3 Reasons This Introvert Loves to Travel

In a few hours I will be on a plane to Vancouver, where I will be staying with a friend for Reading Week and doing all the fun things! So I thought for my post this week I would talk about why I love to travel, as well as why being an introvert and traveling actually go together way better than you'd think.

I'm an introvert, which means I get drained going out to big parties, making small talk and meeting new people, but I get energy out of being by myself (sometimes), and  being around my close friends. That's just a basic overview, there's a lot more complications and different circumstances, and also all introverts are different, but that's how I feel most of the time.

So, traveling - something that involves dealing with new situations, people, and the unknown pretty much all the time, so why do I as an introvert love it so much?

Well here are some reasons traveling is actually GREAT for introverts like me! :)

1. It forces you out of your comfort zone

There's not really going back once you've bought a $500 plane ticket, and once you do that you have to deal with all the new things, complications and people that traveling involves. Even if you're traveling with friends, you're going to have to deal with things that you wouldn't have to in your everyday life. When I went to the Philippines, I had to do so many things I'd never done before, and discovered how capable I was at doing things I'd never imagined I would do.

The wind made my hair like that, fyi

2. People traveling also want to meet new people!

One of the things I find difficult as an introvert is meeting and connecting with new people. It's especially hard in day to day life when people already have people they know and circles they travel in, and aren't necessarily looking to get to know new people. But I still want to meet people! Often when you travel, other people who are traveling also want to new people, so you already have somewhere to start. When I went on Explore, talking with people was easy because basically everyone came on their own so nobody had previously established friendship groups to break in on - we were all making them up as we went!

3. You get to know people REAL WELL REAL FAST

This is one of my favourite parts of traveling. When you're stuck in a car with someone for 8 hours, or you're spending a week with someone, you have ample time to get to know them and chat about everything and anything. When traveling, you're often in cramped quarters - a tent, a hotel room, a car - and that means you find out a LOT about the people you're traveling with. As an introvert, I get so much energy from getting to know people really well. (I LOVE deep, soul-searching conversations. Give me all of them.) I went to NerdCon: Stories in Minneapolis with a friend of mine, and during the two eight hour drives we had to do we had some really nice chats. :) 

Going through all my travel photos made me really want to travel again... good thing I'm leaving in like two hours!!! 

Why do you like to travel (or why do you NOT like traveling?)

How I Study

It's the week before Reading Week! If you're a student, you know that means EVERYTHING IS DUE. But the end is near...

Anyway, since most of my time right now is taken up by writing essays, practicing presentations and studying for midterms, I thought I'd tell you how I study and include some handy dandy study tips! If there is anything about my identity that I am completely confident about, it is that I am a good student. If I know anything, I know how to organize my schoolwork and study habits. (Now if only I could be as competent in all the other areas of my life...)

So here are ~*~*ALYSSA'S STUDY STEPS AND TIPS!*~*~

Step 1: Read the review and listen closely

Most of my professors in my four years of university have been pretty good at giving review sheets, which include the questions or topics that they want you to know for the test. Some of my professors even go over the review a bit in class, about what they are expecting for certain questions. Make sure you pay attention, and write LOTS of notes when your professor talks about what they want on the midterm! This is invaluable information and they are plopping it right in your lap!

Step 2: Create my own review using the review sheet

I write my notes by hand because part of my study process involves typing up my notes. So I'll go through my written notes, and then plug them in as answers to the review questions. That usually takes a couple hours, but it's actually really easy - it's basically just typing while listening to music, and it's a good way to begin and get everything organized. If you type your notes in class, I would suggest printing them out and then typing them in again to your review sheet. I know you could just copy and paste, but then you're not actually methodically going through the information again, which is helpful for actually retaining the information later. And if I haven't got a review sheet, then I make sure I'm focusing on main subjects and points, rather than silly small details. If in doubt about anything you're not sure you're supposed to know, ask your professor!!

Step 3: Whiteboard study!! 

I love my whiteboard with all my heart for all things organization, but especially for studying. I'll transfer my entire review sheet to my whiteboard, although a slightly condensed version of it (because I only have so much space on my whiteboard). I'll try to focus on writing out the main points and keywords that will hopefully trigger the rest of the details. I usually do this a couple days before my actual midterm, because then I can scan it again a few times as I'm getting dressed or ready for bed in the following days. Also, it's super fun putting all my notes in a whole bunch of funky colours. ;) (Also tip: if you're going to use this technique, make sure you buy low odour markers otherwise you will have a headache after one page of notes.)


