The End of a Decade. My Reading Journey

I initially thought to share with you all of my favourite books of the past decade. Quickly, I realized this was going to be a very long list - and it would include many and many sequels. Thus, I decided to talk about my reading journey in the last decade. Looking back, this decade offered me so many fantastic novels and marvellous worlds that ended up shaping my reading habits (and myself) in ways that I could not have expected. Are you ready for lots of gushing and fangirling?

Although I have always identified myself as a bookworm, there was a time in my life that I barely read. I would read three/four books per year and that was because I had to write a book review for my Portuguese class. Almost ten years ago, I picked Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier from a bookshop. In a few pages, it rekindled my love for these beautiful worlds crafted with pen and paper. In fact, Marillier introduced me to one of my favourite genres with her tales inspired by fairy and folk tales: retellings.

Moreover, I fell in love with Marillier's writing and she became an auto-buy author (I already owned some of her previous works, but as a good bookworm I left them on my bookshelf gathering dust for years). I ran to the bookshop when I heard Shadowfell had been translated and released (I was still reading translated books back then); I pre-ordered Dreamer's Poll (and the subsequent sequels) and The Harp of Kings and I impatiently waited for them to arrive at my mailbox.  

Once a bookworm wakes up from her slumber, she can no longer stop reading - even if it's just a few pages per day. Thus, since I was once again flipping pages and hauling books, I had to figure out what I enjoyed - what my favourite genres and types of stories were. I've always enjoyed magic and unique worlds, but it was time to branch out and discover what was out there.

There were a few hits and misses (these days there are still some hits and misses), but in the end I came to terms that I loved everything fantasy. Every kind of fantasy: epic fantasy, urban fantasy, dark fantasy, and so on. The book series below actually helped me discover that I really enjoy my books with supernatural beings and dark settings. Through Wicked Lovely and Fallen I discovered young adult fiction and no matter how many prejudices there are against it, it's such a powerful literary category.

Something I would like to point out is that this was also the moment I found the power of books regarding my mental health. I was going through a very bad moment in my life (you know I'm very open about my mental health, but some moments I rather not discuss them because I still feel I would come across as a whiny brat since our society has yet to understand that what provokes pain to one person may not inflict the same pain to another) when I found Wicked Lovely and Moon Called. Books have the power to save one's life.

Related Post: How Books Affect My Mental Health    

In December 2011, after the first film based on The Hunger Games trilogy was announced to be released in the following year, I decided to see what this trilogy was all about. Little did I know that I would fall in love with Katniss, and Peeta, and Panem and everything about it. I stayed up late, reading the first book until my eyes were too tired. I just couldn't put it down. When I finished it, I ran to the bookshop and got the next two books (actually, I bought the whole trilogy even though I already owned the first book because the bookshop wasn't selling separated copies). Back then I did not enjoy the ending, but after re-reading the series last year I loved it wholeheartedly. 

Now that I fangirled about The Hunger Games (I'm just letting you know that I plan writing a whole post about my love for this series in 2020), there's another reason why this book had such a strong impact on my reading journey: it introduced me to a whole new world of young adult dystopias and powerful female characters: America in The Selection, Dawn in Darkness Before Dawn, Penryn in Angelfall, Ivy in The Book of Ivy, Saba in Blood Red Road, Cassia in Matched, Lena in Delirium, and many others. 

These dystopias actually played a role in my academic life. Little did I know that when I picked The Hunger Games I would be writing my MA thesis on the role of the monster in a YA dystopia. I still have many more dystopias to read and I hope to get to them in the next decade - especially since I may or may not be working on something related to YA dystopias for my next academic project. Anyway, if you want to recommend me any dystopian novel (there are so many out there that I'm sure I haven't heard about most of them), I'm always happy to hear it. After all, the more, the merrier

Related Post: The End of a Decade. 27 YA Dystopias

As I mentioned above, after reading Marillier's Heart's Blood, I was introduced to the world of retellings aka my favourite genre of all time. I began my journey in this world of retellings by attempting to get my hands on every book inspired by Beauty and the Beast. I actually had to branch out since there weren't that many retellings being published at the time. So, I looked for other fairytale retellings, such as The Forbidden Wish, a retelling of Aladdin, and Stitching Snow, a sci-fi novel inspired by Snow White.

Then, I discovered retellings based on classic novels, such as For Darkness Shows the Stars, a retelling of Persuasion by Jane Austen (it also features a dystopian world) and Prince of Shadows, which tells the narrative of Romeo and Juliet through the eyes of Benvolio Montague. More recently, I discovered and fell in love with stories inspired by folk tales and myths, such as The Bear and the Nightingale (which is also inspired by fairytales) City of Brass, and A Spark of White Fire.

These days, retellings and stories inspired by myths and folk tales are more common than when I began my reading journey and I must confess that I'm really excited about what the new decade brings. I'm already eyeing a few titles coming out next year. And I'm already eyeing the last book in Ember Quartet that comes out in 2021. The wait is killing me!!!!

I will forever and always love fantasy and discovering new worlds. It must be no surprise that I fell in love with An Ember in The Ashes (I've so many copies of this novel... I blame it on the always-changing cover) and Six of Crows (I wish I could be more excited about the series, but my hopes for TV adaptations are always very low). I also fell for stories that don't feature heavy fantasy elements, such as The Scorpio Races and Keeper of the Bees.

My love for new worlds was actually the reason I picked This Shattered World (my favourite novel in the Starbound trilogy). This trilogy opened the doors to the sci-fi genre - dystopian novels can also fit the sci-fi genre, but they never made me want to pick novels about spaceships and alien planets - and I could not not mention it in this post too since it did change my perception regarding sci-fi novels.

Last, but not least, Victoria Schwab aka V.E. Schwab aka the Dark Queen. Did you think I would not mention her? I had to give her a solo section because, apart from Julier Marillier, I don't think I've ever loved an author so much - an author that can write all categories and genres. If you are wondering why I love Schwab so much, here are a couple of reasons: all of her books are on my I-loved-with-all-my-heart-even-if-they-shattered-it-in-pieces list; fierce female characters who kick-butt:  jaw-dropping plots; all the feelings; darkness, lots and lots of darkness.

I never expected someone's writing to influence me so much as Schwab's works did (I did write my thesis about Monsters of Verity after all and I'm still hoping one day she might see it). Her work is so enticing. Everything she writes is pure magic (if you don't believe in magic, these books will definitely make you believe). I must confess that look up at her and hope to become the writer she is.

So, that's it. Now, which books had the most impact on your reading journey in the past decade?

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