Today I bring you not only my December wrap up, but my stats for the year and some reading goals for 2020.
Continue reading “December Wrap Up – 2019 Review – 2020 Goals”
“But all lives are important, all people are important, because everyone is a book.” -Tanith Lee
Today I bring you not only my December wrap up, but my stats for the year and some reading goals for 2020.
Continue reading “December Wrap Up – 2019 Review – 2020 Goals”
In December I read 14 books for a total of 3,375 pages and an average of 109 pages per day! Most books were very enjoyable and I think this was a strong finish to the year.
Holy shit! This month I read 16 books for a total of 4,115 pages and an average of 133 pages per day! This is my highest number of books and pages read all year. And I can tell you that’s because I really did little else other than read (aside from working and sleeping of course). I read a lot of great books this month – I loved revisiting the Unicorn trilogy and was pleasantly surprised by The Regional Office is Under Attack! and The Haunted House Project.
Reviewed:
Black Unicorn by Tanith Lee
First Sentence: The first thing Tanaquil saw almost every morning on waking was her mother’s face.
Gold Unicorn by Tanith Lee
First Sentence: Tanaquil’s mind was on higher things: the three flights of stairs that still lay ahead of her.
Red Unicorn by Tanith Lee
First Sentence: The first thing Tanaquil saw almost every morning on waking was the face of the man she loved.
Book of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West
First Sentence: Mrs. McMartin was definitely dead.
Devi vol 1 by Shekhar Kapur
The Haunted House Project by Tricia Clasen (review up later today)
First Sentence: I knock on the door three times and then lean in close, listening for the rustle of the bedspread or the thud of feet hitting the floor.
A few thoughts on Goodreads:
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding (there’s also a video on my IG of my thoughts on this, but sadly, I couldn’t get it to link properly)
First Sentence: Hurrah!
Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
First Sentence: Darkness.
Bad Girls Throughout History by Ann Shen
The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
First Sentence: Not long ago I was in some monastery.
Reviews to come:
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
First Sentence: The girls were never present for the entrance interviews.
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
First Sentence: “So,” said the young priest, “I think that I’m the man you’re looking for.”
Notable Quote: “All we do all day long is deal with our own problems, handle our own shit some way or other, It felt nice, for a little while, to be dealing with someone else’s shit instead of my own.”
The Wangs vs The World by Jade Chang
First Sentence: Charles Wang was mad at America.
Notable Quote: “The people of the world could be divided into two groups: those who used all of their chances, and those who stood still through opportunity after opportunity waiting for a moment that would never be perfect.”
The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales
First Sentence: If you were wealthy, but extremely so, and you were in the market for a lavish adventurous getaway, one that might require the retainer of sherpas – in the event that you came across a mountain you wished to scale – as well as a hot air balloon and balloon crew in case, well, that came up, too, the desire, if you will, to hot-air-balloon over the glacial formations off the southern coast of Chile, then you could hardly do better than to contact the staff at the Morrison World Travel Concern.
Fish Girl by David Wiesner & Donna Jo Napoli
Henry Hunter & The Beast of Snagov by John Matthews
First Sentence: The first time I saw Henry Hunter he was hanging by his fingertips from the windowsill of the principal’s office.
This month I read 6 books for a total of 1,845 pages for an average of 62 pages per day. My favorite book by far was Pax (as indicated by the abundance of quotes I found), but Dark Matter was excellent as well!
Reviewed:
The Accidental Afterlife of Thomas Marsden by Emma Trevayne
First Sentence: Thomas Marsden was eleven years old when he dug up his own grave.
Pax by Sarah Pennypacker
First Sentence: The fox felt the car slow before the boy did, as he felt everything first.
Notable Quotes: “Just because it isn’t happening here doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.”
“People should tell the truth about what war costs.”
“The plain truth can be the hardest thing to see when it’s about yourself. If you don’t want to know the truth, you’ll do anything to disguise it.”
“We all own a beast called anger. It can serve us: many good things can come of anger at bad things; many unjust things are made just. But first we all have to figure out how to civilize it.”
A few thoughts on Goodreads:
Days of Air and Darkness by Katharine Kerr
First Sentence: Under a starry night two men and a dragon camped by a river.
Reviews to come:
My Mrs. Brown by William Norwich
First Sentence: Early one September not long ago, a rural woman with a secret grief traveled to New York City in pursuit of a dream, to buy the most beautiful and correct dress she’d ever seen.
Notable Quotes: “Trees survive winter and are revived by spring…but people? People weather away unless spring keeps in their hearts.”
“You only really come close to knowing another person when you begin to identify with their feelings.”
“Fear is criminal. It steals from life.”
The Changelings by Christina Soontornvat
First Sentence: Izzy Doyle stood in the school supply section of the Jiggly Goat, coming to terms with her fate.”
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
First Sentence: I love Thursday nights.
In March I read 10 books for a total of 3,072 pages and an average of 99 pages per day. The Oversight and The Paradox were certainly my favorites of this month. I’m still upset the third book isn’t out yet!
For Austen Month I read 7 books for a total of 2,164 pages and an average of 77 pages per day.
This month I read 10 books, for a total of 3370 pages (which is the 3rd highest total of the year) and an average of 112 pages per day.