Step 4: Quiz myself

The ideal is to get together with a classmate and we quiz each other, but if that's not an option I try to find a willing family member. If I can't find a willing family member, then I'll just do the cover-the-answers thing and ask myself questions. The trick is to try saying the answers out loud. Once I can explain the material to someone else (or empty space) out loud, I know I'm ready for the test!

~*~*Some more tips*~*~

Tip #1: Use a variety of methods I've heard that it's good to study with a variety of different methods, because each different method solidifies the information in your brain even more. So by the time I'm done my study process, I've written the material, typed the material, written the material (in fun coloured markers), and said the material out loud, which I think is pretty good. ;)

Tip #2: Start early Obviously this process is fairly long, and takes awhile. You can't really cram AND do a lengthy 4-step process. I usually start maybe a week ahead, or at least the weekend before my actual midterm, and I usually do one step a day so it doesn't feel like too much all at once.

So that is how I study! Now I must get back to work... happy studying!

How do you study? What are your favourite study habits and tips?

My Bookworm Bedroom

How to motivate yourself to do a super thorough cleaning of your room: decide you are going to do a blog post room tour featuring a bunch of pictures of your room.

So, yeah, here is a tour of my bookworm bedroom. Enjoy! :)

I have this poster I made on my wall just as you walk in. It's a quote from Ivan E. Coyote's The Slow Fix, which I talked about in my Across Canada Reading Challenge. The idea is that I'm the "she who stayed to write the story", since I do most of my writing at my desk now. :)

Then from the doorway, if you turn to the left you see my desk, shelves, whiteboard, and my beautiful calendar that I got on sale from my local bookstore. My whiteboard is very important. It is where I display important papers/reminders (using my collection of tourist magnets), write my to do lists, and study when I have an exam. What do people do who don't have whiteboards??

The beautiful calendar I have is the 2017 Japanese Decorative Papers Calendar. I love nice calendars like this because it's not just for organization but also a decorative wall painting, bonus that all the designs in this calendar are gorgeous. (This is the calendar!) The cards beside it are cards from friends that live in different provinces.

The bookshelves above my desk are mostly for my school books. The top shelf is some sentimental stuff from my childhood, and my school stuff that I don't use or textbooks that I'll sell eventually. The second shelf is some notebooks and all my nonfiction books, including writing books and cookbooks! See if you can spot the book Your First Novel by Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb, which is the book that in a roundabout way introduced me to the online YA community and got me to start blogging! The third shelf is some pretty MG and YA books, and the school books that I'm currently using (can you guess what classes I'm in right now?)

The stickers are from when I went to NerdCon: Stories, the Hunger Games keychain I got from a friend, and the gorgeous bike chain bookend is from Ten Thousand Villages! The bookend is against some of my favourite books.

Okay, other side of my room! My window sills, where I keep my plants (in the nice Ikea greenhouse I got for Christmas), and my bookshelf where I keep my books and my collection of tea cups. (I don't actually collect tea cups - if any family is reading this, please stop buying me tea cups.) As you can see, another couple of themes of my room are tea, and music. I have received a lot of music note patterned gifts over the years, which is fine, I like music. :)

Now, one of the most important parts of my room aside from my bed, my bookshelf! I don't actually have a ton of books, because I recently went through them and got a rid of a bunch, but also because I'm not a huge book collector. I really only need to have the books I'll reread over and over and over again (*cough*Melina Marchetta), and if others are just going to sit on my shelf and not be read, I'd rather give them to someone who would enjoy them more. (Although all the shelves are double stacked, so... I still have a lot of books...heh.)

This shelf is my TBR right now pile, the books I'm going through at the moment. It holds any library books I have out, as well as books I've bought/been given and haven't gotten around to yet. (Which book should I read next?? I've already read Nimona and Lumberjanes, which were GREAT I can't get enough of them.)

This is my Christy Miller shelf, which was one of my favourite series growing up (it's an inspirational Christian series, super fluffy but I like fluff). The train car has significance if you've read the books. ;)

A dishes set from my grandma, and my adult fiction shelf! Lots of Miriam Toews. If you haven't noticed I don't really spend a lot of time organizing my books in fancy ways. I am lazy like that.

