Last Friday of 2017, what?
Thriftbooks.com - This is my favourite place to buy books, hands down. I mean, I love amazon for new and kindle books obviously, but for used books, this website wins. It doesn't have everything, but I'd say 90% of the time I find what I am looking for, and under $5. They have coupons for new users, and a reading rewards program - every time you spend $50, you get a $5 reading reward. I don't want to look at how many rewards I've gotten because then I would see how many times I have spent $50 and I don't want to. Cheap books, if you want them, off you pop.
Grateful - that 2017 is almost over. Bye Felicia.
Interesting - I got some gift cards for christmas as I'm sure you did too, and I was curious to see if people were savers or spenders, so I asked on Instagram stories. At first it really looked like the savers were going to win by a landslide, then it evened out. I asked because I am a must spend immediately even if I don't need anything kind of person and I simply do not understand people holding on to them.. like at all. You have free money to spend, why aren't you spending it? But anyway, it was pretty close. Interesting. I wish I was a saver, but nope.
Food blogs - I do not exactly follow any food bloggers, like daily or weekly or whatever, but when I am searching for recipes (via pinterest, of course) I find myself opening recipes from these 4 blogs over and over. I like easy, simple, tasty, mostly healthy recipes. I've made several from each of these blogs, some once or twice, some a million times.
- Budget Bytes - favourites are black bean burgers and curried chickpeas
- Minimalist Baker - favourites are falafel and mediterranean baked sweet potatoes
- Amuse Your Bouche - favourites are mushroom stroganoff and veggie burritos bowls
- Pinch of Yum - favourites are creamy garlic herb mushroom spaghetti and 5 ingredient chicken tikka masala.
Hope everyone has a lovely weekend and a safe new years eve.
Are you a saver or spender of gift cards?
Friday, December 29, 2017
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Books of 2017 - best & worst + stats
Yay bonus book day! Last year I shared my stats from the year and I couldn't wait to do the same this year. I find statistics so freaking fun, there's something about looking at a bunch of information and turning it into numbers and patterns. Just me? I mentioned how I do it in this post if you are curious. Goodreads has an export function and basically I just export to excel, sort the books and extrapolate the data from there. See? SO MUCH FUN!
This year, I read way more e-books vs real books or audiobooks. Oops. I tried to make an effort to read more real books this year but the simple fact is that e-books are just easier and I can cart them around everywhere without a backache. Plus there's the whole instant gratification thing, I am not a patient person. I was actually doing really well with real books and the ratios were closer together, but in the last few months I went absolutely crazy with e-books and left real books in the dust. I still prefer real books, but there's no denying e-books are more convenient.
5% were male authors, 95% were female.
I am 0% surprised by this. I think half of it is that I have always gravitated towards female authors, and half is that I read a lot of romance books, so...
38% were from the library, 9% were arcs, 25% were kindle unlimited, 20% were purchased and 7% were free, borrowed or gifted. I pay for kindle unlimited too, but I don't include them in my 'purchased' shelf on goodreads. I do sometimes include freebies, which makes no sense I know. I just want to know when I 'bought' them, even if they are free. I want to know how long they are sitting on my kindle for. My stats are 1% off and I think that's my book of the month book but I don't want to re-do my graph, so...
I am way too embarrassed to share how many books I purchased in 2017 - way too many that's for sure. The worst part though is that of the ridiculous amount of books I purchased in 2017, I only read 20% of them. I just 'had to have them'... so they could sit on my kindle or shelf at home.
I don't even want to look at the stats for how many books I didn't read that have been sitting on my shelves or kindle for years. I know, I have a problem, you don't need to tell me.
I am way too embarrassed to share how many books I purchased in 2017 - way too many that's for sure. The worst part though is that of the ridiculous amount of books I purchased in 2017, I only read 20% of them. I just 'had to have them'... so they could sit on my kindle or shelf at home.
I don't even want to look at the stats for how many books I didn't read that have been sitting on my shelves or kindle for years. I know, I have a problem, you don't need to tell me.
I'm going to try, try, try, try not to buy (that many) books in 2018. Like, seriously.
Moving on.
2% were nonfiction.
I am totally not surprised. Nonfiction is not my jam. I never 'read' non-fiction - I always audiobook them and they are almost always celebrity books.
Month by Month breakdown
Clearly, I was bit by the reading bug in the second half of the year.
Star rating breakdown
Like last year, I am quite fond of the 4 stars. About the same amount of 5 and 3 stars. I don't think I am particularly stingy with my 5 stars, but I don't like rating things 1 or 2 stars. I avoid this by sitting real nice and comfy in that comfort zone of mine, so it's rare that I read something I hate because if it doesn't sound like my jam, I don't read it.I actually have 2 DNFs this year - Intuitive Eating (I tried the audio, wasn't retaining anything, meant to get the real book and then just decided not to) and The Dovekeepers (I tried, but I am clearly in the minority with that one).
My favourite books this year
The Wall of Winnipeg & Me (and her other books) // The Duet // Mean Streak // The Hating Game // The Hate U Give // Weathermages of Mystral // A Conjuring of Light // The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo // The Secret Keeper // Beartown // Happiness for Beginners // Bet Me
Runner up reads
My Not So Perfect Life // Dark Matter // The Memory Book // The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet // The Rose Garden // Confessions // When Dimple Met Rishi // The Many Lives of Fitzwilliam Darcy // A Thousand Letters // Bird Box // Just One Damned Thing After Another //Tell the Wolves I'm Home // The Mountain Between Us // Alpha & Omega series // The One and Only Ivan
Favourite romances
To say I went a little bit nutty with romances this year would be an understatement. Here are my top 10. If they are already listed above, I didn't include them here even if they were romances. I know some of the titles and covers are ridiculous, don't judge me.
Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold // the first 3 in the Black Dagger Brotherhood // Dark Sexy Knight // Turbulence // the Rock Chick series //everything I read by RS Grey // The Vixen & the Vet // Heartbreaker Bay series // After We Fall // the Winston Brothers series
Disappointing reads
(they weren't necessarily bad, they were just disappointing for some reason or another)
Wish I hadn't read these
Maybe putting Mansfield here is a bit mean, but I'd rather have just left it on the 'Austen books I've never read shelf' instead of forcing myself through it.
Best books by month - this was much harder to narrow down than last year!
January: The Hating Game // February: Bird Box // March: A Conjuring of Light // April: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo // May: Beartown // June: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
July: Confessions // August: The Wall of Winnipeg & Me // September: Own the Wind // October: The Duet // November: Eyes of Silver, Eyes of Gold // December: The Gamble
If I had to choose just one book to be my favourite of 2017.... I would probably definitely hands down no questions say The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. I read it four times. But just like last year, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to everyone. But I'd recommend it to myself!
So, uh, anyone else really love statistics, or just me? What was your favourite book this year?
So, uh, anyone else really love statistics, or just me? What was your favourite book this year?
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