End Of Year Recap 2016 in Books

Wow. This is my very first end of year recap on my blog. How exciting! Nearly a year ago I started this blog and I’ve had so much fun (just ignore my months-long hiatus since September). I’ve read so many awesome new books and I want to use this post to create an overview over the past year.

Stats

Total books read: 38
Total pages: ehm… maybe I’ll leave this for next year, alright?
Re-reads: 5 (wow, I expected more!)
Most read genre: Fantasy (unexpectedly, I thought it would be dystopia)
My average rating in 2016: ★★★★

Reading Challenges 2016

Back in January I decided it was best to participate in a lot of challenges, so I picked out a few that I was really interested in being a part of and here's how that went.

Goodreads Reading Challenge 2016

Dystopia Reading Challenge 2016: Incomplete 8/10 (80%)

Addicted to YA (Goodreads Group): Complete 4/3 (130%)

TBR Pile Challenge: Fail 4/10 (40%)

Flights of Fantasy Challenge: Complete 15/10 (150%)

End Of Year Survey

And now I’m going to answer a few questions from Jamie @ Perpetuapageturner (not all, though, only those I can answer). You can check out her Survey here.

1. Best Book You Read in 2016?Arrgh. This is such a difficult question! But … I’mma go with Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. I just can’t stop thinking about it even 12 months later (it was my first read in 2016).

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going to Love More But Didn’t?Everything Everything by Nicola Yoon.

3. Most Surprising Book You Read?In a very good way: I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

5. Best series you started in 2016? The Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

6. Favourite New Author You Discovered in 2016?Jandy Nelson

8. Most Action-packed / Thrilling / Unputdownable Book of the Year?The Lost Hero (Heroes of Olympus #1) by Rick Riordan

9. Book You Read in 2016 That You Are Most LIkely To Re-Read Next Year?Definitely Fangirl!

10. Favourite Cover of a Book You Read in 2016?Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

11. Most memorable Character of 2016?Levi from Fangirl *swoon*

12. Most Beautifully Written Book Read in 2016?We’ve got a tie! Fangirl and I’ll Give You The Sun.

13. Most Thought-Provoking / Life-Changing Book of 2016?Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne

14. Book You Can’t Believe You Waited UNTIL 2016 to finally read?The Heroes of Olympus series (and I still haven’t finished it!)

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read in 2016?Shortest: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell, Longest: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare

17. Book That Shocked You the MostCan I cheat and say shocked me in how bad I thought it was? I’m just gonna leave The Kill Order by James Dashner here…

18. OTP OF THE YEARAyyy. Again so many to choose from! I’ll go with PERCABETH!

19. Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship of the YearPercy and Hazel

20. Favourite Book You Read in 2016 From An Author You’ve Read PreviouslyLady Midnight!!

21. Best Book You Read in 2016 That You Read Based Solely on a Recommendation From Somebody Else / Peer PressureIlluminae by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

22. Newest Fictional CrushBecause it says newest, I can’t go with Levi. So I’mma say Joe from The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face / Was the Most FUN to ReadKindred Spirits by Rainbow Roell

26. Book That Made You Cry in 2016Well … It’s no secret that I’m built very close to the water (do you even use this phrase in English?) so there were more than one books that left me teared up. But it was I’ll Give You The Sun that made me jump into a pool to hide my tears from the entire hotel.

27. Book That Made You The Most MadUhmm… The Kill Order?

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2016?

Because I just entered the blogging world this year, I discovered all the blogs I follow this year, too. So I can’t really pick a fave because there are so many awesome blogs out there.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2016?

Oh god. I have no idea! I’m just gonna leave this link here: Maybe my favourite review?

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog?

Definitely the time when I recapped my Harry Potterish- Summer.

4. Best event that you participated in?

Lovely Letters that was organized by the lovely Claudia @ My Soul Called Life. If you wanna know more about this read about it here.

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2016?

Definitely when I started this blog in JANUARY! :)

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year?

Starting Uni was a very harsh way of me being forced into a blogging and reading hiatus :0

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog?