This is one of my favourite things I did in my room - my wall of bookish pictures above my bed. Each picture is either from a book, or is a reference in some way to a book. For example, I don't know how well you can see it but the bird on the top left is one of Audubon's birds, which has significance in Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt, probably my favourite MG book ever. Can you guess what books the rest of the pictures are from? (Oh wait! Just realized I lied - one of the pictures isn't from a book, it's Pascal Campion art.)

Calypso says thanks for coming and looking around!

What's your favourite thing in your room?

13 Books With Stories of Immigrants

Happy Wednesday! Here are some good books I've read that feature immigrants as characters, or are about the experience of immigrating that I think you should check out:


Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam
Adult fiction, US

"A vibrant debut novel, set in Brooklyn and Bangladesh, Bright Lines follows three young women and one family struggling to make peace with secrets and their past."  This book was different, absolutely full of emotion and discovery.






Intolerable by Kamal Al-Solaylee
Memoir, Canada

"Intolerable is part memoir of an Arab family caught in the turmoil of Middle Eastern politics over six decades, part personal coming-out narrative and part cultural analysis. This is a story of the modern Middle East that we think we know so much about." A fascinating and extremely relevant story.






Ru by Kim Thuy
Memoir, Canada

"In vignettes of exquisite clarity, sharp observation and sly wit, we are carried along on an unforgettable journey from a palatial residence in Saigon to a crowded and muddy Malaysian refugee camp, and onward to a new life in Quebec." This book is absolutely beautiful, and made me cry multiple times.

Something in Between by Melissa de la Cruz
YA, US

A story about a daughter of Filipino immigrants in the US who finds out she doesn't have proper documentation, and how her teenage life is affected by that realization. There's also a fun romance in it if you like that kind of thing. 







Kay's Lucky Coin Variety by  Ann Y.K. Choi
Adult fiction, Canada

"A unique and imaginative debut novel, Kay’s Lucky Coin Variety evocatively portrays the life of a young Korean Canadian girl who will not give up on her dreams or her family."






Citizens of Nowhere by Debi Goodwin
Nonfiction, Canada

A story that follows 11 refugees from Somalia for a year as they come to study at universities in Canada on scholarships, and all of their struggles in trying to figure out a new country.







The Lucky Ones by Anne Mahon


Nonfiction, Canada

A collection of stories of African refugees, told in their own words. Each of the stories is a small snapshot of the experiences of immigrants to Canada, each one unique.

Cockroach by Rawi Hage
Adult fiction, Canada

One of the darkest, most fascinating books I've ever read about immigration. I think I'd have to read it again to get all of the meaning out of the various images the author uses.








Beauty Plus Pity by Kevin Chong
Adult fiction, Canada

An enjoyable, quiet and slow paced book about family and relationships. "Written with a winsome yet plaintive eye, Beauty Plus Pity is about a young man who's forced to reckon with the past as he works through his lifelong ambivalence toward his hyphenated cultural identity, and between two parents holding intolerable secrets."




 
Listen, Slowly by Thanha Lai
MG fiction, US

A super adorable story about a young girl going back to Vietnam to visit her family who lives there, and all the trouble she gets into and friends she makes along the way.






Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
YA, Australia

A heartwarming story about a family of Italian immigrants living in Australia, in particular the dramatic Josee Alibrandi.








Drive by Saviours by Chris Benjamin
Adult fiction, Canada

"Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men’s histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world." Read my full review here.






Everything Was Goodbye by Gurijinder Basran
Adult fiction, Canada

"Heartbreaking and beautiful, Everything Was Good-bye is an unforgettable story about family, love, and loss, and the struggle to live in two different cultural worlds." I loved this book, and I think Meena is one of my favourite female characters. 



Recommend some of your favourite books about or written by immigrants in the comments! 

For some more recommendations, check out 49thshelf's list of books about Canada from an immigrant's point of view. 

Review: Nobody Cries at Bingo by Dawn Dumont

Do not be fooled by the awful cover, this book was great and absolutely hilarious. I was laughing out loud by the third or fourth page, and I didn't stop laughing for the whole book.

