Just when you thought I’d forgotten to give you guys a wrap-up – I show up several weeks late and dazzle you with one!! HELLOOO, EVERYONE. Okay, so December wasn’t great for reading. I don’t think I’ve ever been so busy in my life. DO. NOT. ADULT. Don’t do it guys. It’s far too time consuming.

Despite my ambitions to blow myself out of the park with amazing reading skills, I continued my slumpy floundering for another month AND GOT STRESSED. I have so many books to read guys – SO MANY. The ARCs, ohhhh the ARCs. They just keep coming. Quick! Someone send me chocolate. I tried to film and blog more but I’m pretty sure when we look at the stats down the bottom I’ve still not done a great job. Good god. I’m a flailing potato. Things can surely only get better?

WATCH ME FIX MY LIFE.

Ahem.

First things first, let me tempt you to buy some books. Wooo! If you’re unaware, I am an affiliate with FOUR REALLY COOL ONLINE BOOK BUYING COMPANIES. And if you click on the links below (i.e. the pictures) it’ll take you to their websites. And if you then purchase that book you’ve been thinking of, maybe get your pre-orders done (Becky Albertalli, guys, go buy Leah on the Offbeat, come on) then I get a small commission.

SO I’D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF YOU DID THAT.

But no pressure.

[but it’d be nice if you used my links]

THE BOOK DEPOSITORY

The mothership of online shopping for the bookworm! Free shipping to just about everywhere and wicked awesome prices. What would we do without the BD? See what’s new in the world of fiction in 2018 and spoil yourself with these beautiful editions of books! New year, new you? The BD has the answers! Or maybe it’s time to spoil yourself with their bargain section!!

WORDERY

Didn’t find what you were looking for over at the Book Depository? Have a go with Wordery! Another company that offers free global shipping and highly competitive prices!! They also have some awesome lists of books to explore, such as their top 40 indie books of 2017, best graphic novels of January, new year’s resolutions, and book of the week!

ANGUS & ROBERTSON BOOKWORLD

Support an Australian company and enjoy free shipping over $60AUD! (or hang around for their free shipping deals because they’re mega frequent). Check out their summer reading guide or check out the best books of 2017! Heading back to school? Have a perusal of their back to school section or forget about school – read about some great Australian literature instead! A&R Bookworld is now linked up with AfterPay too, so go forth my darlings!

BOOKTOPIA

Another great Australian company to support! Enjoy flat rate shipping across AUS/NZ for a low price and a great range of books. Check out their awesome range of all the Harry Potter you could ever need or maybe have a read of their Holiday Haven section. Like any true blue website, have a good look through their Australian literature section before diving into the world of the 91-Storey Treehouse!

But now let’s move on to the disappointing statistics of how I did in my reading life this month . . . . *gulp*

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Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death and Jazz Chicken
by Eddie Izzard 

Genre: Memoir
Author: Eddie Izzard
Published: June 2017
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Audiobook length: 15 hours
Page Equivalent: 348 {hardback} 

Oh boy did I enjoy this. I love Eddie Izzard, he’s absolutely one of my favourite comedians and his memoirs were brilliant. I would highly recommend reading this via the audiobook because the way this is formatted would be so confusing and non-fluent (what’s that word??) to physically read. Plus there’s extra content in the audiobook and it’s hilarious to hear Izzard waffle on and go off on random tangents. Such an inspiring life story!

Review to come

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Inkspell
by Cornelia Funke

Genre: Fantasy, Children’s Fiction
Author: Cornelia Funke
Published: October 2005
Publisher: Chicken House
Pages: 655 {paperback}

Will I continue the series? YES

This completed one of my yearly goals for 2017, to continue on with the Inkworld series but more specifically to finish Inkspell. I’ve always had difficulties getting to the end of this one – BUT TEN YEARS LATER AND IT’S FINALLY DONE. I’m so proud of myself. I do love this story so much, I’m not sure I’m ready for the emotional trauma of the final book though.

Review to come

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The Nearest Faraway Place
by Hayley Long

Genre: Contemporary
Author: Hayley Long
Published: July 2017
Publisher: Hot Key Books
Pages: 320 {paperback}

This was an ARC that I ENJOYED SO FREAKING MUCH. This story was made for me. I want everyone to read it. This has my favourite ever plot twist in it and just gaaahhh, I really enjoyed it. Okay? Okay. Please go and read this one – the format is beautiful and even the font has a role to play in this story.

