Author: Cindy

2018 Goodreads Reading Stats

Posted on by Cindy

Img bookstack 360

Read 120 books (my goal for the year was 100) which equals to 27,727  pages read in 2018.

The shortest book read was at 32 pages:

The Curvy Tree by Chris Colfer

The longest book read was at 431 pages:

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn

AVERAGE LENGTH  231  pages.
The most popular book on Goodreads was:
Night by Elie Wiesel
907,788 people also read Night by Elie Wiesel.
Least  popular book on Goodread was:Honey Moon Not Your Valentine by Sofi Benitez
9 people also read Honey Moon Not Your Valentine by Sofi Benitez.
HIGHEST RATED ON GOODREADS
The Snow White Effect by A.K. Mills
The Snow White Effect by A.K. Mills was the highest rated book with an average of 4.94
My top shelves were:
  • Other
  • 2018 books read
  • Stand Alones
  • Series
  • Adult
  • Books Bought 2018
  • paperbacks
  • Young Adults
  • Blog Tour books
  • Earcs

This is the second year I have actively used Goodreads to keep track of what I read in the year and also where I got books from (bought/borrowed/gifted/publisher sent). Another thing I started this year was keeping track in Goodreads various bookshelves such as the format of the book (paperback, hardcover, mass market paperback, audiobook, arc or earc/ebook), if the books were a stand alone or a series, the genre of book (adult, childrens, middle grade, young adult), blog tour reads, and if it was a debut. This was all personally for me to see what I was actually reading in a year and I have to say its actually nice to see it laid out for you.

Another thing I started late in the year (September) was taking a physical inventory of how many books were on my bookshelf after the massive book purge I did this summer (I actually spent a few days scanning the bar codes and adding them to my goodreads page). You have probably seen those results in my Book Unhaul post for December and yes that was a complete shocker. I never realized that I had that many books in my house sitting in boxes because you take for granted how many books actually fit into a box.

So the total number of books I currently have sitting on my TBR bookcases is  796  (this includes books I bought this year and the books I own that have never been documented). To break that down  116 is total bought this year and 680 is books I own that have never been documented, ie including 2017 and before.

Something new that GoodReads has seemed to added books over time and pages over time so I thought I would share that here as well. Not sure if everyone else’s is like this but mine shows from 2016 to 2018.

My biggest book month was January 2016 with 24 books read, then December 2017 was 21 books read and March 2018 with 16 books read. The months that I read nothing was November 2016 and March 2017.

In regards to pages read, January 2016 was 5253, followed by March 2018 at 3439 and then August 2017 at 3285. Which is interesting since December 2017 was my second highest books read in a month and I only read 2195 pages. August 2017 I read 15 books.

Do you use Goodreads to track your goals? Do you keep track of your reading stats? Do you check your reading stats?

First Book Of The Year 2019 (6th year)

First Book Of The Year 2019 (6th year)

Posted on by Cindy

The totally amazing and incredible Sheila from Book Journey is once again organizing the First Book of The Year 2019 edition. This is the sixth year that she is hosting this.

This is my 6th year of taking part in the  First Book of the Year  and I have to say its so much fun trying to figure out what book I want to start a new year off  with. The book can be a re-read, a guilty pleasure read or it can be basically anything you want to begin 2019 with.

I am going to be entering the new year with this:

The Child

ABOUT

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense

As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?


As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…

Cover Reveal & Give Away / The Winnowing (Stanley & Hazel #2)

Posted on by Cindy

 

Welcome to the Cover Reveal for

The Winnowing (Stanley & Hazel #2)
by Jo Schaffer with Giveaway

presented by Month9Books!

Be on the lookout for this upcoming title, and be sure to enter the giveaway at the end of the post!

 

What do you think of the cover?

 

 

Darkness descends over St. Louis, a city already rocked by the Great Depression. More and more people are disappearing, and some have turned up dead. A sinister secret society is putting forward their plan known as “The Winnowing,” designed to wipe out those they consider “undesirable.”

After Stanley and Hazel foil the diabolical plans of Charles Chouteau, they become instant celebrities. Hazel is thrust into the role of debutante, and risks loses herself in it. Meanwhile, Stanley must deal with the horrific tragedy of his best friend’s death while being threatened by the unseen forces of the Veiled Prophet.

With things spiraling out of control, Stanley and Hazel’s relationship is tested, possibly beyond repair. As bodies pile up, people become more desperate. The divide between wealthy and poor grows ever wider, threatening to tear their worlds apart. Now, the two must find a way to work together if there is any hope at all of saving their relationship and their futures.

The Winnowing (Stanley & Hazel #2)
by Jo Schaffer
Publication Date: February 26, 2019
Publisher: Month9Books

Available for Pre-order:
Amazon

 

 

Jo Schaffer was born and raised in the California Bay Area in a huge, creative family. She is a YA novelist, speaker and a Taekwondo black belt.