"The Nehewin's travelling habits were curtailed when the buffalo population, once an ocean of brown on the plains, withered to a few hundred. The Canadian government stepped in and created protected reserves for the buffalo where they now grow fat but remain wild. Then they created reserves for the Native people where they grew also fat and remain a little wild." -Nobody Cries at Bingo, p. 28. 

Nobody Cries at Bingo is about the main character, Dawn, growing up on a reserve in Saskatchewan and all the mischief that she gets into throughout her childhood. It's been described as part novel, part memoir, which I think is accurate, since the voice of the narrator is clearly the voice of young Dawn rather than the voice of the author looking back on her childhood. Having the book be told through the voice of young Dawn just makes the book that much funnier, since she's a very sarcastic and dramatic character who always seems to be getting herself into trouble (which is one of my favourite types of characters to read about). 

The book starts when Dawn is just starting school, and ends when she is in her first year of law school after she leaves the reserve, although most of it takes place during her elementary school years. Nobody Cries at Bingo is more a collection of stories about her childhood than anything, but each story is hilarious and super entertaining. Dawn describes with her wry humor the ridiculous happenings of the reserve and her large extended family. Mostly, though, the stories chronicle Dawn's ridiculous plans to best everyone around her, and failing at it. There's one story about her and her siblings idolizing Conan the Barbarian, and then accidentally getting into a fight with other girls. At the end of that chapter, Dawn decides maybe Conan isn't the hero for her: "Swiftly my mantra changed from what would Conan do, to what would Wayne Gretzky do? Now all I had to do was learn how to skate."

The wry, ironic style of humor that is used throughout the book (and also that I love) reminded me a lot of the humor style of Miriam Toews' A Complicated Kindness, as well as the funny life observations from The Slow Fix by Ivan E. Coyote.

If you want a quick, light, entertaining and absolutely hilarious read, I'd definitely encourage you to pick this book up!

Nobody Cries at Bingo on Amazon.ca
Nobody Cries at Bingo on Amazon.com
Nobody Cries at Bingo on Goodreads
Nobody Cries at Bingo on Thistledown Press
Thistledown Press on Twitter

5 Things To Remember When Looking For Diverse Books

One of the things I try to do in my reading is look for diverse books to read. I also like to read books that are less well known, or books that maybe not everyone is talking about. The problem with both of these kinds of books is they are hard to find. Here are some things that I tell myself when I am discouraged:

1. There are a ton of great resources already out there to use! While it is hard to find diverse or lesser known books, there are a lot of other people committed to these things. Here are just some of the resources I use (and let me know what you use!)
We Need Diverse Books has a great Resources page (you could probably just look there instead of my list)
Tu Books, an imprint of Lee & Low that publishes diverse YA & MG.
Cake Literary
YA Interrobang is great about posting inclusive lists and features on diverse books.
Disability in Kidlit
49th Shelf has a bunch of diverse book lists, and also features diverse books on their blog (see this post where Indigenous authors recommend their favourite books).
The FOLD
Rich in Color also has a great Resources page.
Diversity in YA
Debbie Reese's blog
#ownvoices hashtag
#diversebooks
#indigenousreads
#quietYA
#diversebookbloggers, where diverse book bloggers recommend books!

I also scour a lot of Goodreads lists (which isn't always the best, since a lot of the time you keep coming across the same books), as well as just plain Googling. 

2. You don't have to read every diverse book you come across

This has made it a lot easier for me to read diverse books. There are a lot of diverse books out now, so you can pick and choose. Sometimes I feel like I have to read all of them if I want to support diverse books at all. But diverse books are just books! You can choose to read the ones that interest you. And if you can't find a diverse book in a genre that you like, maybe ask yourself why that is.

3. Publishing is NOT diverse (there has been a lot of research) and you will have to do some work

The structures of publishing are white, which means that the books that you find the most easily - the ones on tables out front in the bookstore, the ones that win awards, the ones that people are talking about, are probably for the most part not going to be that diverse. But do the work! Prove to publishers and booksellers that actually, books about all kinds of people do sell!

4. Listen

Listen to people about books that represent their identities. There have been a lot of books that represent peoples negatively and not at all accurately. The resources above can help with that. Especially on the internet, people like to talk a lot, and sometimes we really just need to listen.

5. It's worth it

Finding diverse books may be harder, but you might end up reading a book about something or someone that you would never experience or learn about otherwise. And maybe, just a little bit, you can help shift the publishing industry to represent all kinds of people, and then everyone will be able to find themselves in the books they read.

