Month in Review

Doesn’t January always seem like such a long month? But here we are about to welcome a new month and how is everyone? I have been doing well and just trying to escape into books as much as possible especially when the news (natural disasters, political, etc.) sometimes becomes a bit too much to take. Thank goodness for books, right?

I’m finishing up this month having read four books. Almost done with another but I’m so tired this evening that I don’t think I’ll be able to read more than a page or two before falling asleep.

The books I finished were A Christmas in the Alps by Melody Carlson, Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns, Dearly by Margaret Atwood and Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano.

Dearly was a poetry collection I picked up last year but put down and so started re-reading it again this year. While not my favorite work by Atwood there were still some powerful poems especially some about the environment which really made me want to re-read them again.

My favorite read was Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano and it’s about a plane disaster where a young boy survives. Unfortunately the last chapters I read the same day of the recent American Airlines Flight disaster and let me tell you, it was hard to read those last few chapters, especially the ones that describe the last moments of the flight. It was a very good book and despite the sadness at the heart of it there was also a bit of hope shining through.

Anyway I do have a couple of other books I’m reading and eagerly looking at my stacks because I want to add some more books to my current pile.

I hope you’ve had a great reading month and read some good books. Take care of each other and hope you have a great reading weekend ahead!

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Carry Over

Hello and happy new year! I hope your year has started off great. Did you get lots of Christmas presents (books of course), travel or just hang out with family?

We had a very quiet Christmas and I really enjoyed having a bit more time off and just being able to read a bit more and catch up with family and friends via email and calls. My husband’s family sent us some goodies from Germany so that was so fun to have some German chocolates and other holiday treats to enjoy.

And, despite reading a bit more (actually my total books read ended up being 42 books) I still had a few books to carry over into the new year and so I didn’t do my traditional “first read of the year” post as I want to finish some of these before adding a new book.

This morning I did finish A Christmas in the Alps by Melody Carlson. Quite predictable but it was an easy and cozy Christmas novella. The other books I’m carrying over are Your Driver is Waiting by Priya Guns,  The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon and Dearly by Margaret Atwood.

Did you start off the year with some new reads or are you also carrying over some reads?

Here’s to a year of great books and stories!

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Favorites & Year in Review

It’s time for some reflection on the time spent discovering new authors, reading comfort reads and just the magic of words. So let’s take a look at my reading year:

Favorites in Fiction: Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher, Tom Lake by Ann Patchett, and Maame by Jessica George.

Favorites in Mystery: All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby, The Bullet that Missed by Richard Osman and Murder Road by Simone St. James.

The Numbers:
Total books read in 2024: 41
Books by women: 31
Books by men: 10
Fiction: 19
Mystery: 19
Graphic Novel: 2
Poetry Collections: 1
Books in translation: 6 (Japanese, Italian, Catalan and French)
Audiobooks: 19

I am carrying over three current reads into the new year. I can tell this was a year when reading took a bit more of a backseat because I didn’t branch out into other genres and mainly stayed with Fiction and Mystery. I also only joined one reading challenge, the Japanese Literature Challenge, which I did complete by reading one book. I typically enjoy participating in reading events like 10 Books of Summer, Women in Translation and Novellas in November but this year I didn’t read with any of those events in mind.

While this was far from my best reading year in numbers or even blog presence, I can’t complain about my reading because I read some wonderful books.

As far as reading plans for the new year, no plans! I don’t want to add more demands to my life and just want to welcome new books and stories. Will you be joining any reading challenges and/or have any goals?

Thank you for hanging out with me and sharing your love of books. I hope you’ve all had a great holiday and here’s to many happy moments in 2025. Happy New Year!

Smiles,
Iliana

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