The Most Views I got on Ten Books I Read in Class

The Most Comments I Got on Stacking The Shelves #4: The Pop Vinyl Edition

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

A Shadowhunters Week

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

Book Depository!! I only discovered this site this year and I’ve already ordered some books there and I’m very happy about how they treat you as a customer (even if something goes wrong)

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Yes! See above.

I'd like to know

So how has your 2016 been? Have you read all the books you wanted? Accomplished all your reading goals? Tell me in the comments, I'd love to hear about it!

How 2016 treated me (and all about my recent hiatus)

Hey there! It's been a long time since my last post, and I really want to apologize about that!

We’re already at the end of 2016. It seems to me the older I get the faster time goes by (which actually doesn’t make me feel good at all). 2016 had a lot in store for me and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one that was shocked about everything happening in the world this year. But I’m just going to concentrate on the good stuff that happened in my life.

While I am writing this I’m dog-sitting the cutest dog ever! My friends let me watch him when they both have to work so I get to spend time with him a lot (although today I regretted that a little when I had to shower him and clean the staircase of the entire building because I let him play in the mud). Van Damme (that’s his actual name… my friends are big fans of the actor Claude) is also a big part of 2016 because he appeared in our lives in March (I think.. It could also have been April or May, I'm not that good in keeping track of months). When I’m looking after him I get to read a lot and actually many blog posts of mine were written during that time.

The Early Months Of 2016

Sooo.. I can hardly remember what I did in January and February. I remember that I was sick a lot during that time because in March I had my tonsils (the literal translation from German would be Almonds, but I don’t think you call them that in English…) taken out, following by the most agonizing painful two weeks of my life. Seriously, I hope to never have to experience such pain ever again (and I don’t wish it anybody else, either). In March I also started a new job where I could work until I started Uni. Oh I nearly forgot (how could I?)! Before starting the job I got to go on a wonderful vacation with my family to Singapore and Phuket!

The Best Summer Of My Live (so far)

Before the actual summer started (the weather in Switzerland was really bad) I went to two awesome festivals, which marks the first time I actually slept in a tent (and by sleeping I mean awfully flipping from one side to the other trying to fall asleep whilst nearly freezing to death until I gave up).

After working real hard and saving up a lot of money I got to travel through the UK and Ireland with my best friend. We had a lot of fun and I discovered so many awesome new places that I hope to revisit soon. (If you want to read more about this, check out this post: A Very Potter Vacation.)
Then I spent more time taking care of Van Damme and preparing myself for University which leads us to…

My Underestimated First Semester At University

Oh how promising that title sounds, I imagine you thinking. Starting University in September for the first time hit me like a truck. Well maybe more like a snail truck (I just invented this, but I hope you get the picture). At first all was well and the exams (insert here the truck metaphor) were far far away and I got to meet new friends and a lot of awesome people. And then suddenly, out of nowhere, the “far far away - exams” were two weeks away and I startet panick-learning. Seriously, I’ve never studied so hard in my life. And it still wasn’t enough. We had 6 exams in four days and I just wasn’t prepared for it all. I took it quite well, though. I didn’t stress out during the exams too much about it, because my expectations weren’t too high anyways and I will just have to repeat some classes next year again, which I'm not as sad about as I think I should be.

So yeah, I think that explains my absence from the blogging world, doesn’t it? (I hope it does, because if you still don’t believe me … well, you’re just going to have to live with it, ‘cause I’m not going to upload my study schedule to prove it to you.)

My Top 5 Favourite Moments Of 2016

This is a very shortened list, because it could be endless and basically I just want to show off with some cool pictures. No, just kidding, but I’d love to share some of my favourite moments with you guys.

Nr 1: The Cursed Child

I waited so long for this moment and I still can’t believe how amazing the play was. I wish I could see it all over again for the first moment.

Nr. 2: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

What an amazing film! I have to honestly say that this is now by far my favourite movie in the Harry Potter world. It’s incredible how good it was done and I’m really glad that all of my fears of it being terrible were totally contradicted.

Nr. 3: Halloween

I’m such a Halloween person! It’s my favourite day (night) in the year. I went out as a skull and got to party with my friends at an awesome location. It was a really great night. (Oh by the way, what did you guys do this Halloween? Since I wasn’t online during that time..)