"The right book can foster empathy, dispel stereotypes, prompt discussions about race and ethnicity, and inspire children to imagine not only a world that includes them but also a world where they are the heroes of their own stories. Our books serve as both mirrors and windows, enabling children to see themselves, one another, and the diversity of their world."  - Lee & Low website

For further reading: Why We Need Diverse Literature and How To Find It by Rich in Color

What are your favourite resources to use to find diverse books?

Why You Should Watch Literary Inspired Web Series

A few years ago, I discovered something called Literary Inspired Web Series.The birth of the genre started with a web series adaptation of Pride and Prejudice by Hank Green called the Lizzie Bennett Diaries (LBD). It brings the classic into the modern day by having the main characters be video bloggers on YouTube. It wasn't a new idea to do web series like this, but I'm pretty sure it was the first time it was attempted as an adaptation of a classic book.

Anyway, the LBD sparked a whole host of young, for the most part female, filmmakers and creators to think, hey, we could do something like this, and the Literary-Inspired Web series (LIWs as people like to say) genre was born.

I think this genre of content is really cool, for a number of reasons. First of all, it's given a platform to a lot of young female creators to create content and receive recognition. The creators of Nothing Much To Do have now made three series and are working on two more, and have received $100,000 in funding from NZ On Air twice, for two different series. And that's just one group of web series creators!

Also, ever since LBD casted Charlotte and Bingley from Pride and Prejudice as Asian, it has set up a precedent for diversity in other literary web series. In most LIWs the characters are usually more diverse than the original, either in race, gender or sexual orientation.

My favourite thing about LIWs however is that it introduced me to classics that I'd never read before, and helped me fall in love with them. I read Pride and Prejudice once, but I didn't really get into it. After watching LBD, and other modernized adaptations, I could really appreciate the themes and brilliance of the original classics a lot more. I've watched a bunch of Austen adaptations, and all of them made me appreciate just how amazing and feminist Jane Austen is.

So if I've made you at all interested, here are some of my favourite web series adaptations of literary classics:

1. The Lizzie Bennett Diaries, adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, the series that started it all!

2. The Autobiography of Jane Eyre, adaptation of Jane Eyre by a group of female creators from Canada! You can't help but fall in love with Jane in this series.

3. Nothing Much To Do is an adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing by a group of young female creators from New Zealand. The acting is seamless, and the writing and adaptations are great. I also love their sequel to this series, Lovely Little Losers.

4. The Misselthwaite Archives is an adaptation of The Secret Garden, which is absolutely beautiful.

5. Twelfth Grade or Whatever is an adaptation of Twelfth Night by some very young creators, and it is hilarious and super sweet. It's much smaller scale than most of the other series, but it still has great writing, acting, and story adaptations.

6. From Mansfield With Love is an adaptation of Mansfield Park. I think the best part about it is the main character.

7.  And not really a direct adaptation but a fun literary web series anyway, Edgar Allan Poe's Murder Mystery Dinner Party (or, Poe Party), which is about a bunch of authors coming to dinner at Edgar Allan Poe's house, and then MURDER happens. It's absolutely hilarious, and I'm sure if you've studied literature a lot, you'll get a lot more of the references and jokes than I did.

Happy watching!

(Also, for someone who says all this much better than me, check out this video!)

I Wrote A Poem Every Day in December!

How it all started:

• a friend of a friend of mine has an Instagram account for her cat, with a twist: every time she posts a picture of her cat, she captions it with a haiku. 
• NaNoWriMo was going on, and while NaNo still kind of scares me, I've gotten closer and closer to doing it, and I liked the idea of writing something every day.
• I've also been thinking about and writing more poetry lately, and I wanted to do more of it.

So I thought, why not try doing a sort of poem diary thing, and write a poem every day in December? I only missed two days, and by the end of December I ended up with 29 poems, which is more poems than I've written since like, 2011.

So, here are some things that I learned while doing this December poem diary project:

1. I have no idea how to actually write poems

I realized while doing this project that while I write poems, I haven't really studied it or read about how to write poems or anything. I don't really know the techniques or the various structures or anything beyond what I learned in middle school. That brings me to my next point...

