Top 5 Tuesday 2019 wrap-up

Good morning bookworms!

I know, I know… this isn’t actually a Tuesday. But it’s also not really a Top 5 Tuesday topic, so WE ARE FINE.

So… what are we doing, you ask? Well, during 2019 Shanah asked us a lot of questions. Approximately 45. And some of them required us to predict things that would happen in the future. Books we were going to read this year, books we thought would be 5 star reads, books we were going to buy, etc. So, I’m now going back to check on whether or not I did any of these things! (This post is inspired by Shanah’s Reading Progress 2019: Success of Fail post.)

Top 5… books on my Christmas wish-list

Yes, fine. This was technically a 2018 post, but I wanted to see if I had actually bought any of these books yet, or if I didn’t want them any more! Books I listed were:

• Barnes and Noble leatherbound classics – mostly mythology books. I haven’t bought any of these. I still have them on my Book Depository wish list, but they’re not high on my priority list any more! ?
• Fantastic Creatures in Mythology and Folklore by Juliette Wood – again, this one wasn’t bought, and it’s not high but still on the wishlist. ?
• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik – I own this now!! Have I read it? Nope… ? ✅
• Splintered by A. G. Howard – I was waiting for the hardcover on this to drop from $40 (AUD) on Book Dep, but then the paperback was in my local bookstore, so I grabbed it! ✅
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman – I own this one too!! Did I read it? No. I did pick it up a couple of times though… ✅

Result: 3 / 5

Top 5… books I didn’t get to in 2018

Shhhhh… this one is a 2018 post too, ok? But, it’s a great topic!! Let’s see that list!!

• The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern ?
• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor ?
• Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff ?
• Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare ?
• Caraval by Stephanie Garber ?

I mean… excuse me while I just sit over here and cry because… I didn’t even pick these books up in 2019. I mean, that’s kind of not true. I DID pick them up. I boxed them all, moved interstate, put them on bookshelves and then rearranged them several times, but I didn’t read any pages of any of them…

Result: 0 / 5

Top 5… books I need to read in 2019

I was really nervous about this one, until I saw what was on it. Get ready for me to finally achieve some goals, friends!

• The Wicked King by Holly Black ✅
• Midnight Beauties by Megan Shepherd ✅
• The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli ✅
• The Seven Sisters by Neil Gaiman ?
• Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff ✅

I’m going to give myself a full score for this one, because Gaiman’s long-awaited sequel to Neverwhere was due to come out in September 2019, but then it kind of disappeared into the abyss and now it has a mystical ‘September 2020’ release date. ??‍♀️

Result: 4 / 4

Top 5… books I predict will be 5 stars

Look, this became a top 11… I’m bad at counting…? I’m going to tick if I have read them, because otherwise this is going to get depressing really fast. But my score will reflect whether I gave it 5 stars (which is kind of depressing nonetheless)…

• Her Royal Highness by Rachel Hawkins – I still have not bought this… ?
• Aurora Rising by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – I haven’t even started it. I heard it had a huge cliffhanger ending and I am not about that life. ?
• Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston – Read! Was it 5 stars? No, but I gave it 4.5, so that’s pretty close!! (I’m taking it as a rounded up result) ✅
• Going Off Script by Jen Wilde – Read!  I gave this one 4 stars though… ❌
• Midnight Beauties by Megan Shepherd – Read! 3.5 stars… ?❌
• Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff – Read! 4 stars, but considering down-grading it to 3.5 stars… ?❌
• Permanent Record by Mary H. K. Choi – Read! 3.5 stars… but considering down-grading to 3 stars ?❌
• The Seven Sisters by Neil Gaiman – wasn’t released. I’m cutting it from this list!!
• Wayward Son by Rainbow Rowell – Read! 4 stars, but considering upping to 4.5 or maybe even that mystical 5… so I’m taking it. ✅
• Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater – not read yet… ?
• The Sky Weaver by Kristen Ciccarelli – Uhhh… did I rate this 5 stars?! YES, YES I DID! ✅

Look. Maybe my expectations were too high? Anyway, this is a SAD AF state of affairs.

Result: 3 / 10

Top 5… sequels I need to get to

This one was so hard to write… because I had to find series that I’d actually started and not binge read…

• Clariel (The Old Kingdom series) by Garth Nix – Nope. ?
• The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy (Montague Siblings) by Mackenzi Lee – Nope. ? (side point: I DID read The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky this year though!)
• The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan – Nope. ?
• The Girl with the Whispering Shadow (The Crowns of Croswald) by D. E. Night – Nope. ?
• War Storm (Red Queen series) by Victoria Aveyard – Nope. ?

Ok. The consensus here is that I am a bad bookworm.

Result: 0 / 5

Top 5… books I want to reread

My only saving grace here is that I didn’t specify WHEN I wanted to reread them… just that I do want to. At some stage. In the future. Like, when I retire (or something).

• The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – Nope. ?
• The Witches of Eileanan series by Kate Forsyth – Nope. ?
• Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor – Nope. ?
• Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi – Nope. ?
• The Cruel Prince and The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air series) by Holly Black – I did really want to reread this before The Queen of Nothing came out, but still nope. ?

Like, a REALLY, REALLY bad bookworm.

Result: 0 / 5

Top 5… series I need to finish

Despite the topic, I actually changed it to ‘series I need to start because they are completed and on my bookshelf’… hahahahahaha… oh f*ck… kill me.

• Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor – Nope. ?
• The Firebird Trilogy by Claudia Gray – Nope. ?
• The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare – Hahaha, nope. ?
• A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab – I picked this one up again, but still nope. ?
• The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss – I don’t know how this one made the list because it’s not finished, but still nope. ?

Actually crying tears of shame… ?

Result: 0 / 5

Top 5… books on my current TBR

This was a NOVEMBER post! Which wasn’t that long ago, so I can’t even say that I forgot to read these!!

• Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater ❌
• Into the Crooked Place by Alexandra Christo ❌
• Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw ❌
• Serpent and Dove by Shelby Mahurin ✅
• The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black ✅

halp me…

Result: 3 / 5

Overall? Well… let’s hope that Shanah focuses on questions about books we’ve already read in 2020!

Result: 13 / 44

How were all your predictions for 2019?!
Did you read what you thought you would??