Thursday, December 31, 2020

2020 Year in Review and 2021 New Year's Resolution


Another year has come and gone.

It has been a whopping seven years since I made the decision to dedicate this blog for my reading whims and in retrospect, posted my first book review The Sharpest Blade (Shadow Reader #3) here on 2 Feb 2014. The last seven years have been good to me. I now have a platform to which I can express my thoughts and feelings on books I have read as well as maintain them here as my List of Books. This year, I make further changes to my blog after some consideration which is actually rather fast and easy. I decide to document my completed crochet projects here as well.

Love-the-jaws is now a place where I share my book reviews and showcase my crochet projects. Though my interest has expanded to include crafts and hobbies, my focus is and always will be books. Crochet can calm but reality bites and books are my escape into the alternate world.

At the last count, I have reviewed a total of 50 books for the year to date. This works out to be an average of 4 books per month; 1 book per week.

Year 2020 @ 50 (+4 YOY)
Year 2019 @ 46 (-16 YOY)
Year 2018 @ 62 (+10 YOY)
Year 2017 @ 52 (■ YOY)
Year 2016 @ 52 (-22 YOY)
Year 2015 @ 74 (-23 YOY)
Year 2014 @ 97



2020 is a year of children's fiction as opposed to 2019 and 2018 which are both a year of non-fiction. All in all, I have read 21 children's literature which comprise 42% of my total reads in 2020..

I am happy to say that I have managed to keep my "Did Not Finish" reviews at three even though any number below five is good enough for me. I shall endeavour to continue with minimizing such write-ups in the upcoming year.

True to my heart's desire, 2020 is a year of less; less spending, less cluttering, less everything unnecessary, less whatever I deem not worthy of my time, my attention and my efforts. 2020 is my year of less, but it is also a year of more; more reading, more crocheting, more family, more health, more self-reflection, more appreciation, more time for whatever I deem worthy of my attention and my efforts. Ultimately, less is more. Paradoxical, isn't it? Well, if you want to know more, it is in my first post of the year: The Year of Less.

In any case, what's done is done. The past - books that have been completely or partially read - is what it is. There is no changing it. I may not have managed to read all the books on my reading list nor reviewed all the books I have chosen to read. But in my immediate past, I know pretty much why I choose to read a certain book or genre, and what I will have done, or not done differently. Ultimately, what matters most, I feel, is to enjoy the reading process, engage myself in the story and be transported out of my world into another.

As a matter of course, my 2021 New Year's resolution is to read books, enjoy the stories and write - preferably and hopefully - short reviews.

Finally, to all booklovers out there, may the Year 2021 bring along good books, better reads and best of all, discoveries of all things bookish.

Happy New Year
&
Happy Reading



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