Favorite Reads of 2017

On this last day of 2017, I would like to look back at the books I read and loved in the past 12 months. According to Goodreads, I read 38,874 pages across 128 books. This is officially the most I've ever read in my life in a single year. This was also the year I got into audio books in a much more serious way and got through several non-fiction books. In addition, I did read many wonderful books of fiction and here are just a few that stood out:

1. Arcadia by Iain Pears

For whatever reason, I did not give this book 5 stars when I originally read it. It has however stuck with me throughout the year, and I am already considering re-reading it. It is a mix of time/parallel world travel, dystopian, historical fiction, sci-fi, and fantasy. It has an interesting and unexpected plot and a cast of likable characters.

2. The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

This book was the perfect conclusion of The Queen of the Tearling trilogy. This is now officially one of my favorite fantasy series, and one I would like to re-read soon. This is also a dystopian/parallel world travel fantasy featuring a strong female protagonist. I highly recommend this trilogy to everyone who likes fantasy and dystopian fiction.

3. The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

This is another fantasy, but one that is based on Russian folklore and fairy tales. Specifically, it is a re-telling of the Russian folk story about Morozko (the Frost King). This book also features a strong female lead who challenges the established role of women in society and embraces all the ways in which the world considers her to be different and flawed.

4. Anything by Narine Abgaryan

This year I discovered and fell in love with books by Narine Abgaryan. She is an Armenian who writes in Russian and her books are filled with warmth, love and childhood wonder. So far I've read 3 of her books and I am very glad that I have a few more on my shelves to dive into.

5. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

This book was personally very helpful to me. Late in 2016, a friend of mine lost a young beautiful intelligent daughter who committed suicide. The Bell Jar allowed me a glimpse into the mind of someone who gradually falls apart and succumbs to a mental illness. It helped understand, heal and generally be more aware of issues surrounding mental illness and suicide.

Checking in on my 2017 reading goals

2017 Reading Goals	End of 2017 Status
Read 85 books in 2017	Achieved. In fact, I exceeded this goal by a wide margin. As of today, I’ve read 127 books in 2017. I will probably read one more by December 31.
Read 5 non-fiction books	This year was the first time I did really well in terms of reading non-fiction: 10 books were completed towards this goal.
Finish off 5 series that I already started	I completed 7 series which I had started prior to 2017 and two more were started and completed in 2017.
Read 10 classics	This is the goal I did not complete. I only read 2 classics this year.
Review 10 ARCs	Completed. I read and reviewed 13 ARCs.
Specific books to read in 2017 Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood	Failed miserably. I did not read any of these.
Specific authors to read in 2017 Vladimir Nabokov Fyodor Dostoyevsky Charles Dickens Truman Capote John Steinbeck	Failed as well. I only read A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Out of 127 books, 63 were from my local library. In addition, I only read 6 books in Russian, the rest were all in English. Overall, I am very happy with the number and the quality of books I read this past year. Since, I started this blog and became active on Goodreads, my reading has definitely increased. Here is a simple chart to illustrate this point:

"The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden

This is a fantasy novel based on the Russian folklore and reads very much like a fairy tale. If you liked Uprooted by Naomi Novik, you will probably enjoy this one as well. I personally was very impressed with the author's knowledge of various Russian pagan beliefs, mythical creatures and household spirits. She is also very familiar with Russian fairy tales, history and language.

What I liked the most about this book is that it combines the familiar fairy tale tropes with the modern themes of feminism and freedom of choice. Vasilisa (or Vasya) is the youngest child of a wealthy boyar whose mother dies in childbirth. The child, as predicted by her mother, has unusual abilities which she inherited from her maternal grandmother: she can see the household spirits and can talk to them. Thus, we have the familiar trope of an orphan girl with unusual abilities. Her father eventually re-marries, i.e. enter the evil stepmother. But luckily, Vasya has a kind and wise nurse Dunya to love her and mother her. Vasya is never described as beautiful. In fact, the author several times emphasizes that Vasya was an ugly child resembling a frog. She is as unconventional in looks as she is in her behavior. She looks men and strangers straight in the eye, laughs loudly and runs and rides horses with abandon. There is nothing timid or submissive about her the way a proper Russian maiden should be.

