2023 ~ #JenBsBooks

 

2023 is in the books, the annual review. I don't really set a goal per se, but input 223 (where a goal was requested on GoodReads and Storygraph) to match the year (2023), and easily surpassed it. I am a numbers nerd, and it's always interesting to get the data crunch at the end of the year. Books and pages, average pages, average rating, the book shelved by the most other people/by the least amount of others (basically unknown! The title "Pride and Prejudice and Pickleball" just caught my eye, and it was included in KindleUnlimited, so I grabbed it). The long and the short of it ...

Here's a look at tiny covers and ratings. 

38 of the 289 got a 5* rating from me. 

Lots of 3* and 4* books too. 

I discovered Storygraph at the start of 2023 ... and while I'm a GoodReads gal all the way, Storygraph has been a great backup, and it has a lot of great visual data ... graphs and charts.  I don't know how much stock I put in the "moods" ... but it is interesting to see and compare to others. I challenged myself in October to see if I could get the pie chart to shift to dark/tense/mysterious (with Halloween that month) ... orange/emotional does seem to get top billing most of the time.

The pie chart for Fiction/Nonfiction definitely pushed me to go for a larger slice of non-fiction pie (again, a personal challenge #nonfictionNovember, non-fiction portion larger than the fiction part). I've tried to make sure I get in some longer reads (500+), at least one per month, and for format, trying to get in some ebooks, and even physical reads, so I'm not all audio. 

On GoodReads, I have 100+ shelves to track all sorts of things. On Storygraph, I've kept my tags streamlined to track some specific stats. Where I get my books (library, KU, purchases, etc. There is actually ONE "review copy" on the graph ... once upon a time I did quite a few reviews, getting a free book in exchange for a review), Stand Alone vs Series, and tense, POV, narration, and if it has the F-bomb in it (only started tracking that part way through the year ... just curious). 

A few other stats collected by Storygraph's Reading Wrap-Up for the year ...

• Longest book listen was 43 hours 59 minutes (let's just round up to 44 hours, right?)
• Book Length Average: 323 (close, but a little different than GoodReads). 
• Highest Rated Month: January, 3.89
• Most Pages Read: October, 9212
• New Authors: 180
• Books in a Series: 87 (by my record, 94)
• Re-Reads: 11 
• DNF: 12 Books

2023 ...some memorable additions:

• Joined two bookclubs: I posted in a neighborhood group asking if anyone knew of any local book clubs, and there was one right in the neighborhood. I found out on a Sunday in January, and the meeting was on Wednesday, but I got the book and finished it before the discussion. This neighborhood bookclub meets the 4th Wednesday of each month (taking off July and December). In a city group on FB, another gal posted about a book club, and we've been meeting on the first Wednesday of the month at Kneaders in Jordan Landing. It's been fun to discuss books, and be challenged to read some that might not have been ones I'd select myself. 
• The Boys: #3 changed jobs (from residential electrical to commercial) and had fairly easy/repetitive work, where he could have an earbud in. He decided to try some audiobooks rather than just listening to the same music repeatedly. #4 decided to try some audiobooks during his work shift as well. I. Was. Thrilled. SO fun to have some books to recommend to them, the hear what they thought. Unfortunately, work shifted for both so the "book brothers" only lasted a couple of months ... but I enjoyed it while it lasted!
• Audio Speed: I've heard of a ton of people speeding up their audio ... I've never done it. While my personal reading speed is much faster than audio narration, the time or two I tried shifting the speed, it just didn't sound natural. Midway through the year, one narrator was very slow. I upped the narration a little for that book ... then forgot to turn it back down, and it felt fine for the next book too. I tried it more and more. Just 1.25 speed for the most part, but it has upped my book count. 
• Graphic Novels/Physical Books: I re-read "To Kill a MockingBird" (one #3 had read in school and decided to listen to during his book time) and when looking it up to record it, saw a graphic novel version. While digital copies were available, they were hard to navigate. I ended up grabbing a physical copy from the library. I've not been one for graphic novels, but I found the adaptation fascinating. The different format made me notice different things. I checked out some more graphic novels ... and they are adding my "slice of pie" to the format chart in Storygraph. 
• BookNotes: While listening to my audiobooks, I'll often quickly pause and jot down things. Words, phrases, connections, questions, just little nudges to help me remember something when it's time to write up my review of the book.

Here's a look at my reads (via GoodReads)

Check out the post on the family blog for the monthly collages.

What I Was Watching ~ Q4 2023

Time for another recap of #jenBsTV and #jenBsMovies ... for the fourth quarter of 2023, I just haven't been getting down to the gym for workouts as much. I'm not sure if some new medication might be partially to blame, or if that's just looking for excuses. 

