BOOK CHAT || New Year, New Books! || 7 Books I Want to Read in 2017 + Round up of 2016's reads

Hi Guys! I've been mostly doing these posts as videos, but it's been a long time since I updated on the books I've been reading, so I didn't want to wait to film. What I want to do in this post is quickly go over the books I've read since my last Book Chat video (spoilers: there aren't many), as well as show you 7 books I'd like to read this year!

You may remember that I did something similar last year, with 6 books I wanted to read in 2016, so I thought it would be fun to do a similar post this year, since one of my resolutions this year is to work on reading more, since I miss it when I am not reading. If you want to see the rest of my 2017 Resolutions, make sure you check out that blog post!

What I've read since Sept 2016:

1. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

2. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer

3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer

I told you there weren't many! I didn't even make it to 10 books last year! I'm pretty disappointed, but I'm really happy that I managed to reread the Twilight series, because I really loved it in highschool, but was worried it wouldn't stand up to a reread so many years later... but I loved it all over again! It's such a quick easy read with (I think) really interesting characters and quick plot. I wish Meyer would stop writing other books I don't care about and give me some more of her vampires, but alas, that seems unlikely. She's probably told all the stories she had to tell there... I didn't include Breaking Dawn, because I'm currently still reading it, I didn't manage to finish it before the new year, but it will certainly be included in my next round up!

MY 7 Books To Read in 2017

1. The World of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

This one was on my list for last year, but obviously I didn't get there, though I still really want to! This is basically a history book slash encyclopaedia of the Game of Thrones world written by a maester, and full of beautiful art depicting famous people, events, and places in the World of Ice and Fire.

2. Tale of the Body Theif by Anne Rice

Another book that I didn't get to last year, though it was on the list. This is the fourth book in the Vampire Chronicles series from Anne Rice, and I loved the first 3, and I love Vampire novels, so hopefully the Twilight series will have helped me spring back into this series this year!

3. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

This one has been pretty big lately, I think, and aside from that Rothfuss seems pretty active in the nerd communities, which is fun. It feels a bit like Game of Thrones, and maybe it's riding on the coat tails of ASoIaF, but it's just a big fantasy series, and I love me some big-ass fantasy novels. Aside from that, I've opened it up before in stores and read the prologue or first chapter, and the writing style is just beautiful. I'm hopeful that the writing will help to launch me into this world, because I love in depth fantasies, and I love series.

4. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read The Great Gatsby for the first time a few years ago now, and I fell head over heels in love with Fitzgerald's style. I'm not even sure the novel itself was all that compelling, but the style with which Fitzgerald shares his ideas, and the way he strings his thoughts together was mesmerizing to me. Immediately afterwards, I bought my own copy of Gatsby, as well as a book containing This Side of Paradise, as well as The Beautiful and Damned, and I want to get through at least one of those novels this year, so I can feel better about claiming Fitzgerald as one of my favourite authors.

5. Beowulf by J.R.R. Tolkien

I actually have read Beowulf before multiple times for different classes in University and high school. I actually really love the story, and wish there was more to it. I'm a huge fan of medieval writing, and Beowulf is obviously one of the oldest written examples of such. This particular book is a translation by J.R.R. Tolkien, not a retelling or anything original, but as I am a huge Tolkien fangirl, as well as a fan of Beowulf as a story, when this came out I found it super compelling and asked for it for Christmas. However, I haven't even tried to get into it yet! It's quite short, so I really should, so I'm hoping this will be the year. There is also Tolkien's attempt at a retelling included in this book as well, though: the Sellic Spell.

6. The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton

For a long time I have had no interest in reading this particular novel, after managing to avoid it somehow in middle school. It did not interest me, despite how much it seemed to have affected even some of the less bookish types in my classes. However, it is a very short novel, and often pops up in other things, since the story is such a part of our collective consciousness. Also, my sister really enjoyed it, and although she is sometimes a reader, she doesn't often make recommendations, but she adored this story and has insisted I should read it. So here it is, on this list.

7. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Finally, a bit of a weird one, which is a huge part, I'm sure, of why I've always wanted to read this one. It's been such a controversial but popular novel, and I've heard that Nabokov's writing style is really beautiful, even when the subject matter in this book is a little... creepy? Also, this one was written in English, though Nabokov was Russian, so it's nice to know you're reading the author's words, not the interpretation of a translator. Or maybe that's only something I worry about as an English student?

***

There are lots more books I want to read, of course, as my extensive GoodReads to-read list will show, but these are just 7 I would really love to get through this year. As I mentioned in my resolutions, my goal this year is 15 books, so if I read them all, these will be only about half of my 2017 books!

Let me know in the comments the best book you read last year, and one (or some) you want to read in 2017! Oh, and also let me know if you prefer book content like this, or in video form!

Thanks for reading!