Well, I actually want to read less books. That have been a goal for a couple of years. It‘s harder than it looks, with all the new books to buy and books due at the library with long waiting lists

But a new year also marks new beginnings so I‘m starting several new yearlong reads where a read a new entry every day. I also want to read A Jane Austen Year every month and Jane Austen‘s Bookshelf a chapter a month and read from that author.

And another one

A page from the book

I just love the colors and the drawing in this

The under title to this is a circle of life story, guess I should have paid better attention to that. This book took a turn in the middle that I didn‘t expect and younger me would have been devastated

The illustrations in this children‘s picture book is amazing

#BookReport

Finished the amazing The Hallmarked Man

Read Fox: A Circle of Life Story

I continued with my yearlong reads on the right

I continued Merry Christmas (not pictured)

I continued the tagged on audio

I‘ve started Anne Ernaux‘ debut novel, Cleaned Out

That‘s interesting

A letter where Austen writes about flirting is believed to have survived by mistake

Makes you wonder what else we are missing out on

#12BooksOf2025 - day 12 December

#12BooksOf2025 - day 11 November

Honorable mentions:
The Loneliness of Sonny and Sonia by Kiran Desai
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

I‘ve joined StoryGraph at the beginning of this year and have signed up for several challenges

I‘ve tried adding a book to a challenge as read, but the challenge doesn‘t update its completion

Does anyone have any tips?

#12BooksOf2025 - day 10 October

Honorable mention:
“Mary and the Rabbit Dream” by Noemi Kiss-Deaki

#BookReport

Finished my yearlong reads (too 3 on the left)
Finished The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen

I read Den fantastiske bussen (The Fabulous Bus) and Snø (Snow)

I continued God Jul (Merry Christmas)

I‘ve started my new yearlong reads (top 4 on the right)

I‘ve also started The Hallmarked Man

#12BooksOf2025 - day 9 September

My first #BookSpinBingo board for 2026 is ready.

Both my #BookSpin and #DoubleSpin are two of my yearlong reads, where on focus on Art and the other on Jane Austen

Before returning “The Fabulous Bus” to the library, I just have to post this detail from the cover.

The face of the bear/ cat animal as he gets paint on his head, is just priceless

I didn‘t know it was World Introvert Day today

#12BooksOf2025 day 8 - August

I read two of the books in the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy this month

Honorable mentions:
Feeding Ghosts by Tessa Hulls
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Flesh by David Szalay
No Straight Road Takes You There by Rebecca Solnit

My #BookSpin, #DoubleSpin and #BookSpinBingo list is ready.

Here‘s my yearlong reads, projects and other books I want to read. Last year I put a lot of favorite authors on my list in January to kickstart the year with good and it worked, so I have done the same this year too

I just loved this thought for January and I‘m all here for it

A new year is the beginning of new yearlong reads

I‘m ready for another year of classical music, feminist history which I believe is YA, art but I won‘t commit to making any and I can never have too much Austen

And finished just now, a little into the new year, but technically still New Year‘s.

Why an amazing ride. This is the second time I listen to the pieces in this book. And some I absolutely loved, some I liked, some are okey and some I didn‘t like. Which is just as it should be when you listen to 366 pieces in a year

I‘ll start her second book tomorrow and is ready for a new musical adventure

Finished 15 min before the new year

A book about snow. The author looks at the significance of snow both as a way of transportation before the Industrial Revolution, & as a way of getting water to dry places even today. He also shows how the science of snow have changed. In the beginning the focus was more on the snowflakes, & now it‘s more about controlling it. & how at times snow is politicized. I learned so much from this book

The last book I read in the summer and never wrote a review of before now.

Three kids that are each other half siblings and cousins grow up before the war with dead and/ or absent parents. They parent themselves and grow tight bonds. As they reach adulthood, WWII starts and they are ready to fight for their country

Another amazing drawing. The detail and the imagination is incredible

Not the tagged, but The Fabulous Bus

Another amazing page. I‘m just aw that this is drawn by hand

Not the tagged but The Fabulous Bus

The details in this is incredible (The Fabulous Bus, not the tagged)

From the endpapers of The Fabulous Bus

Inside the bus with kitchen, toilet, library, living room, bath, playrooms and sleeping area

This is not the tagged but, but the author‘s latest children‘s book which would be translated as The Fabulous Bus

And it really is a fabulous bus that this group up animals build together to get transportation to a country beyond the North Pole to save a kid. And what an adventure it is

The author said in the dedication in the front that he started drawing these pages before his son was born and the son is now 15 yrs. All the illustrations are

Another book finished earlier this year, I think August with #NoPlaceLikeHolmes. I bought this in 2017, probably after some Sherlock on TV.

