An Unconditional Freedom by Alyssa Cole {review}
American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera {review}

2018 Reading Year In Review

Am I posting about 2018 at the end of February? Why yes, I am.

This year is zooming by and I'm still catching up. I left the Twin Cities mid-December, made previously planned pit-stops in Louisville and then Nashville, and then moved to Knoxville, TN at the end of the month. Shall I mention I didn't know I was going to move until December 1? Yep. It was a little crazy and it's no wonder I feel exhausted.

Still.  I cannot convey the amount of relief I feel over no longer being in Minnesota. It was such a long season of unknowns and temporary housing. I'm pondering an essay about it all but this update will hopefully suffice in the meantime.

In any case, I wanted to recap my reading year because it looked different from years past, mostly because of the Unread Shelf Project started by Whitney Conard

 

Unread Shelf Project Recap

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PicMonkey Collage


At the start of 2018, I counted all the books on my unread shelf. I wanted to try to read five or six of those books every month to see if I could make a dent in the stacks. Originally, I was going to set TBRs each month and that only lasted about four or five months. It was good while it lasted but I do best when I'm free to read what I want, when I want it, library book due dates aside.


In all, I read 70 books from my unread shelf in 2018! I started the year off with 90-ish books and I’m ending the year with...94. 😂 Here’s to breaking even! I didn’t write down how many books I decided were no longer for me and passed along to a Little Free Library or sold to a used bookstore instead of reading. 

For those interested in the breakdown:
January: 9
February: 6
March: 6 + 1 DNF
April: 3 + 1 DNF (I decided to stop including DNFs after this)
May: 6
June: 7
July: 4
August: 1
September: 5
October: 8
November: 8
December: 7

 

I’m definitely going to keep this habit up in 2019! The Unread Shelf Project has helped me be more mindful about what I buy and even which review copies I accept from publishers. I haven't figured out the balance in visiting bookstores but I tend to be more self-controlled in independent bookstores than when I visit my favorite used bookstores. I dare you to live near a McKay Books and not take advantage of all the deals! 

 

Yearly Total and 2019 Goals

I read 314 books in 2018. If you do the math, that means 244 books came from the library or were ARCs. When I say I'm a library user because I could never support my book habit, I'm not lying!

And because someone will inevitably ask how I can read so much, read this. (My circumstances have changed but much of it is still true.) The game-changer for my reading life has been rarely watching TV. Not going to lie: I do miss my Real Housewives. But most evenings I'm content to curl up with a good book. I'm a prolific reader and I've felt weird about sharing my number the past few years because I don't want anyone to feel bad about whatever their number is. But this is an accomplishment and I'm celebrating my book nerdery!

I have a few bookish intentions for 2019, like using a spreadsheet or tally to track more stats and finishing a bunch of the 42 series I have in progress. I'm also trying really hard to keep up with book reviews, as those fell by the wayside last year. I don't think I reviewed half of what I read and I'm sad I don't have the record beyond a star rating on Goodreads. This year my motto is going to be “shorter reviews in a timely manner.” So far, I'm keeping up and it feels good.

For the record, I think of my blog and Instagram as a highlight reel, generally only sharing my 4 of 5 star reads and the occasional 3 star if it's by a favorite author. If you want to see it all, follow me on Goodreads!

 

Favorite Books of 2018

Just in case you missed my annual favorite book lists, here they are!

Favorite Fiction of 2018

Favorite Romance Novels of 2018

Favorite YA of 2018

Favorite Nonfiction of 2018

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