Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog!
This week’s prompt is Top Ten Books from the Last Ten Years (one for each year), but I’m putting a spin on it and instead listing my favorite books since I started blogging. I’ve been blogging for eight years, and before that I didn’t keep lists of any kind (I became a Goodreads member shortly after my blog started), so trying to remember what I read those two years prior to blogging turned out to be difficult. Then I started going back through all my “Best of the Year” lists and realized how impossible it would be to choose ONE FAVORITE BOOK for each year. So today I’m bringing you my Top Two Favorite books from each of my blogging years, starting in 2011. And choosing two was extremely hard!!
I also discovered, as I put this post together, that my reviews have gone through lots of changes over the years, so it’s funny to see various review formats (that I never went back and changed!). I also did something really stupid (at least it seems that way now) and I created an “award” called the Crystal Chandelier Award of Awesome (LMAO) for those books that exceeded my expectations. Thankfully, this award only appears in 2013 and fizzled out soon after, and if you click the link to those reviews you’ll see what I’m talking about. (Also, in case you’re curious, my blog design used to feature a chandelier, which is where the award came from.)
Here we go (click on the titles to read my reviews—if you dare!):
Best of 2011:
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline | State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
I wasn’t getting review books from authors or publishers at this point, so I was reading and reviewing books that I purchased. I was also still reading a LOT of literary fiction, and Ann Patchett was (and still is) one of my favorites. I’m supremely embarrassed to link up my early reviews, which generally have no likes and very few (if any) comments, but I’m feeling brave today so there you go. And yes, I still love both of these books! Also I just realized I never reviewed State of Wonder, but trust me, it’s amazing, no matter what people on Goodreads are saying:-P
Best of 2012:
11/22/63 by Stephen King | Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
This was the last Stephen King book I read, I’m sad to say. But wow, it’s still one of my favorites. Again, I read my own purchased copy and never wrote a review for it. Stormdancer was Jay Kristoff’s first book, I believe, and I’m still glad to have discovered him back when he was a debut author. I loved Stormdancer, although many readers didn’t.
Best of 2013:
Vicious by V.E. Schwab | The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig
Hey, my blog started off slow. I was finally getting review copies from publishers in 2013, but still stuck in the awful self-published mire of bad books that took me quite a while to get out of (with apologies to self published authors, but I read some of the worst books of my life during these years and wasted so many reading hours before I became more selective.) I was lucky enough to get on Victoria Schwab’s “ARC tour” for Vicious, a concept I’ve not seen since (she sent one copy of an ARC around the country to ten lucky readers, who would then mail it to the next person on the list, until finally it made it back to Victoria.) I also started reviewing books for Angry Robot, who frankly had some amazing books in those early days (not so much anymore, it’s been a while since I’ve read an Angry Robot book that I liked). Because of that, I received a physical ARC of The Blue Blazes and immediately fell in love with Chuck Wendig. This book also has the distinction of being the very first recipient of the aforementioned Crystal Chandelier Award (groan).
Best of 2014:
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel | The Girl with All the Gifts by M.R. Carey
My blog was finally gaining traction in 2014. I read some amazing books in 2014, among them these two favorites. I read a NetGalley copy of Station Eleven and knew immediately it would go on to win all kinds of accolades and awards. I also discovered M.R. Carey (I have since read ALL his books and loved each one) and got to read The Girl with All the Gifts before it took off and became so popular.
Best of 2015:
Afterparty by Daryl Gregory | Nightwise by R.S. Belcher
2015 was the year that cemented Daryl Gregory and R.S. Belcher as two of my favorite authors, and to this day I jump for joy when I see a new book of theirs is coming out. (WTF Daryl Gregory? When when when are we getting a new book from you???) A wonderful Tor publicist (who is now off on other adventures but she literally would send me any Tor book I wanted at that time) sent me Afterparty after I read and adored Harrison Squared. She insisted I would love Afterparty and boy was she right! It went on to be the only top ten book in the history of my blog that was published in a different year. Also from Tor, I read R.S. Belcher’s Nightwise (shown above with the original cover design), following on the heals of his Golgotha series. Belcher and Gregory never fail to delight and surprise me, and I consider them true treasures in the world of SFF. (Also, I need suggestions for books similar to Afterparty. If you’ve read it and can give me any ideas, I’d be forever grateful!)
