The best of 2014

It's that time of the year again, when our days are numbered and soon we'll have to start another trip around the sun. Yeah, it's a new year, a new start, yey, party. I don't really think of it that way. It's just another day, except this day is the day when we paint the sky with fireworks that kill our planet a little more than usually. And I hate the noise, it kind of scares me. And the party, well, my kind of party is something with very little alcohol and no loud music, with only my closest friends.

It hasn't been the best year, but I hope the next one will be a little better. I have been lost, found, and lost again. But at least I have read some great books and seen good movies, that must be something, right? Let's just focus on those now.

The best books I read this year:

• Metro 2033 by Dmitri Gluhovski
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan
• He eivät tiedä mitä tekevät by Jussi Valtonen

The best movies I saw this year:

• Gone Girl
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• The Maze Runner
• The Help

And some random facts because why not:

• I read a total of 32 books, of which 23 I had never read before
• I bought a total of 19 books
• The lowest rating I gave to a book I read this year was two stars
• ...and I gave five stars to 4 books
• I joined Goodreads in April and have not regretted that decision
• I saw 5 movies in the cinema, and one of them twice
• I participated in NaNoWriMo and wrote a 50 000 word story in November

My goal was originally, when I joined goodreads, to read 20 books. I changed my reading challenge to 15, because you can't mark reread books on goodreads, and I had already plans to reread some books. And then, I left home for Christmas a little over a week ago, with 29 read books and one I had to finish by the end of the year. Did i? Yes I did, and then I read two more books. I'm very happy with that number, 32 books, because I didn't read a lot for the first three months of the year, nor did I read when I was writing Nano. But it was a good reading year, and I think discovering booktube and goodreads made it even better.

For next year:

• reread the Harry Potter books
• read every day
• read a total of 40 books (of which I think at least 25 should be new reads)
• go watch more movies at the cinema

So, this is it. 2014. I'll be waving the year goodbye, and doing that very happily. 

I hope you have a Happy New Year, wherever you are. See you again in 2015.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

 It's almost Christmas, it's almost Christmas, yeyyy! Anybody feeling the stress? I sure am. I still have a couple of gifts to figure out, and I'm freaking out a bit. I'm never this late, how did this happen?! I hope I can get them sorted tomorrow.

So, I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or a wonderful whatever-you-celebrate-or-if-you-don't-celebrate-at-all. Have a great one anyway. :)

This is my advent calender. Well, one of them, I have three actually. But it's the first chocolate one I've had in, like, over ten years. Merry Sithmas! (And please don't laugh at our Christmas tree, we couldn't find a fake one small enough for our small apartment so that is what we got instead...)

'Tis the season to be jolly

My mother asked me a couple of days ago what book I'd like to get for Christmas. A book. How am I supposed to pick just one book?! What? I don't even know what I'd like to read next if I had all the books I want to read in front of me right now!

By the way, I love Christmas. I love opening presents, I love giving presents, I love wrapping presents. I love gingerbread cookies, and baking them, and I love gingerbread houses. I love all the decorations, I love Christmas songs, though not that much when they are played in every store when shopping. I love advent calenders, and I have to have one every year. I love eating so much chocolate you think you'll never eat anything again, and then eating some more. I love the peace and the calm, and feeling no stress for at least a little while.

And I love staying up until 6am to finish reading a book I got for Christmas.