She’s a founding member of the nonprofit organization that created Teen Author Boot Camp, one of the nation’s biggest conferences for teens where bestselling authors present writing workshops to nearly a thousand attendees.

Jo loves being involved in anything that promotes literacy and family. She is passionate about community, travel, books, music, healthy eating, classic films and martial arts. But her favorite thing is being mom to three strapping sons and a neurotic cat named Hero. They live together in the beautiful mountains of Utah.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

 

December 2018 Book Unhauling

December 2018 Book Unhauling

Posted on by Cindy

Its hard to believe but its the end of 2018. Where did the year go? It honestly felt like the first few months dragged by but then spring came and the months flew by.

What a year its been in books. I read so many fantastic books this past year. What about you?

Anyways the purpose of this post, when 2018 started I told myself before the end of 2018 I need to do a massive book purge because what you don’t see in my real life ie house is a massive collection of books that have basically been sitting in boxes (roughly 25 or so boxes) for roughly 10-11 years. Well actually since I started book blogging. The books I would get and read  would basically end up in boxes and if you have been blogging for 10 years you know the amount of books that will be.

Realistically I don’t tend to reread books once I read them even if I truly enjoy them so why hold on to them right? So this was the year to purge and boys did I purge. As I am sitting here currently writing this post I can officially say that I don’t have as many boxes of books except for a few and that is because they are books I absolutely love and I want to hold on to them and the ones I couldn’t fit onto my shelves that I do want to read in the upcoming year. If by the end of 2019 those unread boxes are touched I will be donating those.

Going into 2019 I am making it my mission to read more of my own books because I still have bookcases filled with books and I spent a lot of time organizing them into stand alones, first books in series and series I need to read. Of course I will still buy books but hopefully not as much as this year.

I should just take one moment to say that the total of books released in 2018 is incorrect since earlier in the year I had given books to friends/family without documenting them in my monthly unhauling post and boxes of books were given away by accident and they weren’t documenting. So this is the number that I know for sure because they were physically counted as they were boxed to donate.

So ending the year I thought I would share photos from what  I have purged in 2018.

When I break this down I had 24 (home depot small moving) boxes, 11 tote bags, 1 bin, one cedar chest, 2 full size (5 shelf) bookcases, 1 small (4 shelf) book case and 1 small (3 shelf) bookcase full of books and this equals a whole lotta books.

I have decided going into 2019 I will no longer be making a separate post for the books I have unhauled in the month since its not a popular post here on the blog. I will include the total of books I have unhauled in a monthly reading stats post that I want to try in 2019.

Total books released in 2018: 1,000 (roughly)

Total books released in 2017: 156

Total books released in 2016: 124

Total books released in 2015: 211

2019 Tackle my TBR Challenge

2019 Tackle my TBR Challenge

Posted on by Cindy

As the year is coming to end I told myself that going into 2019 and 2019 in general that I need to read more of my own books. I really came to realize this past summer that I have so many of my own books sitting in boxes and on book shelves that aren’t being read and that is really a shame. Imagine if I took a physical inventory of how much is sitting there I would probably be shocked. Plus getting diagnosed with MS in November I realized that I need to read those books sitting there.

This past year I managed to read 22 of those books. Which isn’t a lot and I am hoping to double that at the end of 2019. Wish me luck!

Challenge Details

  • The 2019 Tackle My TBR Challenge runs January 1, 2019 – December 31, 2019. You can join at any time. Click here to find out more.
  • The goal is to read at least ONE book from your TBR every month. It can be an ARC, ebook, audiobook or print – your choice. Any reading is good reading!
  • If one TBR book a month isn’t enough, set your goal higher! Do you think you can read five a month? Ten? Go big or go home! Just for fun, I’ve added some levels below.
  • You don’t have to be a blogger to participate. You can track your progress on Goodreads, Insta, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube… wherever you want!
  • Use #TackleMyTBR2019 on social media.
  • Feel free to use the banner graphic on your posts and/or social media.
  • Link up below to declare your intentions.
  • Tell your friends!

CHALLENGE LEVELS

New this year: challenge levels! (And yes, they’re football-themed.)

Pick a level, any level! (These are all based on a 1-5+ books per month average.)

  • Safety: read 12 TBR books
  • Blitz: read 13-24 TBR books
  • First Down: read 25-36 TBR books
  • Field Goal: read 37-48 TBR books
  • Hail Mary: read 49-60 TBR books
  • Touchdown: read 61+ TBR books

My goal is to do level First Down and that is to read 25-36 TBR books. I am setting it low so that I won’t get overwhelmed and if I read more then yay for me. I want this to be a stress free reading challenge since its the only one I am really doing along with the good reads one.

Be sure to check out the 2019 Tackle My TBR Challenge on KimberlyFayeReads blog to find out more about the Tackle My TBR Challenge and to sign up.