My review

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• I reviewed some books:
  • The Diviners by Libba Bray
  • The Nearest Faraway Place by Hayley Long
• I discussed how to create the perfect logo for your blog
• I did my November book haul
• I made goals for 2018!

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• I reviewed some books:
  • The Nearest Faraway Place by Hayley Long
  • Updraft by Fran Wilde
• I discussed my goals for 2018 and how 2017 went for me
• I  talked about my top 10 books of 2017
• I did the Joy of Christmas book tag
• I did my November book haul
• I did my November wrap-up and goals for December

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Looking for a new and exciting book club to join? Come have some fun with Casey and I over at the Squabbing Dragons! We’re a Goodreads book club and we focus on reading Sci-Fi/Fantasy books that are underrated! This January, starting on the 17th, we’ll be reading Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear – so quick! Go grab a copy!

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Genres Read:

Pages Read:

Total: 1,323

Progress Towards Goodreads Challenge:

108%, or, 43/40 books

I reached my goal. Thank goodness for that.

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December was busy as I said. I worked so much. So much, guys, so much. And lots of last minute things which meant my free days (I had 6 the entire month, I counted) were spent lying on the couch going nnyyywkjdfjfh because I didn’t want to do anything. So I didn’t.

So aside from working I tried to continue hobby-ing my way through life. I took instagram pictures, or tried to do so in a routinely fashion but wasn’t quite consistent. I watched a few films in the run up to Christmas, I bought people presents and caught up with a bunch of friends and I didn’t finish my stitching in time for Christmas. Do you know how upset I am about that? TSK. It’s a snowman scene I’ve been stitching SINCE SODDING AUGUST and I didn’t finish. *sobs in the distance*

I haven’t touched my book (the one I’m writing) because THE WRITER’S BLOCK IS REAL. However, I do feel like I’ve overcome that and am patiently waiting for a free day where I can smash out some epic fantastical fighting scenes with great gusto. But that’s mostly it, I’m afraid. I’ll do a headstand competition in January to spice things up or something.

Movies I Watched:

Jumaji: Welcome to the Jungle, 2017: 8/10 stars

Holy moly I LOVED this. I mean, I’m a huge fan of the original for reasons even I can’t explain to you but damn, I loved this redo so much. The casting was brilliant, watching The Rock be an insecure teenage boy was the best thing of my life and just AH, I loved it.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi, 2017: 7/10 stars

I went to a midnight screening of this one and was confused for a solid few weeks after seeing it. There are so many mixed reviews for it. My final thoughts were basically that I loved it, it was highly entertaining to watch, but the plot lines need some goddamn help. It’s a hot mess with epic lightsaber battles. I’m keen as for the third film to see how they tie up ALLLLLL the loose ends.

Goodbye Christopher Robin, 2017: 7/10 stars

This film was an emotional rollercoaster I was not expecting. I adored it (and I love the actors) but holy cow it sure has some real tear jerker moments. Definitely recommend to all the Winnie the Pooh lovers out there. Such an interesting and unexpected backstory to the children’s story we all love!

Miracle on 34th Street, 1994: 8/10 stars

A Christmas movie I’ve never seen before! How crazy! This was the Rich Attenborough version and good god I loved it. It’s so happy and sweet and well done and just captures everything about Christmas ever. I will absolutely be watching this next Christmas.

It’s A Wonderful Life, 1946: 9/10 stars

This is a classic one (literally) to watch at Christmas time. We have a redone version – as in, the black and white version coloured in. It’s certainly a long film but boy oh boy is a nice warm fuzzy feeling movie by the end of it. Go watch if you’ve never seen it!

A Christmas Carol, 2009: 9/10 stars

This is definitely one of my favourite Christmas movies at the moment. I love the take on Dickens’ novel and the animation is just to die for. How anyone could not instantly fall in love with this film I do not know. Sooooo good!

The Polar Express, 2004: 8/10 stars

This is what we watch every Christmas Eve in my household. So we settled down with a steaming cup of tea and enjoyed the movie. I love, love, love this movie and how magical it is. Why can’t I be whisked away on the Polar Express??? How cool would that be!

TV Series I Watched:

Fawlty Towers, 1975

I’m still slowly rewatching all of this with Jayden ( = boyfriend) and thoroughly enjoying every damn second. I can’t believe this is the only TV series I’ve watched this month. I’ve so got to do something about that *runs away to Netflix*.

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Tick! December done! 

What was your favourite book that you read in December? 

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~~ Kirstie ~~

Follow @ozbooksnail