Best of 2016:
The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman | The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp
2016 was a great year for horror, and it was also the year I discovered Christopher Buehlman and Jason Arnopp. The Suicide Motor Club is still one of my all time favorite vampire stories, so if you love dark and gritty you should not miss this book. Jason Arnopp’s book was a complete surprise, another extremely dark story with humorous overtones. Arnopp is finally publishing his next book this year, and I couldn’t be more excited!
Best of 2017:
Borne by Jeff VanderMeer | Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
Science fiction won the day in 2017, as my top two books of that year were simply amazing SF. To this day, Borne remains a very special book for me, and it will take something spectacular to top it. And Six Wakes doesn’t get enough love, in my opinion. This is the “locked door murder mystery in space” you didn’t know you needed in your life. I’m also chomping at the bit for Lafferty to write something else!!
Best of 2018:
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix | Bloody Rose by Nicholas Eames
Last year I read SO many awesome books, it was really hard to just pick two for this post. We Sold Our Souls was a shoe-in, because it was my overall favorite book of the year. But the number two slot could have been any one of about eight other books. Bloody Rose won out because it was simply an amazing sequel, and Eames is such a strong writer, and with only two books out the door, he’s got a long and successful career to look forward to.
I haven’t read most of these- I think just Ready Player One (which is a fantastic choice, and has me wondering why it isn’t on my list) but there are a few on my radar anyway.
Also- I’m totally voting to bring back the Crystal Chandelier of Awesome award.
Ha ha, not sure that I can bring that award back! Also, I’d probably have to rename it because the theme doesn’t really fit now.
How about: The Prestigious Buffy Award for Literary Excellence! It would be kind of fun to do an end of the year award type thing. I always talk about the same books as being my favorites, because I tend to love the same things, but there are plenty of other things I enjoy that I don’t necessarily talk about as often because they are edged out by those other favorites.
I did that a couple of years ago, I chose my top ten but I gave them each an “award” like “best characters,” “best worldbuilding” etc. It was fun but it took more work to set up the post.
It does sound like fun! Maybe I’ll give it a go this year… knowing me I’ll probably mean to and never get around to it lol.
Excellent list! I’m so happy to see Jack Sparks make it!
Yes! I still think about how much I loved Jack Sparks, and I wish more people knew about it.
I had a really hard time narrowing down to just one book as well. Ready Player One and 11/22/63 almost made my list this week.
Suzanne @ The Bookish Libra recently posted…Review: BRIGHT BURNING STARS by A.K. Small
It was tough! And I feel bad for all the fantastic books that I didn’t highlight…
Hey I started blogging in 2011 too! I gotta say I’ve read some bad self published books too but also books that were amazing and I’m still working with those authors. There are definitely some gems out there. I can’t believe it’s been 8 years already. *sobs*
I love that we both started in the same year:-) I actually have read some really good self published books, but back when I started my blog they were very hard to find. I think now there is a much bigger emphasis on professional editing and cover design than there was back in the early days.
What a great post, Tammy! I love your ongoing description of how your blog continued to grow and develop over the years. I rather like the idea of the Crystel Chandelier Award…
Well, I thought the Crystal Chandelier Award was such a good idea at the time, but sometimes “good” ideas should stay buried, lol.
This is a great list and makes me realise how many books I still have waiting – Jack Sparks and The Suicide Motor Club to name just two.
Lynn 😀
I’m having the same problem, every time I read a new list, I’m reminded of books I still haven’t read!
It was fun to go back and look at all we’ve read right? I am thrilled to find Suicide Motor Club here and Tor has always had suc great titles. I kind of went with a memorable book from each year. There was no way I could narrow it down to a book a year, but when looking back, some books held such memories, sometimes for weird reasons, that I focused on them instead. It was also a nice way to showcase some older books I read that maybe don’t get that much attention but that I still love.
I think my choices ended up being memorable books as well. Books I had an emotional reaction to and still can’t stop thinking about!
So many amazing books! I love seeing Six Wakes on your list — such a great book, and I wish more people read it! I loved 11/22/63 as well, and your 2014 books too!
Yay for Six Wakes! I always feel like I’m the only one who’s read it, but I’m glad I’m not:-)
I think it’s cool that you created your own award. 🙂
My TTT.
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Thanks Lydia!:-)
I so need to check out Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff! Well, and basically all of his backlist, let’s be honest. Yay, someone else with Vicious on their list! I didn’t know that about the ARC tour, but that sounds like a really neat way to do it! I don’t think I’ve heard of most of these books, so I’ll have a lot to check out. 😀 Great list.
