2019 Year End Review

Pop the bubbly because it's that time of year again, the new year! A time for celebration, reflecting on the past year, and looking forward to the new year. Today, we'll do all of those things, so raise your glasses to what 2019 was and what 2020 will be!

Celebration
Let's be honest, 2019 was a pretty trash year all around. Sure, there were good parts to it, but overall it was a pretty rough year, so let's focus on the good parts.

For me, it was the year I finally decided to start blogging -wow, shocking, I know-. I wanted to get back into writing and trying to be creative again, so I figured that blogging about what I'm reading and trying to make a habit of it would be a good start. It's been rocky at times, but I think I've found a rhythm so that 2020 can go a bit more smoothly. I'd like to take this moment to thank all of you for stumbling upon my little corner of the internet and supporting me so far, it's been greatly appreciated! I've got some big plans for 2020 so stick around!

This year has also had some decent reads, and some not so good reads.

Reflecting on 2019
I set myself a reasonable goal of 35 books for all of 2019 and far surpassed it, ending with 57 books in total. I say in total because this does include the whopping 12 DNF (did not finish) books of the year. Yeah, you could say that 2019 was a rough one. Some of these DNF books I had high hopes for, some of them were ARC (advanced reader copy) so I didn't really know what to expect. I also spent some time this year on local interest and non-fiction novels, trying to expand my horizons and support those from (East Coast) Canada.

Let's get into what you really want to know though, which were the treasures this year and which were fire starters. I present to you, in no particular order, my top five best, and my top five worst of 2019.

The Good

• A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire #1) by George R.R. Martin, Rated 5-Stars: As a fan of the show Game of Thrones I'd heard time and time again that I should read this series, especially since the first couple of seasons reflected the books so well. I'd put this series off for so long because of the time commitment needed for such a large epic, as well as people who were once close to me telling me that it wasn't that good of a series or worth my time. Well, clearly they were wrong and I was foolish to wait so long to read this because I finished this book in only a couple of days. 
• A Nation Worth Ranting About by Rick Mercer, Rated 5-Stars: Those from Canada will likely know Rick Mercer as that snarky guy on TV who never takes a breath and loves to complain and to complain on behalf of the common man. In order to fully enjoy this book however you need to have followed former Prime Minister Stephen Harper's campaign trail, as well as have a fairly solid understanding of what ticks Canadians off, oh, and of our winter weather of course. This novel brought me to tears at times, and at others made me genuinely reflect on how far Canada has come since this book was published. It was an all-around great read.
• A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson, Rated 5-Stars: This one was a pleasant surprise! If you haven't read my review, I posted it here. I'm not one for ballet, having never been a dancer myself, and in the past I've read dance books that are quite dry and boring. This was anything but dry and boring! A wonderful mix of adventure, romance, and self-discovery, Eva weaves a fantastic coming of age tale. Even though I don't dance, it managed to make me feel empowered by the end. 
• The Wonga Coup: Guns, Thugs and a Ruthless Determination to Create Mayhem in an Oil-Rich Corner of Africa by Adam Roberts, Rated 5-Stars: I absolutely loved the way that Adam presented everything around this fantastical adventure; you can see my full review here. The way that he was able to inform the reader about this little corner of the world that not many people know a ton about, while not making the reader feel dumb, and keeping it genuinely entertaining was great! There were times that I even openly laughed because he would set up where everything went wrong, and while I was reading it, it was almost like Morgan Freeman was narrating the mistakes and bumbles along the way. Even if you're not someone who is typically into politics, non-fiction novels, and so on, I highly recommend this read!
• Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb, Rated 5-Stars: This book lifted me up and tore me down in all of the best ways; see my full review here. Much like The Notebook did, building you up, but slowly, going between the character's present and their past, then using that to tear you down at the inevitable end that you knew was sure to happen, this novel delivers. Using letters presents a really interesting approach to the story telling too because it allows for the writers to unleash more of themselves and more of the characters into word, where if they'd had the characters conversing things would have stayed hidden.

The Bad

• Silver: My Own Tale as Written by Me with a Goodly Amount of Murder by Edward Chupack, DNF: I am a big fan of pirates, whether it be the Dread Pirate Roberts, Captain Jack Sparrow, or Long John Silver, I'll eat it up for breakfast. This book however was just awful - I honestly don't think I even made it 25 pages in. The writing was so hard to follow, it was over the top, and did I mention that it was hard to follow? I've read books written in the style of the period, or with the voice of the supposed author, and have had no troubles, but this one from start to quit was ridiculous. 
• The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater, DNF: This book had been on my TBR (to be read) list for so long that this year I decided it was the year to tackle it - boy should I have taken it off of my list years ago. I was so disappointed in the writing style and the plot progression choices within the first few chapters. I also hated how the author assumed that you, the reader, had some background knowledge into everything that was taking place in the world - I had so many questions that could have been answered with an extra sentence here or there to clear things up. I understand that a lot of people really enjoy this series, and all the power to them, they can keep it.
• Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid by Tim Ecott, DNF: I really wanted to like this, as someone with a background in different food businesses and industries, I wanted this to be something that would have been right up my alley. However, Tim spent more time talking about his own travels than about vanilla, it's history, or it's influences on cultures throughout time. Sure, he touched on it a bit, but only in between these long anecdotes about people he met along the way. It was terribly disappointing.
• Halo by Alexandra Adornetto, DNF: This is one of those books that had been on my TBR list for years, so I figured that this was the year to tackle it. Wrong! I'm a girl who has fancied herself an angel or two over the year, bog standard angel, guardian angel, fallen angel, I'll take them all. This however....I managed to get over 200 pages in and nothing had happened. It was so slow, so boring, and didn't seem to really have a reason for existing. Many times it alluded to things that could be interesting, then diverted from them, only to mention them in passing as a tease.
• Wicked Girls by Stephanie Hemphill, DNF: I love a good Salem Witch Trials story; I find this time in history so fascinating, full of intrigue, judgement, and lies. This book however, made me cringe the whole time I tried to read it. I really wanted to like this book, but due to her writing style I couldn't get into it. 

Looking Forward
So what's to come for 2020? Well, hopefully some big things! I know for me and this little blog, we've got some things planned; more reviews, a face lift, and did I mention more reviews? That's right, I've finally gotten ahead a bit in my reading so I'll be able to better plan out and time my posts so we aren't all over the place. This year I also want to focus on more input from you! What books would you like to see reviewed? Would you like special book versus film reviews? Feel free to let me know!

Happy New Year, and happy reading!

Cheers!