December 2017

Can you believe it’s the end of 2017 already?

I know I can’t! This was a year of big changes for me. I (finally) said goodbye to the student life and hello to my career in healthcare. Starting shift work has brought a lot of challenges my way but it has also been super rewarding.

One way it has been rewarding is in terms of my reading and blogging! I really didn’t think I’d get to read that much this year now that I wasn’t a student but I definitely proved myself wrong. While I might not always get the chance to read first thing in the morning (my favourite time to read), I still find plenty of time to sit down with a book or two and get some pages in. I even got into audiobooks which has helped immensely in terms of reading stats and keeping me entertained during my commute.

As for blogging, I was able to schedule posts well into April 2018 so that’s been a huge burden off my shoulders. There are some days I don’t get a chance to check in at my blog so it’s nice to not have that worry on a regular basis when work and life get in the way.

I don’t know what to expect for 2018. I have a few plans when it comes to reading (expect that post the first week of January) and I’m introducing at least one new monthly feature to my blog so I’m very excited.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for my annual recap of my favourite books from 2017!

Total for December 2017 (as of Dec 31st): 21 Books Read + 3 Novellas Read

Last December: 22 Books Read + 0 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 1 Book

Standout Read (★★★★★)

I didn’t think I’d like this book as much as I did but I loved every minute of this! The premise was so much fun, I laughed a lot and I was just plain entertained! I highly recommend this as an audiobook!

Biggest Let Down (DNF’d)

I’ve had my eye on reading this for nearly 5 years and it was a huge let down. I felt extremely lost in what was happening and the world and because of that, I just couldn’t get into it.

I thought it would be fun to keep track of my reading progress on my Kobo every month (and compare it to last year’s numbers). While I do own a Kindle now, I mostly use my Kobo for everyday reading. As per my #ShelfLove Challenge, I really want to increase the Total % of Library Complete by the end of the year.

**NOTE: Due to a new update on my Kobo, it looks like my past library reads don’t count (hence the drop in nearly 300 books) as they don’t remain on my Kobo. Now only Kobo books I own are counted towards my Total % of Library Complete stats.**

As of:	December 29, 2017	December 31, 2016
Total % of Library Complete	22%	20%
Total # of Books Finished	264	523
Total # of Reading Hours	2511	2107

 

Most Viewed Post Service Review: Kobo Super Points	Most Viewed Review Blog Tour: Fragile Chaos
View this year’s archives for more posts and reviews!

Previously posted series reviews that got updates:

You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick finalized summary (as of December 29th):

5 Year 5 Book Challenge: 2 titles this month |  10 of 25 Titles Read // 1 Year Complete!
Goodreads Challenge: Completed as of September 6  | 237/175 Books
#ShelfLove Challenge: 5 TBR Items added this month  | 51/50 Books
Judge By the Cover Challenge: None — what a fail of a challenge!
Classics Challenge: None |  3 books this year

View my Challenge Progress Here in detail!

Overall: This was perhaps the my worst year in terms of reading challenges. I usually blow them right out of the water and I didn’t really do that this year (with the exception of my Goodreads challenge). I really think the mood reader in me took over so I kinda just read what I wanted when I wanted–which truly was my goal for 2017. After years of reading according to deadlines it was nice to just pick up a book on a whim because the synopsis intrigued me (as opposed to adding it to my neverending TBR and getting to it years later). I’ve taken my experience this year to heart and have used it to craft my 2018 Reading Challenges which you can read more about below:

2018 Reading Challenges:

I’m keeping it simple this year and sticking with 3 (plus Goodreads of course) challenges for 2018. I like to do different reading challenges each year but this year, I couldn’t find any that met my specific goals for 2018. So I opted to create my own challenges based on my 2018 Reading Plan (look for that post in January!).

My Goodreads Goal this year is 190 Books.

5 Year 5 Book Challenge 2018 Edition!

I decided to bring this personal challenge back because it focuses on specific titles. I also like that it helps me get some of those backlisted titles off my TBR. This makes it easier to do a purge when I’ve read all the titles from that year that are still of interest to me. The goal is the same: read 25 selected books I’ve been “highly anticipating” from the last 5 years (5 for each year).

>> View the titles I’ve selected here!

52 Sequel Challenge 2018

After I couldn’t find a reading challenge to meet my sequel needs, I just created my own to hold me accountable. The idea of this one is to read at least one sequel novel from a previously started series a week for 2018. That means I hope to read a grand total of 52 sequels (minimum!) in 2018.

Tackling the TBR – The 2018 Challenge

I’d like to get a few titles I’ve had on my eReaders off my TBR list this year–as I do every year. For this challenge, any title I own prior to 2018 will count once I read it. The minimum goal is 24 titles in 2018. However, I’ve also combined this with my sequel challenge where 1 book each month is a sequel from my personal collection so in theory I should reach 36 books by the end of 2018.

 

In February, I brought back my Tackling the TBR feature and announced my plan to get my Goodreads TBR down to 500 books. And I’m happy to say that I got my results down to 511! It’s a little more than 500 but considering some of those are ARCs that will be finished in January, I call it a success!

So how’d I do it? If you followed my monthly inventories, you would have noticed my numbers had really fluctuated since February. Some months I was up; others had me down. In November I said I was going to do a purge and that was exactly what I did this month.

One day, I went through all my titles on Goodreads and brought my “Want to Read” (the shelf I use for inaugural books and standalones I would like to read) from 619 to 513. Here were some rules I used to remove books:

• Date added — if it was in 2012 (and not a classic novel), I removed it
• I marked it as “unsure expectations” and it had been there for 3+ years
• I didn’t mark it with any anticipation tags — especially if it was a “freebie”
• I didn’t have a source to read it and it had been there for 3+ years
• I read the synopsis and wasn’t excited to read it

Without further ado, here are my current standings:

• Current TBR Shelf: 511 books (YAY!)
• TBR Shelf at end of November: 619 books
• Initial Number in February: 1205 books
• Total # of Books Removed: 694 (WOWZA!)

Note: When I say “remove”, I moved these books to my “Pass” shelf so I know if I had considered reading them at some point in case I ever revisit them.

For 2018, I’d love to get that number below 500 but who knows! My main goal for 2018 is reading sequels so my focus will be moved to my other “to read” shelf and bringing it closer to 200 titles (it currently sits at 300).

Here are some great posts that caught my eye around the blogosphere this month:

• Krysta @ Pages Unbound explains “How I Take Charge of My Blog Before It Takes Charge of Me”
• Marie @ Drizzle and Hurricane Books shares her thoughts “On ARC Insecurity”

So what type of posts can you expect in 2018? Here’s a preview of what I have in store for the first quarter:

• A new monthly feature looking at book tropes
• New Tips posts for enjoying audiobooks and keeping track of sequels
• New Discussion posts about reading slumps and hosting blog tours
• The return of The Perfect Match!
• A Trilogy Review Blitz!
• Lots of great series reviews!

How would you sum up your 2017 reading/blogging year? Did you accomplish everything you wanted to?

What were your biggest reading or personal accomplishments of the past month?
Leave a comment below!

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