2016 is almost over, and so I’m reflecting on the year past, asking myself what happened this year? Here on the blog and in my offline life, what have I been up to? What am I happy about, and what would be good to change in the new year?
Books I read in 2016
I somehow ended up reading less books in 2016 than in prior years. I know I’ve been busy with both work and with my thesis, but still… I kind of wish I had read more books! I did manage to read 160 books this year, though, and I certainly enjoyed most of them.
ARCs I Read in 2016
I am quite amazed at the fact that I read 98 ARCs this year, as that’s about 2/3 of the total books I read… I guess I need to become a bit better about reading the books I buy, too in the future, even if I made a nice dent in my bought shelves as well.
Star Ratings I Gave in 2016
While I did enjoy a lot of the books I read this past year, they weren’t all winners, unfortunately… I DNF’ed one book, rated one book with only 1 star, six books got 2 stars, twenty-five books 3 stars, sixty-two books 4 stars, and a whooping sixty-seven books got 5 stars. It seems I’m fairly generous with my ratings, right? It makes me very happy, though, because it also means that I have gotten quite good at choosing the right books both when I request ARCs and when I buy books.
Bookish Fun I Had in 2016
It was definitely a good year for bookish fun! I spent a week in Chicago in May for BEA, and I got to hang out with my dear blogger wife, Brandee and Denise; and with my COYER pals, Michelle, Stormi and Berls. I also spent time with Kim, Felicia, Kristin, Karen, Tamara and with Michelle and Lisa. I spent managed to hang out with the Blackhearted ladies Debbie and Ali a little, too. It was so much fun! Both at the conference and elsewhere in Chicago. I got to see my first ever baseball game, and we walked so many steps it should have almost been enough for the rest of the year! Some of my favorite authors were in Chicago, too, and it was really nice to be able to chat with them a little bit.
I came home from Chicago with a whole bunch of books, some that I have read this year, and enjoyed! It was definitely part of the fun 🙂
Then, in late September, I went to the south of France with my oldest for a weekend of bookish fun where Colleen Hoover, Karina Halle, Christina Lauren, KA Tucker, Anna Todd and others were as well. It was mostly very nice, even if some of the things did not happen according to the schedule, or what we had paid for. While in Bandol, I met some French bloggers I know as well, and good times were had 🙂
Bookish Challenges I Participated in
Of course, I participated in the 2016 New Release Challenge, and I also participated in the Blogger Shame Challenge, the COYER Challenges, the LGBTQIA Challenge, The Audiobook Challenge… I did quite well on these challenges, but I kind of failed both the Dystopia Challenge and the HW Challenge. I will definitely do less challenges next year, even if they are a lot of fun.
Non blog – What Happened in 2016?
Of course, everyone know we got a dog! Freddy has his own Instagram account, and he’s featured every week in my wrap-up post 🙂 He’s such an amazing addition to our family, and we all love him to pieces. He’s fun and cuddly, always ready to play or go for a walk – or take a nap 😉
I have spent the past few months writing my thesis, and I hope I’ll be able to have my defence at the beginning of the year, so my MA in English language and literature will be over with. I have also worked quite a bit as a teacher, and hope I’ll get even more work next year. I really love teaching, so finding my profession has become a case of better late than never. Next year, I will start my pedagogy training to get a Master in Advanced Science of Education.
Thanks for hanging out with me this year! Blogging would have been very lonely if you didn’t stop by to comment on my posts, or wave to me at Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for the old year, and all the best for 2017! Happy, healthy New Year – may it be filled with joy, love, success and peace.
About Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms
Linda is an English as foreign language teacher and has a Master's degree in English Language and Literature. She's an avid reader, blogger, compulsive one-clicker and a genre omnivore. Ever since she learnt how to read she has been seen with a book or two in her hands everywhere she goes.
Such a good bookish year you have had Lexxie!!! I do need to get caught up on Bennett’s series here. I do love Nalini Singh, she is such a great talent. I think I read less ARC’s than I normally do. Probably because I was starting to feel burnt out from them so I tried to focus more on library reads.
