2017 was the year of the book journal. I started January with a reading bullet journal just dedicated to all the things I had read in the year and wanted to use it to challenge myself. I'm a reader that gets stuck in a rut very easily and wanted to broaden my horizons. Also starting the year as a bookseller, I really wanted to keep a log of those books I'd read to help customers and give honest reviews. As someone that reads a lot, I found it hard keeping track of what I had read, what I wanted to read and what was actually good.
After one year of use, I can say that I absolutely loved my bullet journal. It gave me a focus to finish the books I was reading, it gave me a bit of an insight into my reading habits and it also gave me a push to try reading something new. I ended the year feeling really pleased with my journal and loved looking at all the things I had read.
To summarise though, in 2017 I read 52 Books. Out of those 52, 35 were either YA books or Middle Grade ones. I gave out 11 5 star reviews and 5 2 star reviews (none were 1 star!). Surprisingly only 6 books were written by male authors.
For me what stuck out was the male authors. I never really thought too much on what type of book I read. I knew I was always a sucker for a contemporary YA book or a good psychological thriller, but I never realised that most books I read had female authors. It's spurred me on to try and read some more in 2018 and vary the genres even more.
I have to say that I was really impressed with all I read in 2017, some books blew me away and some will be life long favourites that I will return to. I also managed to meet a fantastic amount of authors including Giovanna Fletcher, Non Pratt, M.G Leonard, Jacqueline Wilson and Maz Evans to name a few! It was a year of reading highs despite me leaving bookselling in July.
Some of my favourite reads of the year were the jaw dropping "The Hate U Give" that was still probably my favourite YA read of the year, 'The Loneliest Girl In The Universe" that gave me a bit of a dip into a genre I hadn't read before and "Truth Or Dare" that left me applauding the book once I had finished it.
I wanted to read a lot more kids books this year, mainly because Max spends his life with his head in a book and I love the escapism it gives you. Some of my favourites were "Goodnight Stories For Rebel Girls" that has become a go to book for inspiration, "Who Let The Gods Out" a book all about Greek gods and an unexpected adventure and finally "Beetle Queen" the second instalment of the Beetle series that was even better than the first.
2017 was a year where I loved reading and hated it. The few months after I left Waterstones I really struggled to find the love of reading and it took me a while. But the love is back and I can't wait to stick my nose in another set of books this year! Look out for my Bullet Journal set up in a few days to see a reading challenge I've set myself too!
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