Starting with SERIES ... 11 different shows, 12 seasons.

The first five were in the gym, the rest were upstairs, the evening wind-down with Hubs.

• A Small Light: I'd heard quite a bit of buzz about this one, but we didn't have Disney+. I then realized it was also on Hulu, so I gave it a try. I didn't think I'd be as pulled into the story as I was. I ended up reading AnneFrank's Dairy after watching the show. 
• Rabbit Hole: I've been a fan of Kiefer Sutherland since 24 ... but this show? Not so much. Really ridiculous if you give the premise and action any thought at all. Had to force myself to finish. 
• Colin from Accounts: This was pretty great. LOVE me an Australian accent.
• 11 Minutes: A documentary ... I was doing a #nonfictionNovember in my books, and had read about the Columbine shooting. This caught my eye. I had heart about things when it happened, but it was interesting to get more information and a retrospective look. 
• George&Tammy: I actually thought this was a movie (had seen some ads here and there) and almost decided against it when I saw it was a series (not sure I wanted to invest the extra time). It was good though. I'm not very familiar with either artist ... knew the song "The Race is On" (I'd heard the SawerBrown version ... was singing it over and over in my head throughout the day as I watched this show) and "Stand By Your Man". Probably not the best show for me though, I despise drinking and any show featuring struggles with alcohol and how badly it can affect everyone just brings me down. 
• The Queen's Gambit: This was a repeat for me, a first for Hubs. 
• Tulsa King: Ehhh, despite high ratings for others, this was just "ehhh" for me.
• The Morning Show - S3: Hubs and I had watched the first couple seasons and waited until the full third season was available before starting up. 
• The DropOut: This had been on my radar, and Hubs mentioned it, so we gave it a go. Interesting.
• The Inventor: The actual documentary the Hulu series was based on. Made us both appreciate Amanda Seyfried's performance even more!
• Better Call Saul: Hubs and I finished up seasons 4&5.

My Movies

Two upstairs w/Hubs, the rest watched while working out.

• Interstellar was a rewatch for me. I'd really liked it and thought Hubs would. Hubs thought it was loooong. 
• Jerry and Marge Go Large: Another one I'd seen I thought Hubs would like. He did. 
• The Little Mermaid: I was hesitant ... I'm not a fan of the live action remake trend. Didn't care for the new songs, but thought this was decent. Still not quite able to see the "No Country For Old Men" guy in this as a merman!
• Detective Pikachu: I've been playing PokemonGo ... my knowledge of Pokemon probably lead me to enjoy this more than I might have otherwise. 
• Wild: I'm not a huge fan of "leaving life to go survive" types (Into the Wild, etc) but this was interesting enough to keep me to the end.
• Reptile: Ummm, not really one I liked or will even remember.
• The Road: My son read the book, so I read the book. Figured I'd watch the movie to compare. Interesting to see the similarities and differences. 
• Cake: Well that was depressing.
• Waitress: Actually this depressed me too. I struggle a bit with cheating spouses, when we/the audience is cheering for them to get together (he seemed to be in a decently happy marriage). 
• Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse: I've seen bits and pieces of this as the boys have watched it a few times. My son said I needed to WATCH it. It was good.
• Family Switch: Over the top silly/corny with some fun moments. I actually wish it wasn't so Christmasy. I can only watch "Christmas" shows in December.
• Must Love Christmas: The past few years I've done the "Christmas Movie" thing ... this year, I watched this one, and it was fine, but just wasn't in the mood for any more (I did do some "Christmas Movies BOOK style" with my reading). 

... so there's the quarterly recap. 

I wonder if I'll do a year end review. 

Q3 - July/August/September

 

Weight isn't going well ... no new health episodes (some testing), but motivation has been low. Some summer fun: family outings, a trip to California, birthdays, basketball ... the usual stuff. 

Steps

Minutes

... a calendar recording of activity/exercise

... like last quarter, NOT doing well with food. Not tracking. Not fasting.

No reason to even gather the graphs.

It's the eating. I know.

Sleep ...

Sleep is recorded via my Oura Ring, and then synced with AppleHealth for the graph.

Apple must have switched something up with the new colors in September.

I like sleep. I like naps too, when I can fit them in.

Snore Scores ...

Lower than last quarter, but still an issue. 

A look at LifeCycle

Not sure why the steps in September are showing so high ... possibly some duplicate sync? I do have multiple trackers. Lots of new activities in July during a trip to California for #5's basketball tournament, and a family trip to Bear Lake. 