These stories are enjoyable and full of red herrings. And impossible for someone like me

I‘m so glad that @dabbe and @Cuilin organized a buddy read of this, even if I was terrible at participating in the discussions

#12BooksOf2025 - day 7 July

Another book not in the database, so tagging a previous novel by the author

Harstad‘s latest isn‘t in the database, so tagging the only other book by him that I‘ve read

I read this in August. Every once in a while you read the first page of a book and know that you‘re gonna love it. This was one of those times

Ingmar gets a call from a childhood best friend who says he‘s returning to Stavanger and will Ingmar meet him?

So starts a journey from Shanghai to Stavanger (the friend), a journey down memory lane (Ingmar)

Another of my yearlong reads that are finished today.

This was an utter delight to read. All these snippets into authors lives

It‘s the day to finish my yearlong reads, and this is first up. I enjoyed learning about something new every day. Most of the entries are a page long which is perfect for this.

I absolutely enjoyed this book mixing Jane Austen‘s letters with illustrations of the houses and places she visited, the dress code, social code and introductions

I really got a sense of the world Jane Austen lived in

I absolutely love this. Now we also know the extent of Mr. Knightley‘s sacrifice

Another thing I enjoy is how we get prospects of the places/ houses where Jane Austen is staying, like this one of Winchester

I would have loved to visit this bookstore; Messrs. Lackington, Allen & Co., at the Temple of Muses, Finsbury Square

One of the things I love about this collection of Austen‘s letters is that excerpts from her novels are included together with drawings of the area.

#12BooksOf2025 - day 6 June

Book not in the database

It‘s becoming a tradition for me to read this during Christmas. There‘s just something about the humorous and snarky dialogue that I love.

It‘s 1919 & The Great War is over. The recovering soldiers have left Specula House. Alyce is left with her grandmother, Alice.
One day, Alyce finds an invitation to a tea party. Before she knows it, she falls into the fountain & is transported to Wonderland. Here she meets the Mad Hatter & the Cheshire Cat. They ask Alyce to stop the war between The Sun King & the Queen of the Moon. The monarchs are fighting over an hour. This was a joyful read.

#12BooksOf2025 - day 5 May

The first month where it‘s hard to chose a favorite.

I think it‘s this just ahead of “Sister in Law” by Harriet Wistrich and “Tata” by Valerie Perrin

#WeeklyForecast

Finish my yearlong reads (too 3)
Finish The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen

Continue Merry Christmas which I forgot to include in the picture ?‍♀️

Read The Fabulous Bus (Den fantastiske bussen)

And hopefully read Snow (Snø)

#12BooksOf2025 - day 4 April

#BookReport

Finished The Snow Sister, A Christmas Carol and Comet in Moominland

I read Alice with a Why, and Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron

I continued my yearlong reads (top 3) and Merry Christmas

I‘ve started The Illustrated Letters of Jane Austen

#12BooksOf2025 - day 3 March

#12BooksOf2025 - day 2 February

#12BooksoOf2025 - day 1 January

This book came out in 2018, and I‘ve read it several times since then and the ending still has me crying

It‘s the lead up to Christmas, and in Julian‘s home his parents are grieving the death of their oldest daughter. But Julian wants a Christmas like they used to. Then outside the swimming pool one day, he meets Hedvig and she loves Christmas and her home is already decorated for Christmas. Can she help him?

I love this edition of the story with illustrations by Lisa Aisato. Her illustrations really add to the story

One day when the Moomins wake up everything is grey, then the sky changes color. Moomin and Sniff are sent on an adventure to the observatory to look at the stars.

We meet several characters for the first time here; Snorkmaiden, the Muskrat and Snufkin