Reply
You’re right, I have had a really good year – in every way 🙂 Reading less ARCs can be a very good idea! I wish I had the self-control to stay away from NetGalley and Edelweiss! 🙂
Reply
You had a wonderful bookish year it looks like and a full personal year, too. I had to stop and think about my own totals and realized that a good 2/3 of my books read were reviews and arcs, too. Neat to see you got to take a few trips to see authors and blogger friends and way to go on the academic front with the thesis and teaching work.
Have a good new year, Lexxie!
Reply
Yes, 2016 was a quite good year for me – but I still hope 2017 will be better. The world needs some peace, you know?
Reply
I don’t tend to set reading goals but I noticed (in Goodreads) I read almost the same number of books this year as last year (almost 140). That’s okay given I’ve kinda not read much this month!
Loved your travels this year and hope to attend something bookish myself next year!
Reply
I use the Goodreads challenge to keep track of books, and I aim to read 180 books for 2017, however, I have read less in 2016 than the years before. Not sure why…
I hope you’ll be able to attend a bookish feature next year, too! It’s so much fun 🙂
Reply
What a year in books and life! I’m pretty generous with my star ratings, but there really are so many wonderful stories out there. Huge congrats on your writing thesis. I wish you a wonderful 2017, Lexxie! Happy reading, teaching, blogging, all that good stuff.
Reply
I’m quite happy with last year, Robyn 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!!
Reply
You read so many and such great books this year! I read quite a lot myself (140) but it’s about 40 books less than the previous year. I don’t know what happened. LOL xD
Wishing you all the best for the new year, Lexxie! ♥
Reply
I read a lot less than usual, Stephanie, not sure what happened, but there it is… I hope we’ll both have more books in 2017!
Reply
I hope you all had a great Christmas and that Santa Paws was good to Freddy! 160 books is still a great total considering how busy you were. I don’t work so I always feel I should somehow find more reading time but it never seems to happen! Good luck with your reading for next year!
Reply
Freddy knows he’s been a good puppy, let’s just keep it at that, Chuckles 🙂 I guess you’re right about 160 books not being too bad… It’s just that these past years, I’ve read a lot more…
Reply
Wow! 160 is impressive, seeing that you had so much on your plate this year. I read eleven books less that I did last year, have no idea why. Congrats on the thesis, I know how hard that can be, been there and done that. Wishing you all the best for the coming year
Reply
It’s weird how so many of us have read less books than usual in 2016, Nadene!
Reply
Sounds like it was a mostly a good year! 160 is a lot of books! I think I have read 118 books at the moment, which is more than I expected, so I am happy with that. Not sure how many of those are ARC’s, but I think a lot. I am not so good at reading the books I buy myself. It’s nice to see how many books got a high rating from you this year and it sounds like you know which books to pick up.
I also participated in the 2016 new release challenge and dis really well on that, although I did fail some of my other challenges. I always enjoy hearing about Freddy or seeing the cute pictures of him. We don’t have pets at the moment, so I just enjoy looking at other people their cute pets! Let’s hope 2017 will be a good year!
Reply
I did pretty well, but not as well as usual. It’s weird, a lot of other readers I know read less than usual, too. I’m not as good as reading my bought books, either, Lola, not sure what’s up with that.
I’m so happy you did well on the 2016 New Release challenge 🙂 and look forward to seeing what new books you pick up this year for that.
Reply
I think you had a great year! Though I am ready for 2016 to be over I did have a lot of fun at BEA for the first time and getting to meet you and some other of my blogger friends! 🙂
Reply
I hope 2017 has started well for you, Stormi 🙂 I had fun at BEA, too! And I hope one day we’ll get to meet again 🙂
Reply
You had a great bookish year!!! Can’t wait to see what 2017 brings you!
Reply
I hope 2017 will be even better, Samantha 🙂
Reply
What a wonderful year!! BEA looks like it was amazing and very cool you could go to the other signing as well. I loved seeing all the pictures of Freddy this year too!! Hope you have a great 2017!
Reply
BEA was awesome 🙂 And having a signing with author rockstars close to home was really fun!!
Reply
You had such a great year! It seemed like my reading was a bit slower this year but I did read some longer books. Plus puppies take a lot of time! The BEA looks like it was a great time and I am very happy that your thesis is going well. Hope your 2017 is wonderful!
Reply
It’s true that I read some long-ish books, but I do that every year, it seems. Puppies do take time, but they also give us so much love!!