2. I should read more poetry

Poetry is a weird thing, because it's not something that I've been taught to sit down and read for fun. The most interaction I've had with poetry is in various English classes I've taken, and I really enjoy that but I don't take the time to do it on my own. But poetry can be really powerful, and I really want to read more of it. One of the things that has made me consider buying poetry books (like North End Love Songs by Katherena Vermette) is the enthusiasm of one of the hosts on Literary Disco for poetry. It made me think, oh, people buy and read poetry books for fun? I guess I could do that... I'm always looking for ways to expand my reading tastes!

3. You can be inspired every day if you look for it

There's this idea that floats around that if you wait, inspiration will just come to you. And sometimes it does, but sometimes you have to work for it. Every night I would sit down with my notebook and think, okay, what happened today? What thoughts or feelings did I have today that I want to capture? And then I would try my best to put it into a poem. Once I actually sat down and tried to think of things to write, there was a lot more to write about than I thought.

4. It is a lot harder to think of ideas if you don't go outside

What's that saying? In order to write, you need to live? Well, since I was off school for a lot of December, I spent a lot of time just at home, and it is really hard to think of ideas for a daily poem when you don't do much in the day... so basically, get outside! See the world!

5. Writing helps process things

Last year I had to watch an interview with Miriam Toews for a class, and in that interview she talked about how each of the books she's written have helped her process things in her own life. (Watch that interview, and then read her books Swing Low: A Life, All My Puny Sorrows and A Complicated Kindness.) I've never really had that experience until this year, with the book I wrote, and this poem diary thing. It is interesting looking back on the poems I wrote this month and seeing how there's a theme woven through it, and how the poems are about struggling with something at the beginning of the month to accepting it and being more content at the end.

Just some things I learned! What have you learned while writing lately?

2016 Reading Goal Check In & 2017 Goals!

New year, new goals, new look! (The new look is still in progress.)

Anyway, let's see how I did with this year's reading goals...

1. Read diversely! This is always a goal of mine, although it definitely takes work and I can always do better. I especially want to focus on reading what people have called #ownvoices on Twitter, where the identity of the main character is shared by the author. 

I read 19 own voices books this year, about 30% of the books I read... which is pretty good, but I would love to eventually get it up to at least half of the books I read in a year, or more.

2. Read more books by non-Western authors, or with non-Western settings (like, outside the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia). This is really hard sometimes because of language issues, but I know there are books out there! (Also if you have recs for me for any of these, please comment and let me know!)

I read 3 books with non-Western authors and settings, which is... not great. Also, going through my book log, I'm having trouble figuring out what actually counts as non-Western authors and settings, since a lot of books I read are written by authors who have immigrated to Western countries. So what counts as an "international" author? If an author is from Pakistan but moved to the US and published in the US are they an American author?

3. Read more books by indigenous authors, not just written by authors from Canada and the US but outside as well. 

You can see all of the books by Indigenous authors that I read this year here, and as you can tell I did not do super great. Most of them I only read in December. Also I did not read any books by Indigenous authors outside the US or Canada - actually I have no idea where I would find books like that. Anyway, better next year! 

4. Continue to read CanLit! I loved discovering all the great CanLit out there this year, and I'm not ready by any means to be done with it yet!

I read 18 CanLit books this year! I think I'm pretty happy with that. I still want to continue reading CanLit, and I also want to do more CanLit reviews this year! Before you know it, this will be a CanLit blog. I would be okay with that.

5. Read more books with non-American authors than American authors (I failed at this in 2015.)

I was definitely closer this year, but I still was not successful. I read ten more American authored books than non-American authored books. It is hard because whenever I want an easy fun book to read, American books are always the easiest to find... 

Aaand this year's goals! Last year I don't know what I was thinking but I didn't do numbers for anything, so this year's goals will be more specific. 

*~*~2017 Reading Goals~*~*

1. Read 7 books by Indigenous authors, including at least 1 by an Indigenous author not from North America.
2. Read more books with non-American authors than American authors. I will do it this year!! Third time's a charm!
3. Read 3 books that have been translated from another language.
4. Have 40% of the books I read this year be diverse #ownvoices books. 
5. Read 5 books with non-Western settings.
6. Do a reading challenge on the blog! Which reading challenge? Who knows, not me! 

 I will still read a lot of CanLit, but since I did pretty good this year I won't make it a goal. And it's included in goal #2. Hopefully those goals are reasonable and specific enough. We will see.

