Reflecting on 2016 – What happened this year?

Posted 30 December, 2016 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Uncategorized / 46 Comments

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.

Reflecting on 2016 - What Happened - (un)Conventional Bookviews

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.

Champagne - BEA - (un)Conventional Bookviews

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 🙂

BEA haul - Bought Borrowed and Bagged - (un)Conventional Bookviews

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 🙂

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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.

Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms

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.

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46 responses to “Reflecting on 2016 – What happened this year?

  1. 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!

  2. 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!

    • 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 🙂

  3. 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.

  4. 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!

  5. 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

  6. 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!

    • 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.

  7. 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}}}

    Bookworm Brandee recently posted: Favorites of 2016 ~ Books & Audiobooks
    • 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!

  8. 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!

    • 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.

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