Christmas is over, lovely as the time was we’re coming to the year’s end, so it’s time for some checks and balances.

It was a year without book buying ban and I made full use of it, buying around 60 books, I tried to keep a tally, but got lost somewhere around book number 54, so let’s round it up to 60. This, of course, does not include the books I got as gifts, so I think with my Christmas gifts (you can see them below) and other books I received throughout the years, we’re somewhere at 75. When you look at the books I’ve read in 2018, it means that I did not make any dent in the huge pile of books I already owned, or when I did I swiftly replaced them. Is it good or bad, I don’t know, I decided to remain very, very calm about it.

I took part in only one challenge this year – 20 books of summer – and completed it if reading all the books count. I still have some reviews pending, but if I want to continue reading it will be slow progress on the review backlog. Again I’m trying not to stress about it. As long as I have fun, everything is fine.

I also had one project this year – 12 bookshops for 12 months. I made good progress for the first few months, ticking the bookshops off my list and having lots of fun with it, then the summer started and all resolutions went out the window. I managed to get back on track with a crazy October bookshop-crawl. In the end, I did visit 12 bookshops, not the ones I planned, not one per months, but I did it! There are two more reviews to be posted from this one: Atlantis and Libreria, both of them delicious and coming in the next few weeks.

I also had a new year’s resolution to read at least one Polish book a month and this also happened. I read a total of 14 books in Polish and enjoyed them, so I think this will be a rolling resolution. It helps me stay in touch with my mother tongue and keeps my mind more flexible (I do believe the language reflects our mindset, so if one speaks more than one language their mind is by default more flexible).

Overall 2018 was a good year, I read fewer books than in 2017, but still had lots of fun. I decided to post less often and this helped me avoid blogger’s block. I pretty much finished what I wanted, with just a few loose strings to tie together. I wish that 2019 will be just as good! And to all of you my patient readers I wish an even better 2019, may all your dreams come true and may the books you read be fantastic and satisfying!!!

Here are my bookish birthday and Christmas gifts:

From my mum:

Two beautiful Castelli notebooks will hopefully make me write more. They are so tempting!!!

Zew Włóczęgi/Waderlust: A History of Walking – Rebecca Solnit
Epoka Spektaklu/The Age of Spectacle: The Rise and Fall of Iconic Architecture – Tom Dyckhoff (r)
Duchologia Polska: Rzeczy i ludzie w latach transformacji – Olga Drenda
Turcja – półprzewodnik obyczajowy – Agata Wielogłaska, Agata Bromberek
Stambuł – w oparach miejsckiego absurdu – Agata Wielogłaska (r)
Błogie Odwroty – Yanick Lahens

From my Bigger Half:

Heroes: Mortals and Monsters, Quests and Adventures – Stephen Fry – I really enjoyed Mythos, so this will surely be a great read

The Art of Tambourine and Triangle Playing – Neil Grover, Garwood Whaley – I am famously ungifted when it comes to music. Last year for my birthday my Bigger Half gave me a triangle, a gift he regretted as much as I enjoyed it. It is really loud and has extremely annoying sound and it’s so much fun to play. Clearly this year he decided to give me some formal education. I’ve been promised a tambourine next year!!!

From my in-laws, who have been told about my love of good crime novels:

The Son – Jo Nesbo (r)
Macbeth – Jo Nesbo (r)