November/December/Year End Recap 2016

What a Year.

I don’t even have that much to add really, it’s just been a long year. I’m going to stay away from politics, celebrity deaths and break-ups, and just down topics in general. (I won’t even complain about work!) This is a book blog after all right?

I’m sort of viewing these last few months as the last 30-45 minutes of a huge holiday meal. You’re so full you’re uncomfortable, your friends and family are starting to get on your nerves, and all you want to do is take your pants off and lounge around doing nothing for the foreseeable future right? I know I do, so I won’t keep you long.

2016 was a rough year for books and blogging. I completely bailed on Come Read with Me even though I have an episode already recorded (Sorry Nick!). I dedicated ZERO time to Bibliophilanthropy and frankly I’m impressed I’ve managed to get any blogging done at all. Add in the commercialization of the community and I’ve pretty much stepped back from any interactions (sorry for no commenting etc.).

Many of the bloggers I used to read and interacted with have all but disappeared. They’ve gone on to real world things or have changed their blogs to another focus. (Congrats to everyone, I mean so many big things this year from new jobs to babies and marriage!) And then others have turned their blogs into commercial entities or soap boxes to berate others reading preferences or the industry. Again, nothing wrong with this, it’s just not the way it was. And we all know I’m not good at change.

I really have to remind myself why I started this blog. I started this blog as a means to capture my thoughts after I read a book to look back on (however embarrassing they may be). Maybe I need to return to that this year even more so. Focus on what I’m reading and enjoying and that’s it. This is My Literary Journey after all.

Books and Bookish Things
I’ve been very lax on blogging, but what’s worse is that it’s actually been on reading. Not only have I not blogged, but I just haven’t read. In all of November and December I only read five books. FIVE. And I was NOT a fan of three of them, so yeah, it’s been a rough couple of reading months. 

466. The Four Agreements (Toltec Wisdom Collection #1) – Miguel Ruiz
467. The Mastery of Love (Toltec Wisdom Collection #2)- Miguel Ruiz
468. The Voice of Knowledge (Toltec Wisdom Collection #3) – Miguel Ruiz
469. Finding the Blue Sky – Joseph Emet
470. The Power of Kindness – Piero Ferrucci

What’s interesting though is looking back on the year. I’ll talk about that in the 2016 recap next. There were some interesting things to see.

2016 In Review

By far the most interesting fact is that in 2016 I received 123 requests to review books. Now I didn’t track these previous years (I started in late 2015), but I know this is a RIDICULOUS number of requests. Part of this is because I appeared on a few book lists and a few publishers started to reach out to me regularly, but either way that’s almost TWICE the number of books I actually read this year. Overwhelmingly, they were self-published works, but there were quite a few from reputable publishers.

One author even asked me to review his book twice! (Side note: Keep a list of who you ask. It took a lot of maturity not to respond with something snippy.) Another author argued with me for choosing not to read their book because I told them that their writing in English, based on the excerpt sent, needed a lot of work before they should be approaching English-speaking audiences.

The Oddness of Moving Things also turned six this year and I made the announcement that my blog definitely has a lifespan. Whether that is 10 years or 1,000 books I still haven’t decided, but either way. It’s good to have made that sort of decision.

Quick Facts

• Total Books Read: 63
  • Library Books: 9 (14%)
  • Galleys/ARCs: 20 (32%)
  • Kindle/Digital: 25 (40%)
  • Physical Books: 38 (60%)
  • TBR Books: 24 (38%)
  • Fiction: 41 (65%)
  • Nonfiction: 22 (35%)
  • Translated: 3 (5%)
• Total Pages Read: 20, 524
  • Shortest Book Read: Imaginary Friends by Terry brooks (30 pages)
  • Longest Book Read: Ulysses by James Joyce (810 pages)
• Authors:
  • New to me: 30 (79%)
  • Most Read: Madeleine L’Engle (8); Micahel Scott (6); Terry Brooks (4); Jasper Fforde, Lev Grossman, Deborah Harkness, Miguel Ruiz (3)
  • Author Gender Split:
    • Male: 52%
    • Female: 44%
    • Multiple: 3%

Wrapping Up
I’ve spent the last few days of 2016 feeling under-the-weather. I’m sure it’s from traveling and from having eaten so poorly the last week and a half while visiting family. It did give me a great excuse to re-watch (BINGE) The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Maybe I didn’t have enough Austen in my life this year. I should probably remedy that 😀

I also started to watch The Librarians (Wikipedia) which I’m enjoying more than I thought I would. It’s sort of an American Doctor Who mixed with Indiana Jones, or at least that’s how I think about it.

And because there was nowhere else to put these two photos, I hope your 2017 is full of wonderful food and travel! (And all the other things like family and friends, and what not :-D)

Eataly in Boston opened. It was a little underwhelming, but the lunch we had was REALLY good.

I made my annual trek back to NC for the holidays. It was good to see all my family.