For the last conversation in my 2019 in books series, I have Kristy with me! She is one of my recent twitter friends and writes at the Caffeinated Fae blog about books and more. It is lovely to have her with me!
Like all posts in the 2019 in books series, remember that Kristy’s words are in italics and since this is a bookish discussion, all book links open in a new tab so that you can refer to them afterwards.
Welcome to Armed with A Book, Kristy. 🙂 Tell me a little bit about your love for books.
My parents were insistent on bringing up readers, which is funny because they don’t read. I grew up going to the library down the street, and the best time in grade school was spending a period doing quiet reading time at the school library. I will admit, I only read what was popular, but I started to find my love of reading fantasy in middle school. In high school I found the romance genre and my life has never been the same.
Do you participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge or set reading goals for yourself? If yes, how do you usually chose this goal and what was your goal for this year?
I am obsessed with the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I’ve been participating in the reading challenge ever since I joined the Goodreads community in 2011. When setting my goal, I try to set something that is obtainable yet will push me to read. This year I set my goal to be 75 books, and I definitely surpassed that goal this year.
How do you keep track of the books you read?
Like you, I’ve been using Goodreads ever since I joined it. I won’t be using it for the challenge anymore though because I read enough without it. I love looking through all the Goodreads data and as a data analyst, it’s fun to combine my visualization skills with it. There’s a post out tomorrow actually about the decade of Goodreads data I have! I can’t believe the sheer number of books I have read in that much time!
How do you choose your books to read?
I read a lot of Advanced Review Copies (ARCs) from NetGalley, and I have a steady stream of Read for Review (R4R) requests, so I usually read them based on the publishing date. I also read audiobooks, so if I’m reading a fantasy ARC/R4R, I’ll probably be listening to an audiobook that is in a different genre.
What’s your preferred way to read? Audiobooks? Physical Books? Digital?
I don’t really have a preference between the three. I do think though that I don’t gain as much from audiobooks since I am unable to take notes or bookmark sections. I have noticed lately that when I finish a physical book, I walk away and sigh, thinking I have been reading too many ebooks, I should pick up a physical book now! Which is hilarious because I just put one down! I guess I am still getting used to reading ebooks. 🙂
About the books this year
Were there any books this year that challenged your thinking or you learned a lot from?
I typically read to escape the world, but I do throw in some books that will challenge me too. Recently, I finished reading How We Fight White Supremacy by Akiba Solomon & Kenrya Rankin. This book is challenging me in ways that I never knew possible. It is forcing me to take a step back and look at my privilege. Personally, I think this book should be required reading.
Haha it is not often that I hear that said about a book. 🙂
I know it is hard to give recommendations, especially when we read so many books in a year! If you had to choose, tell me about a couple books that I should check out.Â
It’s always hard to narrow down my recommendations, but since I primarily read romance, I’ll narrow it down to my favorite genre. I highly recommend reading:
- Get A Life, Chloe Brown is realistic, beautiful, and a book that made me fall in love with the romance genre all over again.
- Pan is such a beautiful retelling of Peter Pan that it is sure to make you laugh, cry, and swoon throughout the entire book.
- Desperate Measures flips Aladdin and makes you fall for Jafar. It’s dark, twisted, and swoon-worthy.
- Kingdom of Exiles is a fantastic fantasy romance that shows the bond between friends, has a fun pokemon feel to it!
- Super Fun Sexy Times is a graphic novel that shows the beauty of relationships in all the various varieties. You’re sure to connect with at least one couple.
I chose these books because they’re all some of my favorite books I’ve read this year. What about you? Do you have some recommendations for me?
I honestly don’t read much romance but I know Amber does so I’ll recommend the series that she told me (these are from her post directly):
- Rhenna Morgan’s Haven Brotherhood/Men of Haven series is a spectacular contemporary romance series. Each book features a different “brother” and their perfect match along with humour, suspense, and fantastic characters and imagery. If you like alpha males and the family they protect, this series is a winner.
- The Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatrick is a YA paranormal, fantasy series. I found the entire series to be utterly amazing. Each book pulled me into the world the author created. I devoured the entire 4-book series as fast as I could.
I read a lot of science fiction, speculative fiction and dystopia, so if you want to give those a try, I would highly recommend checking out this post!
The Year Ahead
Would you change anything, whether it is your reading habits, review routine or reading goal, for 2020?
I’m actually trying to read more books from my physical bookshelves. I created the Clearing The Hoard Bookwrym Challenge to help me read through my shelves and hopefully make room for more books in the process.
That’s really cool! All us bookworms need that once in a while.
I hope you enjoyed this conversation with Kristy! Here are the ways to connect with her:
That’s all for the 2019 in books for book lovers series! Thank you so much for supporting me and reading these conversations. It has been an absolute pleasure to share some members of the reading community with you. 🙂
Tomorrow – it’s the last day of 2019 and the end of the 2010s! Come back to read about my decade in books. There will be lots of visuals!
Thanks for reading! ❤️
Awww, she’s one of my favorite bloggers! Kristy makes the best recommendations, and I’ve actually just picked up Get a Life, Chloe Brown since she’s raved about it so much. Thanks for sharing this interview.