Mr. Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
    
18. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Matthew Woodring Stover
    
19. Summer Crossing: A Novel – Truman Capote
    
20. Flowers in the Attic – V. C. Andrews
    
21. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
    
22. Chronicle of a Blood Merchant: A Novel – Yu Hua
    
23. The Perfume Collector – Kathleen Tessaro
    
24. Wonder – R. J. Palacio
    
25. The Five People You Meet in Heaven – Mitch Albom
    
26. Ten Mile River – Paul Griffin
    
27. The Wild Geese – Ogai Mori
    
28. The Chaperone – Laura Moriarty
    
29. Stoner & Spaz – Ron Koertge
    
30. The Devotion of Suspect X – Keigo Higashino 

Overall comments and ramblings:

Other Words for Love was a cute and decent book and held my interest, but in the end felt a bit lacking, as it didn’t seem to really drive the point home and was a bit shaky in certain parts. What stood out to me the most though, was that the writing voice was very solid. The first-person narrator voice was subtle and nuanced in just the right way to evoke enough sympathy yet also maintain a good distance. It didn’t feel heavy or forceful, and it didn’t seem presumptuous or self-centred as if forcing the reader to sympathise with the protagonist, which I think is a common danger in first-person writing. I also thought that the family dynamics and the relationships between the characters were really well done, the tension and hidden bitterness within each conversation and action was very well portrayed.

I was really interested in the legendary trashy book Flowers in the Attic, so I had to give it a go this year. In the end, it was honestly an easy read and quite enjoyable in that trashy kind of way. I can see why it has a legendary status, because the plotline is honestly so farfetched and reaching, but that’s exactly what makes it dramatic and fun to read. It’s basically all cheap thrills, disbelief and slight horror in the progression of events and so it’s very readable. It’s no amazing piece of literature and it won’t impact you deeply in any way, but it is definitely readable and fun.

I also feel like I need to say something about Ten Mile River. The plot and characters were very raw and hard-hitting, which I liked, and the language and speech used in the book really added to that. To me, there’s something poignant and tragic in this story, although it doesn’t quite seem to own that, and it just sort of floats awkwardly there in the end.  

The worst books of the year were The Perfume Collector and The Chaperone. It makes me feel angry just thinking about them. Taipei was also incredibly hard to get through. Books that I had high expectations for based on plotline and reception but ultimately dissappointed me were Our Happy Time and Forgive me, Leonard Peacock.

My favourite book of the year was definitely Higashino’s The Devotion of Suspect X. Even though I’ve read a fair share of Japanese crime fiction, this one stands out because of how differently it’s structured. It’s fascinating because from the beginning, the reader sees and follows the suspects’ perspective rather than the detective’s. This crime novel works backwards in that we know the crime and how it occurred, but what we don’t know until the very end is how the crime is hidden. Furthermore, the characters embroiled in the crime are all unique and well-crafted, they’re interesting and have clear personalities, instincts and intentions. And even while the reveal occurs, The Devotion of Suspect X adds extra depth into why suspect X acts the way they do, and it’s honestly a bit heartbreaking and leaves an impression long after you close the book. And that kind of “a bit heartbreaking and leaves an impression” is exactly the type of story I love to read!!

Anyway, 2017 is going to be my year of freedom (somewhat)! (To be honest, any year after that horrible honours torture will feel like freedom haha) Apart from my final undergrad courses and some clinical experience, I’ll have a lot more time on my hands this year so I’m going to aim a little higher for 45 books this time! Tune in next year to see if I finally manage to hit my reading goal or if I will be met with failure again hahaha! !

I wish you all a wonderful 2017 and hope you all have many great books to read this year that are a little bit heartbreaking and leave you with an impression afterwards! :’)