What are your reading goals for this year? Do you love making goals as much as I do?? 

What I Read This Year: 2016 End of Year Survey

I did this end of year survey for the past two years, and I'm doing it again! The survey was created by Jamie at Perpetual Page Turner.

 2016 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 65, a lot less than last year.
Number of Re-Reads: 11
Genre You Read The Most From: Fantasy and contemporary remain my favourite genres... YA Fantasy, with 11 (most of which were rereads), adult contemp with 9, and YA contemp with 7 (wow is that the first time it's been more adult than YA??).

1. Best Book You Read In 2016? I read a lot of good books, but they were all so different I can’t pick a best book this year... see below for some of my recommendations. 

2. Book You Were Excited About and Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? I've loved all of Stephanie Kuehn's books, so I was super excited for her new book, The Smaller Evil, but it was probably my least favourite book of hers, maybe because it was similar to another book I read by her. She's still an amazing author, though, and Charm and Strange was one of my best books of 2014.

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read?  The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (recommended by someone on an episode of Witch, Please). You'd think a book that takes place over not very long about the mundane life of an English butler would be boring, but it was the most fascinating thing ever.  There is so much going on under the surface, and the narrator's voice is sooo well crafted. Ishiguro is a genius.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? I don't know if anyone read it, but I definitely brought up Rebecca Traister's All the Single Ladies: Unmarried Women and the Birth of an Independent Nation a lot. So fascinating, so relevant.

5. Best series you started in 2016? I started, finally, to read Throne of Glass because my best friend was reading it. It has been on my TBR forever, but I honestly don't think I would've liked it as much if I'd read it sooner. I love Celaena, she's great. (Although now I'm reading Crown of Midnight and... aghh Sara J. Maas is mean.)

Best Sequel of 2016? Best Series Ender of 2016? The Raven King, for both! So good.

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2016? E.K. Johnston! Well I knew about her before, but I'd never read any of her books, and I fell in love with her book Exit, Pursued by a Bear (I even did a book pumpkin of the cover!) Hermione is the best, and I'm so happy there are YA books like this now.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? Probably Boring Girls by Sara Taylor, which is an adult thriller, I think. So out of my comfort zone, but I loved it. I also did a review here.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? Either Boring Girls or The Raven King!

9. Book You Read In 2016 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? I mean, it was already a reread this year, but definitely The Queen's Thief series since BOOK FIVEEE

10. Favourite cover of a book you read in 2016? Made You Up by Francesca Zappia has a fun cover (and was what initially attracted me to the book, way back before it was published, didn't get around to reading it until now...) but I liked the covers of most of the books I read this year.

11. Most memorable character of 2016? Bish from Melina Marchetta's Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil. MM does her characters soo well.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2016?  Ice Diaries by Jean Mcneil had so many gorgeous turns of phrase, and depicted the Antarctic beautifully (also, a great book if you're doing the book-from-every-continent challenge... too bad I didn't find it last year!!)

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2016? Another book I have pushed at a lot of people: Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of New Hollywood by Mark Harris (recommended by Literary Disco). It was about the Oscars of 1967 and how Hollywood was changing (and failing to change), intertwined with the history of the sixties and its effect on Hollywood. SO fascinating, I could not put it down by the end, and even though it's like 800 pages it was too short. Also, even though it was published in 2008, it is interesting how incredibly relevant it still is. Everyone should read this book, it is so great. You should also listen to the episode of Literary Disco on it.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read? Throne of Glass by Sara J. Maas... I think I've had it on my TBR list since I started blogging when I was fifteen.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2016? I don't know if it's my favourite, but a passage I like that I wrote down, from Expecting Adam by Martha Beck:

“He looked back at me with steady eyes, and I knew what I had known – what I should have remembered – all that time: that his flesh of my flesh had a soul I could barely comprehend, that he was sorry for the pain I felt as I tried to turn him into a “normal” child, and that he loved me despite my many disabilities.”

16.Shortest and Longest Book You Read In 2016? Shortest is probably North End Love Songs byKatherena Vermette, a gorgeously written book of poetry about growing up in the North End in Winnipeg. Longest book is either Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris, or Riel: A Life of Revolution by Maggie Siggins.

