Archive for December, 2012

Monday, December 31st, 2012

Favorites & Year In Review

My blogging may have been very sporadic this year but there is no way I’m missing out on a end of year post like this because I like to see what my reading year was like and I know I love to see what yours was like as well. So here it goes:

My favorites of 2012 were:
Fiction: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, The Scrapbook of Frankie Pratt by Caroline Preston, Company Of Liars by Karen Maitland.

Mystery: The Burning by Jane Casey, In the Shadow Of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff, Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris.

The numbers:
Total books read in 2012: 62
Books by women: 59
Books by men: 3
Fiction: 16
Mystery: 29
Young Adult: 2
Romance: 15
Books in translation: 3 (Swedish and Icelandic)
Books from the library: 24
Kindle reads: 16

Only 3 books by men? I know I tend to read more women authors but this may be a first. I did read a few more books than last year so that’s good but overall my reading this year was very odd. I went months without reading any general fiction and I found myself reading romance novels? Is this me? Nothing wrong with reading love stories but that’s not the usual for me. I attribute a lot of my reading choices this year to just wanting easy books. I had a very stressful job and due to some other pressing things I just wanted “light” reading.

So this light reading of mine meant very little reading variety. I wish I had thrown in a classic or a graphic novel for more variety but you know what, it’s reading and enjoying the reads that count. And, I definitely enjoyed my reads.

What I look forward to in the new year? Well, hopefully lots of good books. I hope I’ll venture out again into other genres like I’ve done in other years but as always I’ll just go where my reading whim takes me. I want to discover new authors, revisit with favorite characters and just enjoy lots of good stories.

As always thank you for sharing your reading with me. I wish all of you the best year yet and may 2013 be filled with lots of good stuff for you.

Hugs,
Iliana

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Sunday, December 23rd, 2012

Happy Holidays!

May you all have a great time with your families and friends and may Santa bring you lots of good books!

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Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

Hello There

Oh my, I think this is a first. More than a month without a peep from me. I’ve been caught up in the whirlwind of two big things going on in our life. First, I’m settling in a new job which has been going great but as with any new job there’s always an adjustment period.

The other big news is that my mom sold her home, the home her and my dad filled with dreams. It’s was time to sell it but it wasn’t easy. So, that’s what’s been going on with me. And, just when I think now I’ll start back to regular blogging something else pops up – this time it’s another craft show.

I’ll be doing one last show for the year this Saturday at the Austin Flea. I almost wish I wasn’t going to be a vendor because there will be 80 crafters/artists and I want to see their booths! Hee. Anyway, I’ve been busy bookbinding a couple of weekends in order to get ready for this one. It’s funny, and not that I’m a pro at doing these shows, but it seems that you are never quite ready. There’s always that one extra thing you wanted to make, or a display you wanted to try, something.

In reading news, I’ve read some very good books lately. One in particular that I really liked was The Burning by Jane Casey. I haven’t been paying too much attention to my reading list lately but it will be interesting to see what the end of year stats will be like. Not that I expect to be surprised really but I do hope to make some changes in my reading next year. I’ll have to tell you more about that later.

So I hope all of you are enjoying some holiday reads. I know I still need to make my wish list of books I want Santa to bring me. Happy December everyone!

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