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With the end of the first month of 2017, I’ve decided to do a little experimenting with a monthly wrap up. So, January will be my first. I apologize if it’s a little rough and not extremely original, but I know my wrap ups will improve with time. I’m a person who definitely needs let ideas evolve as I live with them. Please feel free to offer any feedback and/or suggestions. I’d appreciate it!
Books Read in January:
Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran, Grade: A- (reviewed on 1/12)
The Futures by Anna Pitoniak, Grade: C (reviewed on 1/19)
Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller (review coming next week)
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout, Grade: A (reviewed on 1/26)
The Animators by Kayla Rae Whitaker, Grade: A (reviewed on 1/31)
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (audio – comments here)
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller (review coming next week)
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith (review coming soon)
Reviewed, But Read Earlier:
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich, Grade: B+ (reviewed on 1/3/17)
History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund, Grade C+ (reviewed on 1/5/17)
The Sleepwalker by Chris Bohjalian, Grade: B- (reviewed on 1/11/17)
Best Book of January!
In my humble opinion, Kayla Rae Whitaker’s debut is a must read!
Please check out my review to get all the wonderful details.
Blog Surprises:
- The most viewed post in January was Best Novels of 2016, which was actually posted on December 27, 2016. Everyone loves those “best of” lists!
- The review that was viewed most frequently was Idaho by Emily Ruskovich. This, however, is a skewed statistic since Idaho posted early in the month.
- The review that got the most hits on the day it went up was The Futures by Anna Pitoniak. This one is a surprise because it had few comments and was a book I didn’t particularly like.
Progress toward goals:
- My Goodreads goal for 2017 was to read 75 books. With 8 read in January, I’m right on track toward that goal, though I know I will not always be able to squeeze in as many books.
- Another of my reading goals was to read more nonfiction and listen to more audiobooks. With When Breath Becomes Air I was able to add a book in both categories.
- On January 10, for Top Ten Tuesday, I published a list of “2016 Books I Meant to Read, But Didn’t.” Since then, I read two of the books from that list, My Name is Lucy Barton and When Breath Becomes Air. I don’t expect to be so successful most months at reading backlist books!
- I’ve made significant personal progress on organization and planning further out. My TBR list is finally under control (in organization, not size). In February, I plan on tackling my Pinterest page which is a serious mess right now!
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I love this update! Interesting that Idaho was your most viewed review…I feel like my more controversial reviews have been my most viewed as well (negative for City on Fire, mixed feelings about Fates & Furies, and meh about Gentleman in Moscow).
And glad you’re focusing on Pinterest…ever since I revamped my page, my Pinterest traffic has become my top social media referral source!
PS – I also like to let ideas evolve…kind of learn as you go. I’m still messing with my monthly updates, which I’m ridiculously late on this month. I’ll get mine up next week.
Thanks, Sarah, I’m hoping cleaning up Pinterest will drive a little more traffic. I’m not getting much from it right now.
Kudos to you for organizing your tbr list! I have a shelf of books to read and a giant tbr list to look through. I use both to kind of map out the next few weeks of reading.
I’m glad you read so many good books this month. I still have to read a book (or two) by Elizabeth Strout!
Honestly, putting the TBR list on a spreadsheet has been huge!
Thanks to your recommendation, I’ll DEFINITELY be reading The Animators soon; I’m finishing up a book now and I think it’ll be next. I may still do a wrap up for January; I’m a little behind, thanks to my recent trip to Phoenix, but it might be worth doing just for reference. This looks great, Susie!
Thanks, Tara. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on The Animators.
I love a monthly review list. It’s really helpful to see all the books from one month, so thank you!
I’ve enjoyed your blog and reviews. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, Helen. That’s very nice to hear!
I really enjoyed The Animators as well. Lucky Boy is sitting in the pile of books I plan to read this month, so I’m glad to see how highly you rated that one as well. 🙂
I think monthly wrap-ups are fun! And kudos on a Pinterest page. I have a personal one but can never remember to stay on top of it for my blog. I know Sarah swears by it.
You’ll get to 75 for sure 😀