The last month of 2019 seems to have flown by in a blink of the eye and I still can’t believe we are now officially in a new decade… I’m still feeling a bit slumpy when it comes to all things blogging, and I guess you might have noticed I’ve still not been all that present on my blog despite daily posts during the December month. I used the magic of scheduling posts to help with that, but it’s been hard to find time and motivation to blog otherwise. Fingers crossed 2020 will give me my blogging mojo back! I did a lot of baking during December, mostly Holidays related, which is always a great excuse for me to get those recipes out. Some DIY aside, it was mostly an uneventful last month of the decade overall though.

Now to the bookish numbers:

  • Number of books read in December: 20
  • Total number of books read in 2019: 264
  • Total number of pages read in December: 7.172
  • Total number of pages read in 2019: 88.638

I definitely read more than I thought I would during December, and most titles were excellent at that! Two new 5 star reads, another bunch of almost perfect reads and only three titles 3 stars or below… I’m more than happy with that.

DECEMBER READS

5 STARS: Absolutely and entirely mind blowing! I suggest you to pick up a copy now.

Next Year In Havana – by Chanel Cleeton // The Perfect Mother – by Caroline Mitchell

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic! 

How The Grinch Stole Christmas! – by Dr. Seuss // Nine Elms – by Robert Bryndza // Snakes And Ladders – by Victoria Selman // Are You Watching? – by Vincent Ralph // Black Summer – by M.W. Craven // A Dark Matter – by Doug Johnstone

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

A Curse So Dark And Lonely – by Brigid Kemmerer // Down The Darkest Road – by Kylie Brant // Bitter Falls – by Rachel Caine // The Rules Of Murder – by Rob Sinclair // On The Bright Side – by Hendrik Groen // Six Wicked Reasons – by Jo Spain

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

The Blossom Twins – by Carol Wyer // Palm Beach Finland – by Antti Tuomainen // Blood For Blood – by Victoria Selman

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.  

The Missing Letters Of Mrs Bright – by Beth Miller // The Secret Messenger – by Mandy Robotham

2.5 STARS: I give this one the benefit of the doubt. Nothing too exciting.

The Shadow Cabinet – by Maureen Johnson

I joined quite a few challenges in 2019, but somehow I managed to complete most without even trying to hard… Even so, I’ve decided to only join a limited amount of 2020 to focus more on the joy of reading without obligations again.

# CHALLENGES #

As for my other goals… Sadly I wasn’t able to maintain my ARC/backlist ratio below 40%, although it’s only 0,9% above the limit so not too bad overall. My TBR goal was pretty hopeless as well, but I already knew that haha. I’m happy I was able to complete the rest of my 2019 bookish goals though!

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

  • Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) 3/3 DONE!! (The Painted Veil // The Big Sleep // A Wrinkle In Time)
  • Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 10/10 DONE!! (Anastasia Phoenix // The Conqueror’s Saga // Women Are Some Kind Of Magic // Fire And Thorns // The Collector // Beartown // The Wrath And The Dawn // 4MK Thriller // Things That H(a)unt // Flame In The Mist)
  • Reread at least 2 books 2/2 DONE!! (The BFG // Harry Potter Y El Caliz De Fuego)
  • Bring my physical TBR pile below 450 books and keep it that way. 690/450
  • Read at least one book over 800 pages 1/1 DONE!! (813 pages; Colombiano)
  • Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 40,9%
  • Read at least 2 books in Spanish 2/2 DONE!! (Harry Potter Y El Cáliz De Fuego // Harry Potter Y La Orden Del Fénix)
  • Read at least 1 book in Dutch 1/1 DONE!! (Alles Is Breekbaar)
  • Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations  15/15 DONE!! (Mala Vida (France) // The Painted Veil (France) // When Dimple Met Rishi (India) // And Every Morning The Way Home Gets Longer And Longer (Sweden) // The Courier (Norway) // The Travelling Cat Chronicles (Japan) // The Murmur Of Bees (Mexico) // Bright Burning Stars (France) // Trouble Makes A Comeback (Philippines) // Wolves At The Door (Norway) // The Secret Diary Of Hendrik Groen (The Netherlands) // Block 46 (France) // The Silent Patient (Cyprus) // I Am Malala (Pakistan) // Snare (Iceland))
  • Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 10/10 DONE!! (The Insect Farm // The Shattering // Be Frank With Me // Tell The Wolves I’m Home // Sweetheart // The Dead Girls Of Hysteria Hall // The Problem With Forever // The Cellar // The Madness Underneath // The Museum Of Extraordinary Things)
  • Join at least 5 challenges during the year 5/5 DONE!!
  • Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 97%

Happy January and Happy Reading! 

signature

You can also find me at Goodreads. Twitter. Instagram. Facebook. Bloglovin’.