I also loved the way Vasya reconciles the pagan beliefs with Christianity. She knows true spirituality cannot be based on fear. She goes to church with her family and thinks that the church is about the next life. However, in her everyday life, household spirits and various magical creatures are very much alive and protect the people as their go about their mortal business now. She is thus at peace with honoring both. Her stepmother on the other hand, who is the only other person who sees household spirits, does not understand their purpose and fears them. To her, they are devils to be banished, and the dread she feels toward them pushes her further into religious fervor and fanaticism.

Without spoiling the plot, I should say there is a big fight brewing between order and chaos (or good and evil) represented by the Frost king and the Bear, and Vasya finds herself smack in the middle of it. This was a beautiful and entertaining read. I will be picking up book 2 very soon. 5 out of 5 stars.

"The Secret History of Jane Eyre: How Charlotte Brontë Wrote Her Masterpiece" by John Pfordresher

Jane Eyre has always been one of my favorite novels and I was excited to see a new non-fiction title about the writing of it. The book was written by a Georgetown professor of English and as such, it is very well researched with plenty of source material cited in the end-notes. I did see some negative reviews of the book, which mostly focused on the way it is structured and on numerous alleged inaccuracies. I myself do not have detailed knowledge of Charlotte Bronte's biography. I, therefore, could not relate to the latter criticisms. As for the former, I quite liked the structure of the book. It basically closely follows the narrative of Bronte's novel, and the author draws parallels between the novel and circumstances of Bronte's life, thus establishing that all the inspiration was born out of Bronte's real life experiences, relationships, dreams and disappointments.

I found this book very informative and easy to follow. I would highly recommend it to all Jane Eyre fans. You do need to know the plot quite well in order to be able to follow the book. 4 out of 5 stars. I quite enjoyed it.

"Three Daughters of Eve" by Elif Shafak

Three Daughters of Eve is a new novel by Elif Shafak, an acclaimed Turkish author whose writing is very poetic and who is not afraid to tackle difficult issues. The novel alternates between two timelines: Istanbul in 2016 and Oxford in 2000-2002. The main character is Peri, a thirty-six year-old Turkish housewife and a mother of three. She and her teenage daughter are in the car on their way to a lavish party at a seaside mansion, when her purse is snatched from the backseat by a pair of street kids. Peri impulsively leaves the car and gives chase to the kids, ending up in a dark alley where she almost gets raped. I must mention that she acts very out of character – she is normally very timid and reserved. Somehow, at that moment she snaps and what follows makes her think back to her years at Oxford, when young and impressionable, she became infatuated with a college professor.

Overall, the storyline was ok. Shafak does a great job building up tension with foreshadowing and expectation of a big reveal. However, the reveal itself was a bit disappointing. It did not go the way I had expected and I thought it was unreasonable to blame Peri for Professor Azur’s demise when she clearly had nothing to do with it. She did not testify against him, she just never showed up for the hearing. She was also very fragile and mentally unstable at that point, so equating failure to show up with admittance of inappropriate relationship is quite a leap here.

The pacing of the novel was also uneven. We spend a lot of time in Peri’s head, with her musings about God, and detailed accounts of childhood memories. The narrative for 90% of the book is from her point of view. Then quite unexpectedly the perspective shifts at the very end to Professor Azur, and the floodgates burst open with a torrent of information about him and his personal life.

Finally, I was not sure about the title. It sort of leads one to believe that it is about three women, whereas in reality it is all about Peri. Shirin and Mona (especially the latter) do not have much of a role in the novel. They just represent the polar opposites of what a modern Muslim woman is like. Shirin is ultra liberal and anti-religious while Mona is a practicing Muslim. Peri falls somewhere in between. She is cautiously agnostic, but chooses to call herself confused. She never really comes to terms with being agnostic. When we meet her in 2016, she is just as uncomfortable in her skin as she was in her early 20s. And perhaps, Shafak gives us a glimpse of how a Muslim woman feels nowadays: guilty about not practicing her religion and yet always striving to be modern and free.

This leads me to the one thing that I really liked about this book. I thought the discussion of religion, its role in the modern-day Turkey as well as the overall perspective of Turks on the EU, democracy, gender roles and Islam were excellent. This was the strongest aspect of the novel in my opinion. Overall, I gave this book 3 out of 5 stars. I liked it, but it could have been better.

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley. The book is officially out in the US tomorrow, December 5, 2017.