Nr. 4: October Fest

For the first time in my live I went to October Fest in Munich. A bunch of my friends and I had a blast and it was a cool trip. (We took the bus there in the morning and got back home at night. We had to drive for 4 hours every way).

Nr 5: My 20th Birthday

I feel old. My back hurts, I don’t get asked for my ID anymore and I have to pay all my own bills (well, some of them..).

I'd like to know

So how was 2016 for you guys? What did you do? What adventures did you take on? What have you achieved in your personal life? I'd be very interested in hearing your stories in the comments!! :)

Mini Book Reviews: Kindred Spirits, The Kill Order, The Last Star

Hey there! Today I decided it was time to sum up all the books I've read in the past few months, but haven't reviewed yet. Because some of them have been read quite a while ago and I don't have the best of memories, or I just don't want to talk too much about them because I didn't enjoy them quite as much as I'd have liked to, I'm starting a new kind of Book Review post. It's going to be a Mini Book Review series, where basically I just review a few books at a time in shorter versions.

Today I'm going to review the following three books: Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell, The Kill Order by James Dashner and The Last Star by Rick Yancey. The first two are quite recent reads and The Last Star I read rather further back in 2016. As always, if you click on the cover you'll get to the goodreads page.

  

A Very Potter Vacation

Hello there! So some of you might already have noticed this, but I’m just going to say it again: I’m a huge Potterhead! Saying I’m a fan of Harry Potter is quite the understatement. In my opinion it’s has become a lifestyle. Harry Potter has touched every corner of the world and I meet new potterheads on a weekly basis. This summer I went interrailing through the UK and Ireland and I decided to end it with a Pottery-week (can I use that as a word?) in London. I’d love to share with you guys what I actually did in that week so this post will be dedicated to that. (It can also be used as a guideline on what to do in London if you’re a Potterhead, if you like!) Oh and very happy 1st of September! I'm all packed and ready for Hogwarts, but I think the Hogwarts Express will once again not come to pick me up. :/

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Script

On Monday August 1st, I bought my copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in Waterstones. This actually didn’t happen in London, but in Bristol where they decorated their Waterstones to match the event. I was actually quite surprised to find every single Waterstones in the whole of UK I went into to be decorated in a wizardly way! How incredible is that?

Millennium Bridge and Platform 9 3/4

On Tuesday August 2nd, my friends and I went to the Millennium Bridge and asked strangers to take weird pictures of us (I’m not going to show these to you, though, because they’re really weird. We tried to take ‘ballet-pictures’ and the other tourists just kept staring at us and in the end we were just laughing around half on the floor because of the ridiculousness, which was quite fun!). Before this, though, we went to Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross and visited the Pottershop there (which was packed full with tourists, why we left quite soon after entering). We didn’t take a picture at the platform because I’ve done it before already and there were just way too many people there.

The Cursed Child Part I

On Thursday August 4th, the day I’ve been waiting for 12 months had finally arrived! It was the night of Part I of the Cursed Child and I was so incredibly nervous about it all. I didn’t read the book (and I recommend you don’t read it if you’re going to watch the theater sometime soon, because it’s totally worth going into the show without one single clue what’s going to happen!) and I was mindblown throughout it all. The entire audience gasped, laughed, clapped and cried at the same time and it was so incredible I don’t even know how I should describe this further. I’ll give you a proper review of the show when I review the book.

 

This is a picture of me, my friend Rebecca and Sam Clemmett who plays Albus Potter (he’s such a sweet person by the way!)

The Cursed Child Part II

On Friday August 5th, was the day we saw Part II of the Cursed Child. Again, I won’t be going into this any further right now otherwise I’ll just end up sobbing over my laptop and never stopping myself from writing about all the feelings I have about the story. After the show I got the possibility to wait outside the Stage Door Entrance and meet some of the actors and get basically all of their autographs on my programme!

