Well, friends, here we are again, standing at the precipice of a new year! While 2017 has been rough in a lot of ways - but also great, in some pretty notable ways as well! - there are a few things I can say for absolute certain.
One: making macarons is not as hard as you think it is, especially if you are gifted with the patience to sit through approximately 800 YouTube tutorials first.
Two: Learning to sew is super fun, and I am so excited for the amount of throw pillows I am about to add to my couches and bed in 2018.
Three: I read some really, really great books in the past 364 days. (And plenty of just-okay ones, as well!)
Obviously, there were a few significant changes to my reading habits in the past year. For starters, I deliberately set my Goodreads goal a little lower for 2017, with the expressed purpose of allowing me to choose lengthier books and those from different sections of the library (like classics I hadn't touched since college!).
And sure enough, the books I read were longer! This lead to higher page counts on both ends of the spectrum, in terms of my shortest and longest books, and average page length increased slightly, too. Somewhat surprisingly, I ended up scoring things lower on average, as well. So, not only did I pay more attention to what I was reading, but I really weighed how much I liked what I was reading, too.
In total, I read 60 books, three of which were graphic novels, a far cry from last year's "Year of Comic Books."
Let's not forget the other bookish things I've done this year, like taking part in NaNoWriMo for the third time Writing 50,263 words in a grand total of 19 writing days, it was one of the most healthy-but-intense bouts of self-motivated work I've ever taken part in, probably only falling behind my Capstone project for UW in terms of dedication!
I also made yet another big Bookish Resolution, just like I did back in 2015. I adopted the old rule again, with a few twists: no buying books, with only minor allowances on Indie Bookstore Day and my Bloggoversary this past July. In 2017, the seventh year I've had this blog, I only purchased a total of seven books!
It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. Maybe it's because last time I embarked upon this project, I was still living up in Seattle, and didn't have access to a local library like the kind I do now that I live at home. Granted, I did rely a lot on that library, and I had the tendency to fall in love with books that I didn't get the chance to keep afterwards, but it did all work out.
What didn't necessarily work out was the intention behind why I set that resolution in the first place. What I had been hoping for, was that I would finally prompt myself to clean up my bookshelves and soar through all of the books I'd bought in the past year, but what happened instead, was that I was still just as selective from their ranks as I was before. While I did manage to explore some titles I had already been looking forward to, I have three unfinished reads for every one I did complete... and honestly, there are still quite a few I'm not sure I'm planning on reading any time soon.
So, that's where I'm leaving off 2017, much in the same way I left 2016: I'm just a tired girl, with shelves full of books, including plenty that I'm glad I read this year, and more that I'm looking forward to reading in the new year, too.
(I think I'll include a list of my new resolutions - both bookish and otherwise - in the early days of 2018!)
Happy New Year, everyone!
What did your 2017 Year in Books look like? What was your favorite read of the year? Let me know, in the comments below!
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