Pages and Patterns: 2016 Reading Challenge

Showing posts with label 2016 Reading Challenge. Show all posts

Once again I'm late getting my monthly recap posted, I just can't seem to get these up early in the month! Well, goodbye 2016! I started off the year with a photo captioned, "Here's to 2016 kicking 2015's ass!" Let's just say it did *not* live up to those expectations. BUT it wasn't all bad.

Angelfall by Susan Ee*

World After by Susan Ee*

End of Days by Susan Ee*

The Fate of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

The Boy by Erika Johansen

The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

My Sister's Grave by Robert Dugoni*

The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa*

The Decaying Empire by Laura Thalassa*

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake

*2016 Audiobook Challenge Listen

I read a total of 10 books in December! Which then led me to completing my Ultimate 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge of reading 120 books on Thursday, December 22, when I finished Three Dark Crowns. I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to make it, but then I did - and with time to spare! I could have squeezed in a few more books but I didn't want to feel like I was rushing, and I dedicated the rest of the year to my cross stitching.

I also managed to listen to a total of 62 audiobooks in 2016, surpassing my challenge of 50 for the 2016 Audiobook Challenge hosted by The Book Nympho.

The Penryn & the End of Days series had been on my tbr list for a long while and since it was available with my Kindle Unlimited subscription via audio, I thought I'd take advantage of the chance. The Vanishing Girl series is also one I found through my Kindle Unlimited series.

I'm still sad The Queen of the Tearling series is over :( but I'm so happy to have the final installment with The Fate of the Tearling. It hasn't been getting much love from readers and I'm not sure why. I though Johansen did a great job wrapping up and putting the characters to rest. I'd say my most interesting read was Three Dark Crowns. It had been getting a lot of hype over the interwebs and I was very excited to read it. It took a little but to pick up for me but once it did, I was very pleasantly surprised! It had an ending that I felt like I should have seen coming but it totally took me by surprise and I love that! Going and thinking back on it, all the clues were there I just didn't pick up on it. I'd say it's worth the read and forming your own opinion. I'd love to know what you think!

I made HUGE strides on my Hogwarts Crest this month. Mostly over my Christmas break from work. I'm lucky enough to get 4 paid holidays from Christmas through New Years, and I only have to take a few vacation days to get a pretty nice chunk of time off. While some of this was spent dealing with contractors, herding my animals into and out of rooms, and trying to stay warm while the windows and doors were missing from my home on 30 degree days, I tried to spend the rest of the time stitching and binge watching shows. And this is what I have to show for it!

December 11, 2016

December 23, 2016

January 3, 2017

I'm so happy with the amount of progress I was able to make in such a short time. I'm quickly working my way through this next section and am hoping to have it done sooner rather than later. Then I'm in for the home stretch! Just the bottom portion will be left.

December was the month of holiday parties, baking, decorating, gift exchanges, lunches, and scrambling to find the perfect gifts. It also happens to be the month I was married, and my husband and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary.

I was lucky enough to receive some amazing and thoughtful gifts from my husband, family and friends, including the Niffler Funko pictured below and a Barnes & Noble gift card I used to buy most of the books stacked below.

All in all, even though December was exhausting, I have to say it was a great month. We celebrated two great friends at their wedding, spent time with our families at Christmas, and New Years, and had some down time.

While 2016 as a whole had its ups and downs, I'm glad its done, and I'm excited to see what 2017 has in store! How was your December?

November was a whirlwind! I'm not sure where it went but man did it fly by. I feel that's been the way of things for the last few months and I'm not sure things are slowing down any time soon. Am I alone in this? With the holidays and days being shorter in general, I feel there's just less time to get things done!

At first I thought audiobooks would carry me through November because it seemed I just wouldn't have time to sit and read, but turned out I was about half and half.

This Adventure Ends by Emma Mills 5/5 ✰

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen* 4/5 ✰

The Snow Child by Ivey Eowyn 4/5 ✰

Under Different Stars by Amy A. Bartol* 4/5 ✰

Sea of Stars by Amy A. Bartol* 4/5 ✰

Darken the Stars by Amy A. Bartol* 4/5 ✰

The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman 5/5 ✰
Gilded Cage by Vic James 4/5 ✰
*2016 Audiobook Challenge Listen

I adored This Adventure Ends. I definitely recommend this read to anyone looking for a contemporary YA novel. It's not your typical story with the same old tropes and I loved it. I was happy to finally cross the classic Sense and Sensibility off my list. The Snow Child was a book club read - not something I would have typically picked out but it was pretty good. Once of the great things about being in a book club is being forced to read something outside your normal spectrum.

The Burning Page is the third installment in the Invisible Library series I was really looking forward to and I certainly hope there's another one! With that ending, oof.

Sorry I've fallen behind on the blogging this month! I need to be better about writing more posts, and I will! More are to come. Did you see my review of Empire of Storms or Vassa in the Night?

Not much to report here. I didn't get much time to stitch this month and I made little progress on either my crest or my Link projects :(

My mom and I made our annual trip to The Great Dickens Christmas Fair in San Francisco on Black Friday; always a good time. This was our fourth year attending and it still holds its magic for us. We walk the streets of Victorian London (in the Cow Palace in SF), exploring everything the vendors, shows, and characters have to offer.

They have booths with Harry Potter themed soaps, great period foods, and so many people who dress up or are in character. If you have the opportunity to go some time, it's well worth it!

We also put up our Christmas tree. I don't think you can tell, but the bottom two feet have no ornaments due to our many cats, so we jam pack the top. Also, note the Cubs helmet topper courtesy of my husband :)

How was your November? Did you have a great Thanksgiving? I know I intentionally did not talk about some major events that took place in November because I didn't want my post to be about politics. I wanted it to focus on the positives things that took place. I'm looking forward to a crazy December filled with warm peppermint mochas, weddings, several books, cross stitching, family, parties, and craziness. How about you?