Graceling
After the last three books I read, especially the horrifyingly sad Every Last One, I wanted to read something a) frivolous and b) stupid. My friend Gabrielle suggested I read The Carrie Diaries, but I was like “Not that stupid!” So instead I chose Graceling, because I the premise (people with two different coloured eyes who have extraordinary powers) sounded pretty silly. At first I was like WOW THIS IS SILLY, especially since the character and place names are mostly ludicrous (Prince Greening Grandemalion, what) or uninspired (the kingdom on the west is called Wester, the kingdom in the middle is called Middlun), but the writing and the story itself are actually quite good. I was impressed enough to get the companion, Fire, which I assumed would be a sequel of sorts but is actually kind of a prequel, taking place in a different kingdom and several years (decades) earlier than Graceling. In between them, though, I did read The Carrie Diaries, and it was every bit as frivolous and stupid as I thought it would be, with a healthy dose of super annoying and I-want-to-punch-all-these-people thrown in for good measure.
Currently I’m at 41 books read, although I should be at 45. I’m slowly catching up though, and I few more weeks or reading 3 books instead of 2 should get me all the way there.