Another year has come and gone.
I read and reviewed a total of 12 books this year. Bulk of them are novels from "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" series.
Year 2025 @ 12 (+5 YOY)
Year 2024 @ 7 (-10 YOY)
Year 2023 @ 17 (-14 YOY)
Year 2022 @ 31 (-14 YOY)
Year 2021 @ 45 (-5 YOY)
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
2025 is a year of "Before the Coffee Gets Cold". For the better part of the year, I re-read the first three books in this series before moving on to the next two (unread and totally new to me). I am not sure if the author will continue to add more books to this time-travelling series. If he did, I am also not sure if I will still follow up with his stories.
Though I still find time to read, I find it hard to focus these days. My attention span on reading - since Year 2023 - has somewhat changed; it is no longer what it used to be. I now have a couple of books which I started reading with enthusiasm, but slowly and surely, struggle to complete. Let me see.. there is this Chinese novel titled "To Live" aka “活着”, and this non fiction book by a Korean author titled "I'm Not Lazy, I'm On Energy Saving Mode". Then there is this non fiction Chinese book without a English title that I enjoy reading but somehow just cannot reach the end. Title is “人间清醒”. As if these three books are not outstanding enough, I went on to read Jules Vern's classic novels. For that, I am glad because I managed to finish reading both.
For my easy reference, I am listing down all the movies and dramas that I have watched this year (2025). They will be listed with the following sequence: title, year of airing, number of stars (this is my own rating which I give out of 10).
Year 2025
Drama
Squid Game 鱿鱼游戏 S2 (2024)(7.0)
Game of Thrones S2-8 (2012-2019)(7.5)
Stolen Love 夺娶 (short 2025)(5.0)
Dolunay (2017)(7.0)
The Untamed 陈情令 (2019)(6.0)
The Oath of Love 余生，请多指教 (2022)(9.0)
Squid Game 鱿鱼游戏 S3 (2025)(7.0)
The Resurrected 回魂计 (2025)(7.5)
Movie
The Reader (2008)(7.0)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)(9.0)
Pilot kmovie (2024)(6.0)
The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)(8.0)
Movie 43 (2013)(4.0)
Life (2017) (7.0)
Meet Joe Black (1998)(7.5)
Presence (2025)(6.5)
Eternals (2021)(7.0)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)(7.0)
Shutter Island (2010)(8.0)
After Life (2009)(6.0)
Warm Bodies (2013)(6.0)
The Revenant (2015)(7.0)
Dersu Uzala (1975)(7.0)
Abigail (2024)(8.0)
In the Tall Grass (2019)(6.5)
Identity (2003)(6.0)
Now You See Me (2013)(7.0)
Vacancy (2007)(6.5)
Dune (2021)(6.0)
Dune 2 (2024)(6.0)
Now You See Me 2 (2016)(7.5)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)(8.5)
The Visit (2015)(6.0)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)(7.5)
Senior Year (2022)(6.0)
Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood (2019)(6.0)
The Fearway (2023)(5.0)
28 Days (2000)(6.0)
3096 Days (2013)(7.0)
Better Days 少年的你 (2019)(8.5)
Bullet Train (2022)(7.5)
Sinners (2025)(6.0)
Taking Lives (2004)(7.5)
The Last Dance 破·地狱 (2024)(7.5)
Case 30 (2009)(6.0)
Wolfs (2024)(6.0)
Revolutionary Road (2008)(7.5)
Exhuma (2024)(7.5)
Kingsman the Secret Service (2014)(5.0)
Target (2023)(7.0)
The Invasion (2007)(7.0)
Don't Breathe (2016)(8.0)
Don't Breathe 2 (2021)(7.0)
A Cure for Wellness (2016)(7.0)
Nymphomaniac vol I and II (2013)(7.0)
Escape Room (2019)(7.5)
Escape Room 2: Tournament of Champions (2021)(7.5)
Fear (1996)(5.0)
Midnight (2021)(7.0)
Smile (2022) (5.0)
Coherence (2014) (4.0)
Burning Bright (2010)(8.0)
Companion (2025)(7.5)
The Man From Earth (2007)(7.5)
Source Code (2011)(6.5)
Suddenly Seventeen 28岁未成年 (2015)(7.5)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)(6.0)
Tomorrowland (2015)(7.0)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)(7.0)
Enchanted (2007)(6.0)
What Keeps You Alive (2018)(6.0)
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)(6.5)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)(6.0)
Time Trap (2017)(6.5)
The Room (2019)(7.0)
Nine Dead (2010)(7.0)
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)(7.5)
Return to Sender (2015)(7.0)
Caddo Lake (2024)(7.0)
Ready or Not (2019)(7.5)
The Fix (2024)(6.0)
Odd Thomas (2013)(6.5)
The Platform (2019)(7.5)
The Platform 2 (2024)(6.5)
You Should Have Left (2020)(6.0)
h0us3 (2018)(6.0)
Infinity Pool (2023)(7.0)
Infinity Chamber (2016)(6.0)
Elizabeth Harvest (2018)(7.5)
Annihilation (2018)(6.0)
Archive (2020)(7.5)
Vivarium (2019)(6.5)
Interstellar (2014)(7.0)
In any case, what's done is done. The past - books that have been 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. Equipped with various ways of spending my time, be it reading, crocheting, drama/movie watching, piano practicing or whatnots, I guess there will always be the internal battle of which one to choose from. As of now, I just follow where my heart is.
