December 2023 Wrap-Up
Happy New Year to you dear reader. I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating. Our New Year was low key. A lovely meal and drinks. It is also a bit of an anniversary for me and my husband. I'm wrapping up December 2023 today, so I can tie up those last 2023 loose-ends. I've also added in some book blog resolutions. (Thou shalt not get stressed! firmly being one of them!). On with the wrap-up.
Books Read and Reviewed in December 2023
December was all about #12booksofChristmas. In case you have missed them, please see the list below.
- Day One - Jingle all The Way by Debbie Macomber
- Day Two - The White Priory Murders by Carter Dickson
- Day Three - Upon a Frosted Star by M.A. Kuzniar
- Day Four - Christmas at the Little Waffle Shack by Helen Rolfe
- Day Five - How Winston Delivered Christmas by Alex T. Smith
- Day Six - The Night before Christmas by Alex Pine
- Day Seven - The Ice Children by M.G.Leonard
- Day Eight - Murder on the Christmas Express by Alexandra Benedict
- Day Nine - Roast Figs and Sugar Snow by Diane Henry
- Day Ten - Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson
- Day Eleven - This Christmas by Emma Heatherington
- Day Twelve - A Child's Christmas in Wales
Other posts of note
I finally got round to compiling a post of all the Christmas books read on the blog over the last 3 years. I also compiled my Year in Books post for 2023.
Goodreads Book Challenge
Smashed it! 63 books read, against a challenge of 60 books. I will be doing another challenge and this year will link it in with a bit of a significant birthday.
5 Star Reads
3 this month - A Child's Christmas in Wales, Roasted Figs, Sugar Snow and The Christmas Guest.
BBC Big Read Challenge
24/100 books on my BBC Big Read Re-Read Challenge. It's not going too well, but nearly a quarter of the way through.
Read all about my BBC Big Read Challenge.
To be Read
This needs some serious updating. First of all because I was lucky enough to receive a lot of books in my stocking. Just before Christmas I also passed on a few books, I had decided not to read. I'll pop my Autumn To Be Read post down below, but it is wildly out of date. New post coming soon for the New Year
Read all about my Autumn 2023 To Be Read Pile.
Looking Forward to
I never make New Year's Resolutions. I don't believe in a New Year, New You because quite frankly you are perfect as you are. But I have been giving thought to this blog and reviewing last year.
2023 was frazzling! With work and blog, I ended up quite stressed towards the end of the year. This was not helped because I only finished reading #12booksofchristmas on about December 14th. I can't leave it this late in the day again, my blood pressure can't stand it!
What I would like for 2024 is to continue to work on the blog, telling you all about books that I have loved. So a big part of that will be choosing books I really want to read. Now, please don't think for one moment that I am locked in a room forced to read books by some sort of literary dictator! The pressures I put on myself for the blog are all self-inflicted, all of my own doing and serve me no favours.
So I'm looking to forward to 2024 and getting my shizzle together, being organised and enjoying reading that which I want to read. I've already started and am reading and greatly enjoying a wonderful book first read back in the 1990's and which I have been desperate to read again.
I'm also looking forward to a rather significant birthday, ahem. Yep I'm turning 21 again. hahahaha. And I am being treated to a spa day in January. Heaven!
I am wishing you all a happy and peaceful 2024 filled with lots of books to enjoy. Have a great day.
