Monthly Wrap-Up: December 2017

It’s almost the end of 2017! Where did the year go? This wrap-up will be a little different this month, and you’ll see why in a moment.

Book Reviews

• A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab: 5/5 Stars
• Blue Is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh: 4/5 Stars
• Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones: 4.5/5 Stars

It’s been nice to complete and review great books at the end of the year.

Currently Reading

I’m reading multiple books at once again. I’m reading The Last Ever After by Soman Chainani, Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard, and A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab. I think I’m only going to be able to finish Girl Mans Up in time for 2018. By the way, I found it at a book sale a few weeks ago. I’m trying to finish the audiobook I borrowed from the library, but I’m happy I own it now.

Book Tags & Memes

• Six Degrees of Separation from It to Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda
• You’re Not Good Enough Book Tag
• Are You on Santa’s Naughty List or Nice List? (a.k.a. The Bookish Naughty or Nice Tag)

I haven’t seen any updates to Book Traveling Thursdays prompts, so I think the meme is dead. I would love to see it again in the future, but it looks like there won’t be a new one on my blog for a while.

Reading Challenges

I will post my final results for 2017 on Monday. I want to use these last two days to their fullest. The only thing I will say is that I wrote my fifteenth discussion post for the Book Blog Discussion Challenge, which asked about used bookstores marking up new ARCs and selling them.

2018 Fanfiction Reading Challenge

Shameless self-promotion: In response to my question in last month’s wrap-up, I created my own reading challenge for 2018. If you read a lot of fanfiction, this is the challenge for you. The goal is to read as many chapters of fanfiction that you can. There are levels too. If you would like to join or learn more about the challenge, you can find it on the sign-up page here.

As the year goes on, you can find this challenge and its related posts under my challenges menu and in the side-bar.

Interesting Finds

In bookish opinion, Douglas Preston wrote his opinion about Amazon’s change to what it classifies as “new” books. This change in policy allows third-party sellers on Amazon “to be featured atop the primary purchase button for new books, a spot previously reserved for Amazon’s own inventory, which comes directly from the publishers” (Preston par. 2).

In the event that you haven’t heard about what’s going to happen with Goodreads Giveaways in 2018, Laura @ thebookcorps wrote “An Open Letter to Netgalley and Goodreads” about the problem. The comments on this post also have interesting perspectives to offer. On that note, Paperback Kingdom made a list of international book bloggers, and @violettereads started a thread of international book bloggers on Twitter. If you’re looking to support international book bloggers, this thread is a good place to start. If you’re an international blogger who is not already in the thread, feel free to add yourself to it.

Once Upon a Time was a favorite show of mine before I dropped in the middle of the Elsa and Anna season. (I may come back to it again in the future.) For all of the praise for its feminist themes, OUAT has a consent problem, as Sarah Perchikoff from FAN/FIC Magazine points out.

I found Harry Potter and the Cursed Child disappointing mostly because of what it does to the characters. Fortunately, austinmconnell made a video that suggests a way to fix Cursed Child.  I like his fix to the story line and characters, and I would like to see it made into a play or a novel.

Speaking of writing, the next two come from Writers in the Storm. First, Becca Puglisi advises on how to write good dialogue. This requires knowing what your characters want and what they want from the conversation. She also gives tips on showing deception in dialogue. Second, Susan Spann explains common rights that publishers ask for and the rights that they really need.

Final Words

First: I was an undergraduate reader for the Blue Mesa Review this semester. Issue 36 of the magazine was published a few weeks ago. I’m biased, but I recommend reading it. It’s full of awesome stories, essays, poems and artwork.

Second and Final: My blog has been viewed over 7,500 times this year (the highest count by far), and it couldn’t have been done without you. Your reading, liking, and commenting on my posts is encouraging. Thank you all for your support as always! Have a happy new year!