Tiny In Toronto

Like I said in my last post, I didn’t do it. Long story short, I read 20/50 books. I failed my reading challenge. Am I going to give up? Absolutely not! I’m no quitter. One positive takeaway is that I only read one less book than my previous year – which means that I’m at least consistent! I think it would be far worse if I only read like, half of what I read the previous year. I’m disappointed that I didn’t make it to 50, but I’m glad I haven’t read any less.

Here’s the list of books that I read last year:

At first glance, I’m noticing that I read a lot of series. I guess that just made it easier to figure out what I would read next? When I read a book I like, I usually wish there was more and that it didn’t have to end, so maybe that’s where that comes from. Not every book has a sequel, but I looove a sequel. Or maybe I’m looking into it too much? Maybe it was just a coincidence! I read the duology, “These Violent Delights“, “The Inheritance Games” series, and “The Summer I Turned Pretty” series. That’s almost half of the books I read last year alone!

My favourite series of them all would have to be “The Inheritance Games“. Those 3 books were unlike anything I have read before. A rich old man writes in his will to leave his entire fortune to a girl that didn’t even know he existed?! Where do I find one of those lol? I’m kidding, but not really. “The Inheritance Games” was one of those books that just had me hooked from the start. It didn’t even have to try. I read the second book, “The Hawthorne Legacy” almost immediately after. I even pre-ordered the third one and started reading it the day I received it in the mail. I’m pretty sure I wrote a blog post on the first book of the series so if you would like to read more about it, I’ll leave the link here.

Aside from the three series that I read, there are a few other books that I read that had an impact on me/left me wanting more. To start, “People We Meet On Vacation” by Emily Henry. I just remember reading that book and not being able to put it down. I’m obsessed with that feeling, and I became obsessed with that book. I remember recommending it to a lot of my friends after reading it. If you haven’t read it or heard of it, I totally encourage you to give it a shot. I also wrote a book review on it here on my blog, and I’ll link it here. I think another one of Emily Henry’s books is on my list of books I want to get/read this year. I think it’s called, “Book Lovers” and now that I think of it, I also picked up “Beach Read” and haven’t read it yet. If they’re anything like “People We Meet On Vacation”, I’m sure I’ll enjoy them.

“The Importance of Being Earnest” by Oscar Wilde has been on my list for quite some time. It’s among so many classics that I still have yet to read. Some of my friends have said they read it in high school, but I never did (and I kind of wish I had). I also chose this one because it was on the lighter side, and it’s been a while since I’ve read a play. I absolutely loved it. In my opinion, I think sometimes the older reads can be a little daunting/heavy. There have been a few that I’ve tried to read and found hard to understand/follow. The vocabulary is sometimes too different. Or they were just really slow and hard to get into. This play by Oscar Wilde was perfect. It brought me back to that period (and I love a period piece!), I was able to keep up just fine, and it was exciting! And comical!

One more read worth mentioning is “One Italian Summer” by Rebecca Serle. I couldn’t get enough of this book. It really made me fall in love with Italy. I mentioned in my last blog post that my boyfriend and I are thinking of visiting Italy in June, and I think this book is to blame. After reading this book, I was completely enamored with the Amalfi Coast, and just Italy in general. The way Rebecca Serle described Italy and all the places in Italy that the main character, Katy, visited was beautiful. I found myself Googling everything that she mentions in the novel, just to get an even better picture of where the characters were and what they were seeing. But if we put the beautifully written, descriptive scenery aside, the story itself is also worth reading. I found Katy to be pretty relatable in some ways, just because we’ve both lost a parent. The story surrounds her strong relationship with her mother, and how she navigates her life after loss. Katy and her mother, Carol, were best friends. They had always talked about going to Italy (her mother had visited Italy before, fell in love with it, and wanted to share it with Katy) but then her mother got sick. Before her mother got any worse and could no longer travel, they decided booking it was either now or never. Unfortunately, her mother died before they could even go. But Katy takes it upon herself to go without her on a solo trip, and learns way more about her mother than she did when her mother was alive. It’s a very powerful read! I’m going to leave it at that and hope you’ll pick up “One Italian Summer” and read it yourself.

Update: “One Italian Summer” is actually Rebecca’s love letter to her mother, and to her future self! So interesting, and now I love it even more!

That concludes my little wrap up of the books I read last year. I really hope I can at least surpass 20 books in 2023. My fingers are crossed! I have so many exciting books in my TBR (to be read) pile, it’s insane. Let me know if you want me to share them!

Until next time!

– Tiny ❤