Wrap Up: 2014

Hi

I read a total of 20449 pages or 51 books in the last 7 months of 2014, not counting the ones I didn’t finish.
I’m very surprised. Seeing it like this for the first time is such a wonderful feeling. I feel like I accomplished something.
I guess I really love reading. :)

I ended the year with 4021 views on my blog and 86 likes on my Facebook page.

Here are all the books I read these last 7 months with a link to the review.

-    Eduardo Mendoza: The City of Marvels
-    Sándor Márai: The Rebels
-    Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
-    Julian Barnes: Levels of Life
-    Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere
-    Terry Pratchett: The Truth
-    Alan Bennett: The Uncommon Reader
-    Sarah Waters: The Little Stranger
-    Andrew Miller: Pure
-    Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of The Wind
-    Kazuo Ishiguro: When We Were Orphans
-    Robin Hobb: Forest Mage
-    Mitch Albom: The Time Keeper
-    John Irving: Setting Free the Bears
-    Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus
-    Hugh Howey: Wool
-    Jeffrey Eugenides: The Marriage Plot
-    Terry Pratchett: Thief of Time
-    George R. R. Martin: A Game of Thrones
-    Erika Mailman: The Witch’s Trinity
-    H. G. Wells: The Island of Doctor Moreau
-    Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
-    Rachel Joyce: Perfect
-    Paul Hoffman: The Left Hand of God
-    Terry Pratchett: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
-    Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games
-    Suzanne Collins: Catching Fire
-    Suzanne Collins: Mockingjay
-    Veronica Roth: Divergent
-    Brandon Sanderson: The Final Empire
-    Sue Townsend: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year
-    Hugh Howey: Shift
-    Paulo Coelho: Brida
-    Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl
-    Terry Pratchett: Night Watch
-    F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
-    C. J. Sansom: Dark Fire
-    Arnon Grunberg: Tirza
-    Neil Gaiman: American Gods
-    Yoko Ogawa: The Diving Pool
-    Khaled Hosseini: And the Mountains Echoed
-    Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore
-    Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
-    Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea
-    Agathe Christie: The ABC Murders
-    Patrick Rothfuss: The Wise Man’s Fear
-    Terry Pratchett: Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook
-    George Mastras: Fidali’s Way
-    Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
-    John Boyne: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
-    Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five

Starting this blog was a big yet great step.

I love writing these reviews. I love how books stay much more with me. I love seeing comments on Facebook about how others liked that novel. I love seeing the views going up. I love researching and reading about books. I love talking about my blog. I love recommending books to others. I love having my own space to talk about something I love. I love making this blog my own and doing it my way. I love being recommended books by others.
So much to love about Embracing My Books.

Thank you all for this.

Happy reading!
Helena

Wrap Up: December 2014

Hi everyone

Another month gone by means another Wrap Up. And the last one of 2014 at that.
Despite the holidays and everything I had a good reading month. I read 2146 pages in 6 books.

Here are the novels I read this year.

-    Patrick Rothfuss: The Wise Man’s Fear
-    Terry Pratchett: Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook
-    George Mastras: Fidali’s Way
-    Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol
-    John Boyne: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
-    Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five

Happy reading.
Helena

Wrap Up: November 2014

Hi

Another month has gone by. Which means … another Wrap Up to post!

Without further ado; here are the novels I read in November.

-    Neil Gaiman: American Gods
-    Yoko Ogawa: The Diving Pool
-    Khaled Hosseini: And the Mountains Echoed
-    Haruki Murakami: Kafka on the Shore
-    Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451
-    Ernest Hemingway: The Old Man and the Sea
-    Agathe Christie: The ABC Murders

I read a total of 2439 pages. That’s a lot. Even with work and other stuff going on, I still read this much. I feel a bit proud.

Happy reading.
Helena

Wrap Up: October 2014

Hi

Here I am again with my monthly wrap up.

