This is how my 2018 looks in review…
Favourite Books of 2018
- The Amazing Test Match Crime by Adrian Alington
- Poseidon’s Gold by Lindsey Davis
- Last Tango in Aberystwyth by Malcolm Pryce
- Murder on The Flying Scotsman by Carola Dunn
- The Adventure of The Copper Beeches by Arthur Conan Doyle (Short Story)
- A Body at Book Club by Elizabeth Spann Craig
- Mick’s Archaeology by Mick Aston (Non-Fiction)
- Surfacing by Annest Gwilym (Poetry Pamphlet)
- The Boy-Bishop’s Glovemaker by Michael Jecks
- A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
There’s not much I can argue with in this year’s top ten favourite books, except that there’s no Ellis Peters in the list which is surprise. It was, overall, a good year for books. There’s not much that I read which I didn’t enjoy.
Lowest Rated Book
- Claudia, Daughter of Rome by Antoinette May – 2.5 / 5
I was surprised when I checked back, because I thought it was going to be The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, but after re-reading the review I remembered I enjoyed the second half of the book much more than the first, which raised its rating to a 3.
Goodreads Challenge
- Goal 40
- Read 44 (47 including titles not on Goodreads)
I’ll stick with this goal for 2019 – it was high enough to push me on without piling on the pressure.
Book Buying
In 2018 I had tried (like in 2017) to make an effort to read the thousands of books I already own (both in real book form and digital) rather than downloading or purchasing more. The aim was, “Read, Review and Rehome,” to make room for future book purchases. How did I get on? Not great…
After working through the Bookish Reflections posts from 2018 (I took an unexpected break from this blog at the start of last year, so I’m missing the data from January and February but guessed as best as I could), these are the numbers:
- 57 books acquired
- 47 physical books
- 10 digital books
- of the 57 new books, I only read 14 of them
To be honest, if half of the new books had been digital, I don’t think I would have considered these figures that bad. It’s not only that I have enough books that I’ve not read to stock a library, but a question of the space they take up in my small house, so this is something that needs to be addressed in 2019. The plan: to only allow myself to buy physical books every other month. We will see if this helps…
Random Sammi Loves Books Figures:
- 13,918 total views
- 9899 visitors, with most visitors (4229) from the US
- 64 posts published
- Average rating for a book in 2018 was 4.11
- The book review that had the most views in 2018 was The Black Veil by Charles Dickens
- The book review published in 2018 that had the most views was The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet by Arthur Conan Doyle
Wishing everyone a 2019 filled with health, happiness and good books!
Sammi Loves Books 
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Hi Sammi, of course I must have known you had this blog. But (very remiss of me) I’ve only now visited. Smack my wrists–and that thanks to the link in JOy’s post today. So now I’m on follow, I shall see it more often. Apologies.
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No apologies necessary, Crispina. There are only so many hours in a day, and only so many blogs you can read in that time lol
And I’ve just added you as a friend on Goodreads – I’ve no idea why it’s taken me so long to get round to it…
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May I echo your words back to you. Though you will find I’m not terrify-good on writing reviews. I do it occasionally for books that have impressed me, and they tend to be more often non-fiction.
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I post all my reviews here, and only carry the “quick review”over to Goodreads (and Facebook), but it wasn’t until part way through last year that I started doing even that…
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Good luck with your new plan for limiting your book buying — I can commiserate! I’ve decided to put off buying books for “a while” given that I have so many excellent books on my to-be-read shelf already (plus I’m supposed to be working on a beta read for a friend). I’m in the process of cataloging my books (more on that later), and identifying all the unfinished series that I want to return to and finish, so those will be my first priority in terms of new books. Then, anything new coming up that sounds like a good comp. But I need a break from fantasy and craft books once in a while, so I’ve put “Amazing Test Match Crime” at the top of my wish list for “other” books, based on your recommendation and description . What fun!
On New Year’s Eve I was home sick, so I treated myself to the one cozy mystery I had in my TBR pile: one of LJB’s “The Cat Who..” books. Ooh, I love those! It was perfect for the occasion, especially with a cuddly cat on my lap.
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Ongoing series and favourite authors will be the priority for book buying. But then, I have so many on-going series. If I can end 2019 with 57 new books or less, hopefully half of them in digital format, I’ll count that as a win…If you do read The Amazing Test Match Crime I really, really, really, hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Oh no! I hope you feel better now. Cosy reads are best when feeling under the weather – I usually turn to The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series; they always make me laugh. I’ve not read any of “The Cat Who” books…in fact, I’m not sure that I’ve come across the series before…
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I’m hoping to make up for the “deficits” from the past two years, which means buying 19 *fewer* books than I read in 2019. Since I’m only planning on reading about 45 books, that means far fewer than 57 for me!
Lilian Jackson Braun wrote 29 “The Cat Who…” books. They’re a nice variation on the traditional “little old lady in an English village” style, as the amateur sleuth is a tall mustachioed man in a rural town in Michigan — although some might say the true stars are his two Siamese cats, Koko and Yum Yum. See my review on Goodreads for more.
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In truth, I should be aiming for a lot less than 57 too, but I don’t know if I can manage it lol
The Cat Who…books sound really interesting. Just my sort of thing. I will definitely check out your review on Goodreads…And of course, I really need another super long series to get stuck into!
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LOL, I know what you mean about the long series! Luckily with these mysteries, you don’t have to read them all. I would suggest starting with the first one of the Cat Who books, though, to get a better sense of the whole setup.
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I’ve just read your review on Goodreads for the ninth book in the series, and I must say, I really, really want to give this series a go! 🙂
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Based on your reviews of other mysteries, I do think you’d enjoy it. Although it’s extra special for me, because I grew up in Michigan, so there’s a nostalgia there, too.
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