Monday, January 1, 2018

52 Books in 52 Weeks (2017 Edition)

Another year has gone by, another reading challenge has been completed, and another year without The Winds of Winter by George R.R. Martin. 2017 was at times a shitty year, but, come on George! We need GoT Book 6! We need it now more than ever!


Regardless, I am back to writing on this blog (exactly one year since I last wrote on it) to report that I have once again read 52 books in 52 weeks. It may not have been a good year for most things, but it was a good year for books. I re-read the first two books in the Harry Potter series because sometimes you just need them in your life. (Also, read a special Ravenclaw version of the Philosopher's Stone, because I'm going in on Ravenclaw this year. Thanks new Pottermore sorting quiz!)



Carrie Fisher passed away at the end of 2016, so I made sure to read everything I could that she had written. She was so wise, funny, and truthful. It hurts that someone like that is now gone.


I also continued to earn that Agatha Christie Fan Club badge as I make my way through every novel she has written.  Seven more this year. She certainly knew what she was doing, but did have some stinkers too (At Bertram's Hotel, you hot, hot mess!)


Reading has always been so fun for me and nothing is more fun in reading than LISTS. So here are some lists!

Favorite Book: S. - J.J. Abrams. ('Twas so rich, complex, and immersive! Also, this is not counting my re-readings of the first two HP novels)


Least Favorite Book: Crash and Burn - Michael Hassan. (Truly the worst!)


Longest Book: Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens (Bud needed an editor!)


Biggest Letdown: A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess (Maybe I just didn't get it.)


Favorite Character: Lisbeth Salander (The Girl in the Spider's Web), Dobby (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Lady Edgware (Lord Edgware Dies)

Least Favorite Character: All of the characters from Crash and Burn. THE WORST.

Most Read Author: Agatha Christie. Love that old broad.

Most Read Genre: Mystery / Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Favorite Author: Well, besides J.K. Rowling, Agatha Christie, and Madeleine L'Engle (the OG ladies), I'd have to say Jeffrey Eugenides.

2017 was the beginning of the world changing. Glass ceilings were broken. Hard truths were learned. And the resistance is getting fueled up. Can't wait to see what 2018 has in store for us all.

- ben fleck

52 Books in 52 Weeks (2017 Edition)

1. S - J.J. Abrams
2. As You Like It - William Shakespeare
3. A Separate Peace - John Knowles
4. The Beatrice Letters - Lemony Snicket
5. Lord Edgware Dies - Agatha Christie
6. The Princess Diarist - Carrie Fisher
7. Wishful Drinking - Carrie Fisher
8. Who Could That Be at This Hour? - Lemony Snicket
9. When Did You See Her Last? - Lemony Snicket
10. Once Upon a Time in the North - Philip Pullman
11. Tulip Fever - Deborah Moggach
12. A Caribbean Mystery - Agatha Christie
13. Our Mutual Friend - Charles Dickens
14. Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography - Lemony Snicket
15. File Under: 13 Suspicious Incidents - Lemony Snicket
16. A Wizard of Earthsea - Ursula K. Le Guin
17. The Zookeeper's Wife - Diane Ackerman
18. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
19. The Lost City of Z - David Grann
20. Aenir - Garth Nix
21. Above the Veil - Garth Nix
22. The Diary of a Young Girl - Anne Frank
23. Shouldn't You Be in School? - Lemony Snicket
24. Mortal Engines - Philip Reeve
25. At Bertram's Hotel - Agatha Christie
26. The Girl in the Spider's Web - David Lagercrantz
27. Castle in the Air - Diana Wynne Jones
28. Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights? - Lemony Snicket
29. Nemesis - Agatha Christie
30. My Cousin Rachel - Daphne du Maurier
31. Crash and Burn - Michael Hassan
32. Into Battle - Garth Nix
33. The Violet Keystone - Garth Nix
34. Postcards from the Edge - Carrie Fisher
35. A Ring of Endless Light - Madeleine L'Engle
36. A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
37. The Taming of the Shrew - William Shakespeare
38. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling
39. Predator's Gold - Philip Reeve
40. The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith
41. Three Act Tragedy - Agatha Christie
42. Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
43. Troubling a Star - Madeleine L'Engle
44. Mr. Kiss and Tell - Rob Thomas
45. Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
46. Sleeping Murder - Agatha Christie
47. Call Me by Your Name - André Aciman
48. Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan
49. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
50. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
51. Orpheus Descending - Tennessee Williams
52. Suddenly Last Summer - Tennessee Williams