Reply
Glad you’ve gotten good about choosing books that you like, so that you have way more high ranked books than low stars. I’ve gotten pretty good too. Always makes for better reading. Glad you had a great year. I hope you have an even better 2017. Happy New Year!
Reply
I’m happy about that as well, Melanie. It’s really nice to enjoy most of the books I pick up to read 🙂 Happy New Year back at you!!
Reply
I’m bummed I didn’t meet you in Chicago, but it sounds like you had a blast. Definitely way too much walking! haha It was great fun though! It seems like you had a really great and full year on and off the blog. Love Freddy – and all his pics make me smile.
-Lauren
Reply
I’m sad we weren’t able to meet as well, Lauren! The days were long and busy, though, and there were so many people there! Hopefully, we’ll be able to meet at another bookfest somewhere 🙂
Reply
Wow, it’s really something to see your year spread out like this. You’ve accomplished so much and have had a tremendous year, really. I’m so happy I got to be a part of it, wifey. You mean the world to me and you know that I’m cheering you on, virtually holding your hand, and there for you no matter what you need. You can call on me. 😉 I’ll Stand by You. 😉
*smooches* Love and {{{BIG HUGS}}}
Reply
I’m glad you enjoyed my stats, Brandee 😀 It is nice to look back and feel like a lot was accomplished. I’m happy we got to have some good times together, and I can’t wait to see you again in May. And of course, now I have Stand by Me in my head :p *smooches* {{BIG HUGS}}} Love and miss you!
Reply
That is so many books that you came home with. You will need a TBR challenge for this year. I want to thank you for hosting the 2016 New Release Challenge and I will be back to join again next year.
Reply
I will continue reading them as I can. It’s also nice to know I have them to read whenever I want to, you know? I’m glad you’re coming back for the New Release challenge this year, Rachael!
Reply
What a fantastic year! My reading was also slower this year. I read less than half the number of books I did last year. I had a drastically different year, so I’m OK with that. Happy 2017!
Reply
Oh my, that’s a lot less, Charlie! I hope most of them were good 😀 Different years are OK, I just want to make sure I keep taking the ‘me-time’ that reading is for me 🙂
Happy 2017!
Reply
160 books is fantastic, especially if you enjoyed most of them and only DNFed one! And wow, you really did get a great book haul from BEA! Plus it sounds like you just had some good times overall, and of course we all love Freddy 😉 Happy New Year!
Reply
Freddy is the best thing that happened in 2016, hands down! I had lots of other good things, too, though 🙂
Reply
Happy New Year!! You got a lot of reading done and even a good deal of traveling! All in all, it looks like it was a really great year for you! I hope you have an awesome 2017 as well. 🙂
Reply
Traveling is high up on my list of pleasures, SJ, so I’m always happy when I can do some of that 🙂 Thanks for stopping by, and happy 2017!
Reply
I wish you a happy new year lady! I hope we’ll be able to meet in 2017!
Reply
Thank you, Melliane! I hope we’ll be able to meet this year, too! 🙂
Reply
A pretty good year! And lots of awesome reads. I’m WAY stingy with my 5 stars. I only gave 2 out of 200 reads. lol But I had a lot more 4 star reads. Most books for me land there 🙂 Hope you have an amazing 2017!
Reply
I give 5 stars if it’s a book I think I might read again (or listen to) and I guess I’m pretty ‘nice’ about my stars… I’m glad you had a lot of 4 star reads last year, Anna 🙂 I love it when I end up loving most of the books I read 🙂
Reply
Oh I know I’m stingy. lol My 4 stars…I’d re-read those and they’re ones I really love and would recommend. I keep my 5s for ones that really just stun me stupid. Ha!
Reply
You had an awesome year! I loved meeting you and hope to be able to see you again (still not sure I can do Atlanta) Yay! Freddy found his forever home, I am sure it was an awesome year for him too!
I hope this year is just as amazing! ox
Reply
I hope you can do Atlanta, and if not, I will probably come to New York again one time… I’ll try to let you know a bit in advance so that maybe we can meet up at least for some cheese cake 😉
Freddy is the bestest little puppy ever! And I actually want a second dog for him to not be the only one in our house 🙂 Just let him grow up a little first.
Reply
I hope that you continue to find that joy in 2017. Thank you for all of the work that you put into your blog as well!
Reply