Bookish discoveries I made in 2019

Here is something new. I’m finally participating in Top 10 Tuesday! It is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, and you can find the list with prompts here.

Today’s prompt is obviously bookish discoveries. I had to think really hard, but I think I’ll be able to come up with a good list! I’m terrible at ranking these things though, so this top 10 Tuesday is not going to be in any particular order.

The Bookly App

Starting off with something that’s not a book. I’ve had multiple apps with which I could keep track of books I own, but I never really used them that often. I found out about Bookly on Twitter I think. It’s an app that doesn’t just let you add books, but also has the ability to track your reading! Any time I start a book I click on “start reading” and the app will track how long I read. When I want to stop reading, I simply click “stop” and fill in what page I got to. I also like that you can add quotes and thoughts in the app, which is awesome if you’re a book reviewer! Any time you finish a book you can see some cool stats about your progress as well.

Book Tags

2019 was the year I finally started doing book tags. I’m not a super big blogger, so I don’t really get tagged in things and that held me back from participating. Obviously no one is going to be mad if I just tag myself, so I started doing tags I liked! I love tags because I enjoy making lists. You can also get to know bloggers better by reading their answers. And let’s face it, sometimes you’re just all out of blog ideas and a tag is simply the way to go.

V.E. Schwab

Okay so, I started reading A Darker Shade of Magic in 2018 and I enjoyed it. But my love for Schwab really kicked off in 2019. I read 5 of her books that year, and considering I read like 50 books, 10% of the books I read were written by her. I think that’s a lot. My favorite thing about her is that she writes across all age groups. It’s one of the things I always mentioned at my work. The entire family can read books by the same author, how amazing is that!

Libby

Another bookish app makes this list. You hook it up to your local library, and you can start browsing e-books and audiobooks for free! I wanted to listen to more audiobooks (I wasn’t super successful in that) but I didn’t immediately want to spend money on a subscription. Libby was the perfect answer. It’s really easy to use and my experience is that there’s a lot of books to choose from!

Audiobooks

I have to be a little honest here. I’ve never managed to actually finish a full audio book. But I do love listening to them while I work on other things! I like using the Libby app for this. As I’m typing this I’m actually listening to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them!

Red Rising trilogy by Pierce Brown

This is one of my most favorite bookish discoveries of 2019. I LOVE these books. I read Red Rising while on vacation in Puerto Rico and I really enjoyed reading about the the institute and all the troubles Darrow had to face. the second book was amazing, too. Even if it completely shattered my heart. I’m now reading the final book in the trilogy, Morning Star, and I’m both scared and excited for the end.

Book Twitter

I joined Twitter in December 2018, but 2019 was the year I actually became more active. I love scrolling through my timeline to discover new people to follow and new blogs to read. Twitter is a great tool to expend your own reach, and make some new bookish friends! And sometimes tweeting a sentence or two about my day is just plain fun.

Science Fiction

I’ve always liked Science Fiction, but 2019 was the year that I read a lot more of it. Normally it’s a little harder to get into for me, because of the technology factor. My brain always tries to understand how technology works, when I should just be taking it for what it is. When the book goes into a deep analysis of multiverse theory and how it works, my brain gets fried. The sci-fi works I read last year were Leviathan Wakes, Aurora Rising, These Broken Stars, Gemina, Obsidian, Skyward, Red Rising, Golden Son, Salvaged, The Forever War, and Lifelike. Eleven in 2019 compared to a whopping zero in 2018.

The Expanse

I mentioned Leviathan Wakes above, which is the first novel in the Expanse series. Some of you may have read it, and some of you may also know it as a tv series on Amazon! The book kind of intimidated me at first, because it’s not small. But when I started reading I couldn’t stop. The writing is very manageable, meaning that it doesn’t get drab or too complicated. I still need to read the rest of the series. Right now there are eight books out, so I have my work cut out for me!

Spooky Stories

As a Halloween baby, I have to be obsessed with all things terrifying, right? Well, I hope not, because I’m a wimp! I read ~some~ real horror, like Stephen King’s IT, but 2019 was the year of spooky reads. Scary, but in a cute way. My favorite spooky reads of the year were City of Ghosts and Tunnel of Bones by Victoria Schwab. They’re middle grades, so they’re not going to be too scary. I also read and loved House of Salt and Sorrows. This one scored a lot higher on the scary-o-meter, though. But still not super terrifying for me!

And here are all my bookish discoveries of 2019! Like I said, they’re not ranked, because that’s too hard for my brain. Did you make any bookish discoveries in 2019?