Sammie @ The Writerly Way recently posted…Ten Best Books, 2009 to 2018 Edition (Congrats, You Win … Bragging Rights?)
Stormdancer is sooo good! In fact the whole series is good. Hopefully you can read it at some point:-)
Stormdancer is one I keep meaning to revisit! I started it a while back and I honestly can’t remember if I finished it or not, haha, but I keep meaning to re-read it. The Blue Blazes also sounds really interesting. That’s such a neat idea surrounding the ARC for Vicious! So many of these are ones I’ve wanted to check out, looks like you’ve read some great books over the years!
I feel pretty lucky that I’ve read so many good books. And every year we get more and more good ones to choose from:-)
I still look at Station Eleven and wonder WHY I haven’t read that. RPO was so fantastic and was super early on in my blogging days. Ah, the memories. 🙂
Bonnie @ For the Love of Words recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | A Decade of Favorites
It’s time for me to reread Station Eleven, but I’m sort of afraid ’cause I don’t want to ruin my memories:-)
I’ve had Stormdancer on my Kindle for years and still haven’t managed to read it yet (#BookBacklogofDoom). Six Wakes is another that I keep coming across and just haven’t managed to pull the trigger on because I’m trying to control my #BookBacklogofDoom!
Caitlin G. recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Books Released in the Last 10 Years
Ha ha I think we all have a #BookBacklogofDoom, lol.
Hard to believe it’s been that long since Ready Player One came out- wow! And I remember when Station eleven was everywhere!
Totally agree about Six Wakes- I still love that beginning, one of the more memorable ones in my opinion!
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It has been a long time, the years just fly by, don’t they? 😉
Great list! So many of these are on my TBR – I’ve owned Station Eleven for years, so it’s about time I read it!
Jess @ Jessticulates recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday | Ten years of amazing books!
Oh you should read Station Eleven! I actually would love to reread it:-)
First of all, I love “Crystal Chandelier Award of Awesome” (and it has nothing to do with the fact that I use “awesome” way more than any sane person should) and Second, Vicious totally deserves the Crystal Chandelier Award of Awesome <3
Brittany recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – Favorite Fantasy Books Released In the Last Ten Years
Ha ha, thanks Brittany! Agreed, Vicious was pretty special:-)
I have not read most of the books on your list. Looks like I have some catching up to do 😛 I’m especially interested in Afterparty.
I’d love to hear what other bloggers think of Afterparty, I feel like I’m the only one who’s read it:-)
I love that you took two choices per year, Tammy, and I love the variety in your choices. I see so many I want to read and some I’ve loved, too (Ann Patchett— LOVE her). It’s been so fun looking at everyone’s lists and taking notes!
So glad you are an Ann Patchett fan, she’s the best! And she has a new book coming out in November, I’m so excited:-)
It’s always fun looking back at things like this. I’ve only read one from your list so far (Ready Player One), but there are several on my TBR (Six Wakes, Bloody Rose, and Nightwise, at least). Looking back at my favorites of the last 5-10 years I’d probably include: The Slow Regard of Silent Things, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Martian, City of Blades, Ready Player One, and The Book Thief. I’d put Slow Regard and Ocean in my all time favorites list, just loved those.
I can’t believe I haven’t read Slow Regard yet, I must get to that at some point:-)
My stats in Goodreads helped a LOT when I was making my list – my blog is just way too disorganized to find anything, especially when we moved from blogspot to wordpress, haha! I really should allowed myself to pick two books a year, it would have made choosing much easier. For example, Jack Sparks definitely was a strong contender for my 2016 too, it hurt so much to cut it, lol. Yay to 11/22/63 and Ready Player One! It really is pretty cool to see some of the same books on a lot of lists, just shows how much they’re universally loved! 😀
It was tough even picking two books! Last year in particular I read so many books I loved, and I hated “cutting” them from this list:-)
2014 was indeed a good year. I love both those books though I appreciated Station Eleven more after I read it and began reminiscing on the story.
I still think about Station Eleven now and then!
I loved Ready Player One & 11/22/63.
Girl With All the Gifts was i think my first zombie story 😀
Haven’t read Six Wakes yet, but it’s been on my list for a while
I still need to read The Girl with All the Gifts. I think I’ll like that one!
Oh gosh, 2014. Those two books were AMAZING. And I only just finally got round to reading Vicious, which was a blast 🙂
Great list! I really want to read Stormdancer. Just have to make time for it. 😀