I read a whopping 8 books in December, which was 100% a personal record for the year. I just really, really wanted to reach my adjusted Goodreads goal and with those books I did. Here’s the recent ones I read:
- The Dire King by William Ritter (4 stars)
- Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi (4 stars)
- Find Me by André Aciman (1 star)
- The Pisces by Melissa Broder (1 star)
- Animals by Emma Jane Unsworth (1 star)
- Monstress, Vol. 1 (4 stars)
- Noughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman (4 stars)
- P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han (3.5 stars)
As per usual, when you click on the covers, you’ll get re-directed to Goodreads, where you are always welcome to add me as a reading buddy! For the books that I have written reviews for, you can find them by clicking on the titles above.
Because I did this last year, I am also going to share my entire year of reading with you. Goodreads is really great at putting together a fun summary to share with everyone and I am going to do that here in parts, but you can find my entire results here.
I didn’t read a massive amount of books in 2019, but I am quite content with it looking back at the year. I was really busy with work and had literal months where I didn’t pick up a single book, so I am glad to have gotten to a total of 26 books! However, I have noticed that I started to gravitate more towards shorter to medium-length books and entirely avoided epic series. There were also quite a couple comic books and novellas featured, if you look at my reading list as a whole.
Finally, my average rating for the books I read was 3.5, which is 0.4 stars lower than in the previous year. Considering that I read 10 books less and actively tried to look at books more critically without giving away high ratings as willy nilly as I have done in the past, I am also not disappointed with this result.
2019 wasn’t the easiest of years for me for a multitude of reasons that I don’t want to get into. I am not going to lie to you though, it did reflect heavily in my blogging habits and the resulting stats. I have been struggling more than usual to deliver steady content and it showed by being the worst year in blogging since 2014 (having started the blog in 2013). I don’t want to whine about it, and even though I strongly believe that stats aren’t everything, it has affected my relationship with the blog a little bit. I am still so very grateful for everyone who stuck around, even when there were sometimes weeks of only trailer posts and nothing else. I don’t really know if I can promise to do better in 2020, but I am not willing to give up just yet.
- The blog currently has 2,470 WordPress followers, a number that keeps growing slowly but steadily. If I add the people who have followed via mail, we have surpassed 2,500 easily.
- This is post #1113, so there is really a lot to plow through if you want to do a deep dive into the archives of Life and Other Disasters.
- I really, really want to give a shout-out to my top commenters, because the interaction is what makes blogging so great and worthwhile. So, huge thank you to Rami, Lois, The Orang-utan Librarian, Rae, Caro and Marie!!
MOST POPULAR POSTS OF 2019
(click on the title of the post to read the full thing!)
Kiss, Marry, Kill – Marvel Edition: It was a big year for Marvel, so I am not surprised that it was a draw in terms of blog posts. The fact that this one was more about the actors than the characters didn’t really seem to deter anyone either.
The Rook: Book vs. TV Show: It makes me so happy to know that these book to screen comparison posts do so well, because I know that a lot of us bloggers struggle with the performance of review posts. The fact that this is one of my favourite shows of the year is just an added bonus!
Kiss, Marry, Kill: TV Edition: Y’all really like to know who I would kiss, marry or kill it seems? All I can say about that is that I really, really struggle with the last part with every single edition of this post I did. And … I think this was the 5th installment already?
What I’ve Been Binge-Watching #3: I’ve started this series either late in 2018 or early 2019 and toyed around with the format, making little adjustments here and there for a while. I am glad it resonates with people, although I have no idea why this one in particular did well.
Random Movie Recommendations: Karen Gillan Edition: Yay for all of you being as big Karen Gillan enthusiasts as I am! That’s probably the reason this post was interesting to some people out there.
MY 2019 RANKINGS
Last but not least, here are all the links for my 2019 rankings for movies, books and TV shows in case you missed them the past couple of days!
I hope you had a great start into the year 2020 so far! Is there something you really liked on the blog in 2019 and want to see more of in the new year? Let’s chat!
love the wrap up! Glad you are still blogging, love your content!
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Thank you! It means a lot 🙂
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8 books in a month is a bloody good achievement! I love the Goodreads year of reading summary, even if I didn’t even crack the double figures in books haha.
Your year has been so chaotic with work and all the other stuff that it’s natural for the blog to take a back seat. We’ve all been there cause blogging is bloody time consuming.
Anyway, here’s to a cracking 2020 full of fun adventures!
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I just flew through those books for some reason, even though I really disliked quite a few of them haha but sometimes I am stubborn like that.
I hope we have an amazing 2020!!
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Glad to be of some help. And if it makes you feel better, you have twice as many followers as I do–more than twice, actually–and you did it with less posts over a shorter period of time. That’s something.
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We all move at our own pace through the blogging world, but I think yours just might be more niche.
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Yeah, you might be onto something there.
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Thank you for the shout out! I love keeping up with your blog and it means a lot that you always respond to comments 🙂 I also read 26 books this year, what a coincidence
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Thank you so much, I am always so happy to see your comments! And that is such a fun coincidence! 🙂
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Sorry to hear that it has been a hard year blogging wise, but I also loved you showcasing your most popular posts of the year 🥰 Also thank you for the shoutout, I love commenting on your posts 💕
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I am always so happy when your comments pop up on the blog! I am sorry I am not always as good in reciprocating them
but I wanted you to know that I definitely appreciate you
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I’m really really late at this post, but thank you for the shout out,Kat and I’m sorry I’ve been so slow at blog hopping these past few months, I have so much to catch up on.
You did SO great reading wise in December, that’s amazing! I hope that 2020 will be a good reading year and a better blogging year overall, too. As long as you’re writing blog posts that make you happy, no matter their length or their rhythm, you’re doing amazing. ❤
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Don’t worry about it, Marie! Just happy to hear from you whenever you have the time 😀 ❤ And as always, thank you for the support and encouragement.
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