  

Oxford Trip

On Saturday August 6th, Rebecca and I went to Oxford. What gives you more of a Hogwartsy-feeling than visiting schools that actually look like castles? Oxford is such a lovely town and I adore it! I’d really love to study there for a semester or so, I have to check out if that’s possible for me. In the evening we returned to the theater for the third (!) time to get pictures with the actors because we only concentrated on getting autographs the previous nights (except the picture with Sam). Let’s have a look at those gems. Please, please just ignore me because I just got weirder and weirder. And I won't show all the pictures because a lot of them have really bad quality.

  

Probably my favourite Cursed Child actor along Sam Clemmett was Anthony Boyle who played Scorpius.

And here's my favourite adult actor from the whole story! Can you guess who Paul Thornley played? ;)

Warner Brothers Studio Tour

On Sunday August 7th, we went to the Leavesden Studios! This was my second time there and it wasn’t any less interesting than the first time I went. I think we spent about 4 hours in there and we even had a small lunch and of course some Butterbeer! By the way, have any of you tasted it? Do you like it? I’m the only person in my family and friend circle who actually likes the drink (mind you, I can’t drink the white stuff becaue I’m lactose-intolerant, so maybe that’s a reason why I like it better?). I’m just going to show you some of the pictures I took because I’m such a fan of the place and really want to share my pictures with other people who might like them.

   

  

  

House of MinaLima

On Monday August 8th, I went to the House of MinaLima as the grand finale. It was such a great visit. I got to talk to very nice people in there and I think I spent like half an hour just talking to one of the guys who was very nice and told me a lot of cool and interesting stuff about Miraphora Mina and Eduardo Lima’s work.

   

So yeah, it was a pretty great vacation! Of course there are still so many more pottery-things to do, but yeah, these were probably the highlights of my London week.

I'd like to know

Have you been to any of these locations, or all of them? What are your Harry Potter stories that you'd like to share with me? Have you seen the theater? I'd be very interested in literally anything you've got to tell me about! :)

My Summer Wrap Up

Hello there! I can’t believe it’s already the end of August. Where is 2016 going? I feel like the past three months just rushed by. I haven’t been all too active (safe to say not at all, actually) and in this post I’d like to tell you guys why and what I’ve been up to.

So in July I had my 20th birthday (whoop, it’ll all go downhill from here, I already have tons of back aches) and the day after that I flew off to Manchester to start my month of interrailing through the UK and Ireland. I had an absolute blast and I still haven’t sorted through the photos and souvenirs although I’ve been back home for about three weeks now. I’m just a very lazy unpacker.

However, all the new books and comics I bought already have their very own new comfy spaces in my bookshelves, so there’s a bright side to this. Tomorrow I’ll be telling you all about my Harry Potter vacation and maybe even more about interrailing itself, but for today let’s stick to the usual wrap up, alright? (I'll be wrapping up July and August together)

BOOKS READ

   

JULY
1. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson ★★★★★
2. Am I Normal Yet by Holly Bourne ★★★★★
3. You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour & David Levithan 4.5 ★
4. Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella ★★★★

  

AUGUST
5. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes ★★★
6. Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell 4.5 ★
7. The Kill Order by James Dashner ★★

READING NEXT

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling

2016 READING CHALLENGES UPDATE

Goodreads Reading Challenge
Progress 34/30 (113%)

Dystopia Reading Challenge
Progress 7/10 (70%)

Addicted to YA Challenge
Progress 3/3 (100%)

2016 TBR Pile Reading Challenge
Progress 4/10 (40%)

Flights of Fantasy
Progress 13/10 (130%)

I can't believe that I've already finished my Goodreads Reading Challenge! I thought it would be so hard for me to read even 30 books in the whole of 2016 because of me starting Uni, but I managed to do that even before Uni started! Who knows, maybe I'll reach 50 books like last year. I'm just so glad that I don't feel any pressure anymore about finishing that one.

