Month In Review: June 2020

Well… Shoot. The first six months of 2020 are now officially over and I really feel like demanding a refund. I seriously don’t even want to stand still by the current situation in our country and the world for that matter… It’s been hard to focus especially on all things blogging and social media recently, which probably explains why I’ve been less present even though I do seem to get those reviews written somehow. On a brighter note, I received a belated birthday present last month: a shiny new kindle! Not a moment too late as my old one was about to give the ghost haha. I also found a new favorite cookie recipe: the perfect combination of crunch and gooey center! ❤

Next: the bookish numbers.

• Number of books read in June: 27
• Total number of books read in 2020: 135
• Total number of pages read in June: 9.270
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 45.333

I ended up reading a LOT in June… And this has mostly to do with the fact that the only time I manage to forget about the fact that the world is going to shit is when I read or bake. I was quite lucky with my reading choices in general too, with only six titles having a 3 star or below rating (one was a DNF though) and four titles with a (nearly) perfect rating.

Month In Review: May 2020

May, May, what to say about you? I seriously don’t even want to stand still by the current situation in our country and the world for that matter… Nor the fact that I haven’t been able to leave our house since March and I’ve been going stir crazy. Needless to say my anxiety has been through the roof, and I’ve been distracting myself by reading and baking a LOT. It’s been hard to focus especially on all things blogging and social media recently, which probably explains why I’ve been less present even though I do seem to get those reviews written somehow… Anyway, here’s a dose of fluff to help distract ourselves from the whole mess that is the world right now.

Next: the bookish numbers.

• Number of books read in May: 25
• Total number of books read in 2020: 108
• Total number of pages read in May: 8.631
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 36.063

I ended up reading a LOT in May, and that has mostly to do with the fact that the only time I manage to forget about the fact that the world is going to shit is when I read or bake… I was quite lucky with my reading choices in general too, with only 8 titles having a 3 star or below rating and a whopping 9 titles with a (nearly) perfect reading. True, my only new 5 star is a reread so technically it doesn’t count, but I take what I can get.

Month In Review: April 2020

April, April, what to say about you? I’ve been going stir crazy after over six weeks of obligatory quarantine and not being able to go outside unless it’s in our garden… (Before you ask: we have a country wide lockdown in Argentina and nobody is allowed to go outside for exercise or social visits; only for shopping for essentials between 7AM and 5PM and those people with essential jobs. Of course I wouldn’t go out in the first place as the Hashimoto’s disease made sure I’m high risk…) Anxiety has been high, especially since we now officially have the virus in our town too… I’ve been distracting myself with books, baking, drawing and my pets, but it’s been hard to focus especially on all things blogging and social media. I guess all the unplanned baking did mean lots of treats to eat; my hubby isn’t complaining haha. A selection below, although I confess I made lots more. xD I also loved how the latest bookmark came out!

The bookish numbers:

• Number of books read in April: 24
• Total number of books read in 2020: 83
• Total number of pages read in April: 7.644
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 27.432

I managed to read a lot in April, probably partly thanks to the OWLs Magical Readathon, but I also had quite a few short and quick reads… But even though I did find a new 5 star read, as a whole I haven’t been all that lucky with my reading choices. No less than 10 titles were 3 star or below and that even includes a DNF… And only 4 books received an (almost) perfect rating. Fingers crossed May will bring me more luck!

Month In Review: March 2020

March, March, I really don’t know what to say about you… I don’t think I’ve had a birthday month this depressing before to be honest, and I think I’ll just skip pondering about it any longer and go straight to the bookish March instead.

The bookish numbers:

• Number of books read in March: 18
• Total number of books read in 2020: 59
• Total number of pages read in March: 6.421
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 19.797

I managed to read both more and less than expected in March. More, because I squeezed in two 600+ books and read a further 16 books, and less because I should have been able to read more with all that time spent cooped up inside… But I’ve been struggling to keep concentrated lately and my reading speed has suffered. I did have a fantastic month quality wise: two new 5 star reads and only three books below 4 stars! I’m definitely more than happy with that.

Month In Review: February 2020

I still can’t believe it’s March already! Where did February go?! Anyway, like I mentioned a while ago, I’ve decided to take it easy with all things blogging this year both because I’ve been in a blogging slump for months now and I needed to start focusing on my health again. February was my first full month of more exercise and a healthier diet… It seems to have worked, because the first 16 pounds are gone!! Way better than I could have hoped to be honest, as my Hashimoto’s seriously slows down any progress. Fingers crossed things will keep going this way!

