Sum it up Sunday is a feature post we have been doing on the closing Sunday of each month. In these posts we’ve detailed various things that have excited or upset us over that month.
This is a very special Sum it up Sunday because it is our sum it up of the whole of 2017!
If you’d like to join us in our summing up, please feel free! Just please, provide a link back to our blog. Thank you.
Books that surprised you the most:
Paein:
Ahhhhh so many! The ones that surprised me most though were:
Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. I nearly didn’t pick this one up! What a tragedy. Aside from the annoying attitude of the guy I LOVED this book.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I was not expecting to like this book. I was expecting a mild level entertainment at most. Not really sure what happened, or even when, but by the end of it I thought it was fantastic.
Roar by Cora Carmack. This wasn’t the best written to be honest, but by the time I got to the end I’d had quite a bit of fun and that’s what’s important Also, I want to know what’s up!!!!!
Ms4Tune:
Reservoir 13 by Jon McGregor – because although there wasn’t really a plot to talk of, I still found it mesmerizing.
The Obsession by Nora Roberts – because I was on the edge of my seat throughout
Where’s My Teddy? by Jez Alborough – I just thoroughly enjoyed it and it made me laugh.
Books that disappointed you most:
Paein:
A Taste of Blue Light by Lydia Ruffles. It wasn’t a bad book, but I was expecting something living up to the line that hooked me in. I was also expecting sci-fi…
The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night. I just felt that the writing didn’t hold up to the idea.
Also, A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab. It’s one of Ms4Tune’s favourite books, but I found the stupid mistakes annoying and I though them out of character for someone in that position
Ms4Tune:
When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle – because it was a little cliched and I didn’t like the characters
The Fairy Caravan by Beatrix Potter – because it wasn’t as good as the rest of her books. It was pretty poor actually.
Most beautiful addition to our collection:
Paein:
woop, chose an illustrated Harry Potter last year so it might be weird to choose another (#3!).
This year I’ll go with my leatherbound Wuthering Hights by Emily Bronte, joining all my other beautiful leatherbound classics.
Ms4Tune:
Hmm Well I guess my collectors edition of A Darker Shade of Magic by V E Schwab
but I also loved the covers of
Now I Rise by Kiersten White
and my Fairyloot Box version of The Last Namsara by Kristen Ciccarelli
How did our challenges go this year?
Paein:
Not the best, but I think I’ve scraped by!:
Colour cover challenge: 36/14
Uppercase reading challenge: 12/12
Some were 40 page books and I may have chosen a “been made into a film” rather than a “being made” book but oh well.
PLUS! After adjusting my total at the start of the week, I’m not on 92/90 books on goodreads. Score!
Ms4Tune:
Goodread Reading Challenge: 23/52
If you counted all the books I read with Cas, then technically I would have managed 52 but I didn’t so I failed this one.
Uppercase: 11/12
awww man I was one away from completing this one… maybe before the end of the year I could sneak ‘A Book becoming a Film’ in… any suggestions?
Colour covers: 5/12
I only managed to match the colours in 5 months. The rest of the time I read something but they didn’t have the right colour cover.
The cons we faced while tackling the challenges:
Paein:
Not many to be honest. Had a tough time getting books in towards the end of the year but that wasn’t a challenge issue…
Ms4Tune:
I found the colour cover challenge harder than I thought. Mainly because I had very little time to read and when I did, I didn’t want to read a book with that colour cover.
The pros we discovered while tackling the challenges:
Paein:
They were a lot easier than past challenges! 12/14 books is a reasonable amount in a year. So is 26!
Ms4Tune:
The Uppercase Reading Challenge made me read books I wouldn’t necessarily read but because it was only 12 books, it was no where near as daunting as the popsugar challenges we’d previously attempted. If we join in any challenges next year I will definitely only do the short ones.
What will we be doing differently next year??
Paein:
I want to read at least one book box book a month. either a new one or one from this past year. I’ve got a pile building up.
I’m also considering giving up the Musing Mondays. Ms4Tune liked them, but I find them quite hard. I don’t have much hope that the Make It’s will be back, but we will have to just keep everything crossed!
Ms4Tune:
I will set more realistic goals but also make time for reading.
I’ve struggled this year due to having a little one. I found the challenges were too much to complete as I hardly had time to do any reading but at the same time, not reading, has been really hard on me. Reading was always my time to switch off and just get swept up in something else. I’ve missed that and need to find time to do that… for my own sanity if nothing else.
Our Highlight of the year:
Paein:
Uh oh, I don’t know! Maybe YALC and all the authors! I was actually quite anxious about the whole thing, luckily I had a friend along who was able to strike up some kind of conversation with most of the people we came across.
I’m sure there were MANY other great things that happened, but I’m sorry, I can’t remember. Next year I’m planning on writing them down. I’ve even made a page for them in my bullet journal.
Ms4Tune:
Watching my little ones face and hearing her laugh when I read her stories. Fingers crossed I’m inspiring her to read in the future.
For Christmas I bought her the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone. I can’t wait to read it with her.