Blog Recap

In case you missed it here's a recap of this month's posts and Reviews.
❥ I'm Back & Pokemon Indigo League: My return blog post and sign up post for the #ReadThemAllThon
❥ Me Before You by Jojo Moyes Book Review
❥ Ten Books I Read In School for Top Ten Tuesday

INSTAGRAMMING

 

I'd like to know

How has your summer been? Feel free to catch me up on EVERYTHING because I've missed so much during my hiatus. Any new blog recommendations? New books I should be aware of? Posts that I've missed and should check out? What have you been reading lately? Tell me everything in the comments! Seriously, I'd love to catch up with you guys!

Top Ten Tuesday #4: Ten Books I Read In Class

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.   

This week is Back To School Freebie week and although I'm not returning to school right away (I'll be starting Uni mid September) I wanted to reflect on some great books I read in Class. Now to be honest, although I adore reading I hated reading assignments. I did not at all enjoy reading books as homework because they never were the ones I would have picked in a bookstore for myself. There are a lot of books that I didn't actually read for school and just kept along in class thanks to Sparknotes and my friends. But there were a few books I quite enjoyed so let's have a look at those.

# 10 Holes by Louis Sachar

 

I think I read this in 10th Grade. We could decide between Matilda by Roald Dahl, another book I forgot and Holes. The blurb of this one was the most convincing for me so I decided to join the group who read this book and I quite enjoyed it. Also: we got to watch the movie afterwards and I just love seeing young Shia LaBeouf!

# 9 Au revoir, les enfants by Louis Malle

I also read this book in 10th Grade in French class. It's a movie script about a boarding school that hid jew children in 1944. Very emotional! I read lots and lots of books about that time (which almost always left me crying because of the horrible happenings) and this is definitely my favourite one I read in French. 

# 8 Woyzeck by Georg Büchner

I think the reason this was one of my favourite German books to read was that it only has 20 pages. The author died before finishing it so the ending of the book leaves a lot open to interpret.

# 7 Die Physiker by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Another German Classic and one of my favourites. I read this book about three times and I made a class presentation about it and I even chose it as my Finals book. So there's the proove that I really enjoyed reading it. I think the fact that it plays in a mental hospital and the ending leaves you so confused as to who actually is 'crazy' now made me like it even more. A lot of plot twists and a definitely fun read!

# 6 La petite fille de monsieur Linh by Philippe Claudel

 

I liked this book so much because I basically read it in one sitting the first time through. It's a very cute story and easy to read although the significance of the content is a little darker than it seems at first. 

# 5 Como agua para chocolate by Laura Esquivel

 

Looking back at my review I'm not at all surprised I only gave this one two stars the first time I read it. I've always had a complicated relationship with Spanish books during school. Mostly because they were just weird. Spanish authors had this habit of making up the weirdest of all stories and I just didn't like them. But now I actually quite like this story and I've also seen the movie multiple times (which is even weirder than the book... but oh well). 

# 4 Nichts by Janne Teller

 

Nichts, which means Nothing, was a book I got to read by my own decision in 12th Grade for my German Finals. A friend recommended it to me and I really enjoyed this one. It's actually a pretty new novel released only in 2012.

# 3 Contes by Charles Perrault

 

I've always been fascinated by fairytales and sagas which made reading this book really fun. Charles Perrault was the first person to write down fairytales known today all around the world. Some of these were quite brutal and very different to the versions we know and hear about nowadays. If you ever want to find out what actually happened to Sleeping Beauty or Tom Thumb or other well known characters I recommend you check out these short stories.

# 2 Bodas de sangre by Federico García Lorca

 

My absolute favourite Spanish book ever! I've lost track of how many times I've read this one and I'll probably read it so many more times I don't even want to start counting again. It's short, not so simple and very dramatic. Also: It's not a weird Spanish story so I really enjoyed it for actually being empathizable. 

# 1 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

What else could it be? My Number One book is of course my all time favourite classic! I read this before reading it in class and it was quite hard to keep myself from spoiling my friends the whole time. Once I blurtet out the ending of a certain character in the middle of class, but not too understood what I was actually saying, thank god. I still haven't read Go Set a Watchman, but I've got the book at home so I'll do read it someday (soon, hopefully!).

I'd like to know

Your turn! Let me know what you think of my list. What books did you enjoy reading in school? Have you made your own TTT for today? Link it up in the comments so I can check it out.