We also went on an impromptu mini camping trip during February, spending a wonderful few days close to the river… But the biggest change in our lives apart from my new healthier lifestyle was without doubt the arrival of a new kitty. Felix adopted us as he showed up at our front door one day, demanded to be let in and refused to leave afterwards… Delilah and Jasmine still are not amused at all, but I hope things will become easier soon. xD

Now to the bookish numbers:

• Number of books read in February: 16
• Total number of books read in 2020: 41
• Total number of pages read in February: 5.186
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 13.376

As expected, I read less than usual during February, and even getting to sixteen books was mostly thanks to a couple of short and superfast reads. No new 5 star reads this time around, although I managed to enjoy most of my reads during February with only two titles 3 stars or below. Not bad at all!

Month In Review: January 2020

The first Monday of February already, and it is time to look back at the first month of 2020… Like I mentioned a few days ago, I’ve decided to take it easy with all things blogging this year both because I’ve been in a blogging slump for months now and I needed to start focusing on my health again. About two weeks ago, I changed my eating habit to mostly fruits and veggies (no alcohol and soda was easy as I hardly drink those anyway, no sweets including chocolate a tad more difficult; no flour products and less cheese considerably more complicated though xD). I’m also focusing on exercising 1-3 hours at least 5 times a week, which I hope will start giving results in the near future. 😉 And yes, this means no baking for the time being! And less reading too, as that exercising time has to come from somewhere haha. February will most definitely not as successful as January bookishly speaking…

Now to the bookish numbers:

• Number of books read in January: 25
• Total number of books read in 2020: 25
• Total number of pages read in January: 8.190
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 8.190

I definitely read more than I thought I would during January, especially if you consider I read the majority of the titles during the first 20 days of the month. I also had FIVE!! new 5 star reads, something that I don’t think ever happened before in just one month, and to top that I had three further books with a nearly perfect rating too… I did also have a DNF and five titles with 3 stars or below, but overall I’m not complaining at all.

2019: The Numbers

Call me a nerd, but I do love my graphics posts! I first started properly keeping track of my reads in Excel back in 2016, making it possible to finally put together some graphics. I’ve done a bunch of ‘The Numbers’ posts over time, including my 2016, 2017 and 2018 posts, and it has been revealing interesting things about my reading habits. So why stop? 😉 Let’s talk nerdy and see what my numbers were like for 2019, shall we?

First of all some quick facts. In 2019 I read no less than 264! books with a total page count of 88.638 pages; an average of about 336 pages per book. This is way more than I expected and also 19 books and 11.423 pages more than in 2018… More than I have ever read in one year. The average rating is 3,72 stars, which is higher than in 2018 and I’m definitely happy about that. No less than 82 books had a 4,5 or 5 star rating and 69 books received a rating 3 stars or below… Which means I enjoyed reading about 73,9% of the books during the year, again higher than in 2018. Not that bad at all! Another fun fact: 108 of the 264 books I’ve read so far were actually ARCs; about 40,9% of the total. This means I almost kept my promise to get the ARC ratio below 40%, so I’m quite happy with that.

And now some graphics for those who like them as much as I do. 😉

More 2019 Favorites #2019favorites

Two days ago I shared my list of TOP 15 Favorite Books/Authors Of 2019, where I mentioned there were actually a lot more favorites I was dying to mention. In fact, over 40 further authors had one or more books with a 4,5 star rating last year, which is basically a normal 5 star rating as I use my 5 stars as an A++. Yes, that is over 40 authors, and somehow I had to bring that back to 20, with a whole lot of sweat and tears involved. Honestly, I really wanted to mention every single one, but this post is too long as it is… So a special mention to the honorable mentions of the honorable mentions: just because you weren’t named here doesn’t mean I didn’t love reading your story last year! ❤

On to the honorable mentions who made the cut… Ready for 20 more favorite books/authors I was lucky enough to read during 2019? Once again in alphabetical order, because I’m not picking favorites between these. 😉

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TOP 15 Favorite Books/Authors Of 2019 #2019favorites #bestof2019

I know everybody including the neighbor’s cat already posted their list of 2019 favorites, but I thought: one more list isn’t going to hurt anyone, right? Plus I wanted to put my absolute favorite stories of 2019 in a proper spotlight. Somehow I managed to read a whopping 264! books last year, something I still can’t wrap my head around. Of those books, 21 books managed to receive the full 5 star rating (although two were rereads and one a 2020 release I won’t count) and no less than 61 books received an almost perfect 4,5 star rating, which is basically a 5 star rating for most people in the first place. All of these titles deserve a spotlight, and there was just no way I could narrow it down to a top 10 or even 20… So I’ve decided to cheat a little and make two favorites posts. Today is all about my absolute favorite reads a.ka. those with my special 5 star rating which is basically an A++… And to cheat even further, there are a few authors that I read and loved multiple books of last year and I will be counting each author as just one spot i n my Top 15. 😉

Curious about which titles and authors made my list yet? Since there is just no way you can force me to pick just one favorite 2019 title, I will present them in alphabetical order:

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Month In Review: December 2019

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.