As a matter of course, my 2026 New Year's resolution is to read books, enjoy the stories, write short reviews, and to crochet to my heart's content when I am not reading or drama/movie chasing.
Finally, to all booklovers out there, may the Year 2026 bring along good books, better reads and best of all, discoveries of all things bookish.
Happy New Year
&
Happy Reading
When I have difficulty reading and focusing, I will choose to do something easy, such as reading the Archie comics or watching a movie. Needless to say, I ended up watching many movies this year. I find it hard to believe, that instead of reading, I spent so much time watching instead. But then again, it is what it is.
For my easy reference, I am listing down all the movies and dramas that I have watched this year (2025). They will be listed with the following sequence: title, year of airing, number of stars (this is my own rating which I give out of 10).
Year 2025
Drama
Squid Game 鱿鱼游戏 S2 (2024)(7.0)
Game of Thrones S2-8 (2012-2019)(7.5)
Stolen Love 夺娶 (short 2025)(5.0)
Dolunay (2017)(7.0)
The Untamed 陈情令 (2019)(6.0)
The Oath of Love 余生，请多指教 (2022)(9.0)
Squid Game 鱿鱼游戏 S3 (2025)(7.0)
The Resurrected 回魂计 (2025)(7.5)
Movie
The Reader (2008)(7.0)
Howl's Moving Castle (2004)(9.0)
Pilot kmovie (2024)(6.0)
The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)(8.0)
Movie 43 (2013)(4.0)
Life (2017) (7.0)
Meet Joe Black (1998)(7.5)
Presence (2025)(6.5)
Eternals (2021)(7.0)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)(7.0)
Shutter Island (2010)(8.0)
After Life (2009)(6.0)
Warm Bodies (2013)(6.0)
The Revenant (2015)(7.0)
Dersu Uzala (1975)(7.0)
Abigail (2024)(8.0)
In the Tall Grass (2019)(6.5)
Identity (2003)(6.0)
Now You See Me (2013)(7.0)
Vacancy (2007)(6.5)
Dune (2021)(6.0)
Dune 2 (2024)(6.0)
Now You See Me 2 (2016)(7.5)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)(8.5)
The Visit (2015)(6.0)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)(7.5)
Senior Year (2022)(6.0)
Once Upon A Time ... In Hollywood (2019)(6.0)
The Fearway (2023)(5.0)
28 Days (2000)(6.0)
3096 Days (2013)(7.0)
Better Days 少年的你 (2019)(8.5)
Bullet Train (2022)(7.5)
Sinners (2025)(6.0)
Taking Lives (2004)(7.5)
The Last Dance 破·地狱 (2024)(7.5)
Case 30 (2009)(6.0)
Wolfs (2024)(6.0)
Revolutionary Road (2008)(7.5)
Exhuma (2024)(7.5)
Kingsman the Secret Service (2014)(5.0)
Target (2023)(7.0)
The Invasion (2007)(7.0)
Don't Breathe (2016)(8.0)
Don't Breathe 2 (2021)(7.0)
A Cure for Wellness (2016)(7.0)
Nymphomaniac vol I and II (2013)(7.0)
Escape Room (2019)(7.5)
Escape Room 2: Tournament of Champions (2021)(7.5)
Fear (1996)(5.0)
Midnight (2021)(7.0)
Smile (2022) (5.0)
Coherence (2014) (4.0)
Burning Bright (2010)(8.0)
Companion (2025)(7.5)
The Man From Earth (2007)(7.5)
Source Code (2011)(6.5)
Suddenly Seventeen 28岁未成年 (2015)(7.5)
The Brothers Grimm (2005)(6.0)
Tomorrowland (2015)(7.0)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)(7.0)
Enchanted (2007)(6.0)
What Keeps You Alive (2018)(6.0)
The Cloverfield Paradox (2018)(6.5)
10 Cloverfield Lane (2016)(6.0)
Time Trap (2017)(6.5)
The Room (2019)(7.0)
Nine Dead (2010)(7.0)
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)(7.5)
Return to Sender (2015)(7.0)
Caddo Lake (2024)(7.0)
Ready or Not (2019)(7.5)
The Fix (2024)(6.0)
Odd Thomas (2013)(6.5)
The Platform (2019)(7.5)
The Platform 2 (2024)(6.5)
You Should Have Left (2020)(6.0)
h0us3 (2018)(6.0)
Infinity Pool (2023)(7.0)
Infinity Chamber (2016)(6.0)
Elizabeth Harvest (2018)(7.5)
Annihilation (2018)(6.0)
Archive (2020)(7.5)
Vivarium (2019)(6.5)
Interstellar (2014)(7.0)
In any case, what's done is done. The past - books that have been 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. Equipped with various ways of spending my time, be it reading, crocheting, drama/movie watching, piano practicing or whatnots, I guess there will always be the internal battle of which one to choose from. As of now, I just follow where my heart is.
As a matter of course, my 2026 New Year's resolution is to read books, enjoy the stories, write short reviews, and to crochet to my heart's content when I am not reading or drama/movie chasing.
Finally, to all booklovers out there, may the Year 2026 bring along good books, better reads and best of all, discoveries of all things bookish.
Happy New Year
&
Happy Reading
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