17. Book That Shocked You The Most I read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, and I just kept thinking, how does he survive this!?!? And then he did. What an incredible story of survival.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) Since I read Queen's Thief I can count Eugenides and Attolia :), but I'll also say Chaol and Celaena from Throne of Glass.

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year The friendship in Wish Girl by Nikki Loftin.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read Previously Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta! Of course. Even though it's her first adult novel, it's so very, very Melina Marchetta.

21. Best Book You Read In 2016 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: Throne of Glass, haha.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2016? I can't pick! :)

23. Best 2016 debut you read? I don't think I read any debuts this year... I just can't keep up.

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater. Maggie Stiefvater knows how to build beautiful places into her stories, and not just in the sense that they're aesthetically pleasing, but also that they just mean so much to the characters (and, by extension, the readers).

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Tell Me How a Crush Should Feel by Sara Farizan. :)

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2016? Swing Low: A Life by Miriam Toews. If you ever want to cry, just read something by Miriam Toews. She knows how to write humor, but also deeply sorrowful stories.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? Wish Girl by Nikki Loftin. I love fun, magical MGs. :)

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? Swing Low: A Life by Miriam Toews. It doesn't help knowing it is a true story about Miriam Toews’ family.

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2016? The Miracles of Ordinary Men by Amanda Leduc. Such an interesting concept, and it was done super well. I wasn't super satisfied with the ending, though, but the rest of it was good.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)? Couldn't think of anything, then remembered that I had to read The Shunning by Beverly Lewis for a class last semester. So mad that I had to read it (and do a presentation on it).

Book Blogging

1. New favourite book blog you discovered in 2016? I haven’t really kept up with reading very many blogs... recommend me some!

2. Favourite review that you wrote in 2016? Probably my review of Boring Girls by Sara Taylor.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog? I like my post, Why I’m Glad I Wasn’t a Teen Author and my post on Growing Up.

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)? I don’t think I participated in any events this year... oh except I did this annotation project of a Queen’s Thief book with some Queen’s Thief fans. I’m excited to do some more things with that fandom in the new year in anticipation of the new book!

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016? The Thick as Thieves announcement, definitely. I mean when you’ve been waiting five or six years for another book, and an announcement is finally made, it’s a big deal!!

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year? Well I've talked about how I have trouble finding books I can really get into, so that’s one thing. I also found it hard to do all of my 2016 reading goals, apparently. I find it really hard to challenge myself in my reading when it’s so much easier to read fun books, especially when I’m busy with school.

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)? Funnily enough, my review of Boring Girls by Sara Taylor, and my review of Life Among the Qallunaat by Mini Aodla Freeman, which also happen to be in my opinion the best posts I wrote this year.

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? My post Why I’m Glad I Wasn’t a Teen Author, as well as my post about accomplishing my goal of writing 50,000 words before the end of December!

9. Best bookish discovery (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? Probably the podcast Witch, Please!, a podcast with two (Canadian!) feminist lady scholars discussing Harry Potter. Soo interesting and funny, and relevant, considering all the stuff going on with JK Rowling and the Harry Potter universe these days. They just did an episode discussing the Fantastic Beasts movie.

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? Uh... I did really terribly with my reading goals this year, although I did read quite a bit of CanLit, and a lot of diverse #ownvoices.

Looking Ahead: Books

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2017? Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo! I loved Shadow and Bone and its sequels, but I’ve put off reading Six of Crows and its sequel (mostly because there are like 30 holds on it at the library). But I want to read it!!

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2017 (non-debut)? Thick As Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner!!

3. 2017 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? After the Fall by Kate Hart! I have wanted to read her book since I read a first chapter excerpt on her blog years ago, and I’m so excited she’s finally being published! She also has consistently over the years had great blog series, from her cover analysis, to her Badass Ladies You Should Know series.

4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2017? See #2!

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2017? I want to actually accomplish some of my reading goals next year. I was looking back at previous blog posts, and my reading challenge posts have always been the most well received so I think I’m going to do that. And I’ve been saying this for years, but I’d love to actually have a blog post schedule, even if it’s only once a month or something. I want to have written more than 13 blog posts by the end of next year (okay so that would mean more than once a month... whatever)!! I have also been thinking for awhile about completely redoing the layout of the blog. We'll see how that goes.

Stay tuned for my 2017 reading goals!

What are your best books of 2016? Goals for 2017? Any suggestions for how I can spruce things up around here?