Last year was the first full year that I wasn’t a student, and it was wonderful. With the crazy amounts of reading required of an English major, I barely read anything that wasn’t assigned to me during my time at college. I couldn’t wait for the day that my reading list no longer doubled as a class syllabus. Now my reading list is multiple stacks of library books that I’m afraid to put all together in one pile because it will probably be taller than me. I can’t read them fast enough.

My 2016 was full of wonderful reads. I read 64 novels. I didn’t keep track of nonfiction books, but I read a handful of those as well. And I’ve made it one of my goals for 2017 to make even more time to read as I forgot just how much I love it thanks to years of school. Here’s a list of some of my favorite books I read in 2016, as well as a list of books I’m looking forward to reading in early 2017.

Best of 2016:

• The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
• How it Feels to Fly by Kathryn Holmes
• The Crown by Kiera Cass
• The Memory of Light by Francisco X. Stork
• These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
• The Giver series by Lois Lowry

Looking forward to in 2017:

• Replica by Lauren Oliver
• The Reader by Traci Chee
• The other Starbound books by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
• Illuminae and Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Metaltown by Kristen Simmons
• The Thousandth Floor by Katherine McGee

Books I’m looking forward to

My favorite reads of 2016