I had a mixed reading month.
I did very little reading in the first two weeks of October because my grandfather passed away.
And I started two novels I hated so much I didn't even finish them.
I read a total of 1714 pages exactly.

Here’s the list of the books I read last month.

•   Terry Pratchett: Night Watch
•   F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
•   C. J. Sansom: Dark Fire
•   Arnon Grunberg: Tirza

And here is the book I tried to read.

•   Stan Nicholls: Bad Blood: Weapons of Magical Destruction

I hope you had a good reading month!

Happy reading.
Helena

Wrap up: September 2014

Hi again

I got married on the 30th of August but because I just started work, my husband and I weren’t able to go on a honeymoon and we had to start work right after.
Hence the slow reading in the first half of September. I was just too tired.
And we were busy with wrapping things up after the wedding.

Basically, work and life came between me and my books. I’m afraid it will always be that way from now on. I won’t be able to read as much as I did when I studied. I studied for an hour and then paused 15 minutes. Being alone at home during the day, I read mostly when I took time off from studying or writing my master’s thesis.
It doesn’t work that way at work of course.

I read a total of 2388 pages in September. 

Here’s the list of the novels I read:

•    Brandon Sanderson: The Final Empire
•    Sue Townsend: The Woman Who Went to Bed for a Year
•    Hugh Howey: Shift
•    Paulo Coelho: Brida
•    Gillian Flynn: Gone Girl

Did you read any of these? How did you like them?

Happy reading.
Helena

Wrap Up: August 2014

Hi

Here I am again with my monthly wrap up.
I had an amazing reading-month (3667 read pages). Some novels I thoroughly enjoyed, other not so much.

I read a lot in Brighton and we emptied every weekend in August to plan our wedding. In hindsight we really didn’t need all that time. So I got to read a lot last month!
Sadly, I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to read this much every month. As a nurse, I have a rather tiring job every day and by the time I get home, I’m done with cooking and some household chores there’s not much time left to read. And our weekends are planned like they used to be which means; less time to read.

I still love reading, and I always will, I’ll just have less time to do so.

Here’s the list of the books I read last month.

•    Erika Mailman: The Witch’s Trinity
•    H. G. Wells: The Island of Doctor Moreau
•    Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express
•    Rachel Joyce: Perfect
•    Paul Hoffman: The Left Hand of God
•    Terry Pratchett: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents
•    Suzanne Collins: The Hunger Games Trilogy
•    Veronica Roth: Divergent

I hope you’ll check out some of these books!

Happy reading.
Helena

Wrap Up: July 2014

Hi again

After I finished my master’s thesis, I got into a bit of a reading frenzy. I started reading a lot, but not finishing the novels. At one point I was reading 6 novels and I couldn’t choose which one to finish first.

Here are the books I read in July, totaling 5142 pages.

-    Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of The Wind
-    Kazuo Ishiguro: When We Were Orphans
-    Robin Hobb: Forest Mage
-    Mitch Albom: The Time Keeper
-    John Irving: Setting Free the Bears
-    Erin Morgenstern: The Night Circus
-    Hugh Howey: Wool
-    Jeffrey Eugenides: The Marriage Plot
-    Terry Pratchett: Thief of Time
-    George R. R. Martin: A Game of Thrones

Have you read any of these? If so, how did you like them?

Happy reading!
Helena

Wrap Up: June 2014

Hi again

I read a lot last month, 9 books, totaling 2953 pages.
The first four books aren’t reviewed on this blog because I only started it mid June. If you want me to, I could write a review on them.

-    Eduardo Mendoza: The City of Marvels
-    Sándor Márai: The Rebels
-    Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray
-    Julian Barnes: Levels of Life
-    Neil Gaiman: Neverwhere
-    Terry Pratchett: The Truth
-    Alan Bennett: The Uncommon Reader
-    Sarah Waters: The Little Stranger
-    Andrew Miller: Pure

Have you read any of these? If so, how did you like them?

Happy reading.
Helena