... family photos

... had an "ambulatory EEG" in September where I got to be connected to machinery and nodes for four days, with a daily check-in at the hospital each day. Had to skip Zumba and pickleball that week. Hubs and #4 got Covid (their first time with it). Hubs had a trip to Europe, then he and two of the boys went to San Diego. We had three birthdays. More basketball, pickleball, racquetball (introduced #1 to it), more hiking and biking - Hubs bought an e-bike (and new electric scooter). 

Very busy with books! A couple of the boys decided to try listening to some audiobooks while working, and that got me all excited. Love to talk and share stories, discuss, etc. I'm in two book clubs that meet each month. I've got an earbud in to listen whenever I can multi-task. 

I'm a GoodReads girl (been on there since 2012) and I record, rate/review all my reads. I like Storygraph for the visual representation, and it challenges me to add some variety (make sure I get in a non-fiction book each month, shift through different "moods" and pacing, add in some actual reading with my eyes, e-books and even a physical book or two. I use Storygraph to track POV, Tense, whether a book is part of a series or a stand-alone, male/female narrator for audio, where I accessed the book (Audible, Library, KU). I'm a data geek. #jenBsBooks

If only I was as passionate and successful with eating/weight-loss ...

I also made a separate post about Quarter3 Movies&TV - What I Was Watching While Working Out

What I Was Watching ~ Q3 2023

Documenting my days ... what I'm watching, both while working out and as a "date" with Hubs, is part of the timeframe. For the third quarter of 2023, there were eight series, with multiple seasons of a couple shows. Top two rows were watched in the gym while on the treadmill or elliptical, the bottom row was upstairs with Hubs.

• The Lizzie Bennet Diaries: This was my first "YouTube" vlog series. A modern-day adaptation of Pride and Prejudice and I LOVED IT. I actually started watching during a trip to California (just during longer Uber jaunts) and then finished it up at home. So cute. I'm a bit P&P fan and have read many reimaginings of the story. 
• The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: Season 5 dropped a bit ago and it just took a little time to make it back onto my viewing schedule. I liked it a lot, and it was interesting how they tied everything up to conclude the series. I'll miss it. 
• The Last of Us: Not familiar with the game at all, but lots of familiar faces in the show. I like apocalyptic/vampire/zombie stuff, so this was up my alley. 
• Special Ops: Lioness: A good action series, although a little tough to watch at times (violence, torture and death). Some big names it this one too.
• Living With Yourself: My #3 mentioned this one to me (not so much of a recommendation as a comparison to a book we'd read, Mickey7). It was interesting.
• The Lincoln Lawyer: I remember I watched the movie adaptation a while back, not enough that I remembered the storyline at all to compare. I actually didn't really care for this and had to push a bit to even finish the first season. I don't plan on continuing. 
• Barry (Seasons 3&4): So ... this jumped the shark during season three (I think). Just got way weird. Pushed through to the end, but wasn't really enjoying it anymore. Weird way to end it all to complete the series ...
• Better Call Saul (Seasons 1, 2 & 3): Hubs and I had watched Breaking Bad together years ago, and Hubs had watched the first few seasons of BCS. I knew it had good ratings, but I'm not a fan of prequels, or anything with "spoiler" possibilities. As this happens before BB, we KNOW certain people, no matter how dire the circumstance, will survive, because they are in Breaking Bad, which happens in the future. A little slow moving, but enjoyable and interesting. 

The final five (bottom right corner) were watched upstairs with Hubs. A couple movies were watched on a plane ride, the rest were all in the gym while walking or other exercise. Several with sequels this quarter.

• John Wick (1, 2, 3 & 4): Sometimes you feel you need to watch a movie just to understand some pop culture references. I figured perhaps it was time I dipped into Wick. The first three were on Peacock (with ads, I almost gave up on them then just pushed though) with the fourth(final?) on Paramount. I didn't love these ... the first one just drops you into the world (should I know who John Wick is already? Everyone else seems to) and I wondered if I had started with the wrong one. I'd heard references to "his dog" so that makes sense now. The second ... there is a moment in it (SPOILER if you haven't seen the series I guess ...) where Wick's mark chooses to take control and take her own life, going out on her terms. You know, if WICK had done that just a bit before, then all the death and destruction and disruption of the rest of 2, and then 3 and 4, wouldn't have had to happen. Honestly, was his life worth all it cost? What if he had just said NO and gone out. I guess the franchise wouldn't have been as lucrative. I can't quite believe I continued watching, shaking my head the whole time as he was constantly shot, chopped, hit by cars and thrown off buildings ... yet always survived. The whole "world" was interesting. Was that the final one?
• Creed (1, 2 & 3): I'd watched the original a while back, and did a rewatch of it before moving on to the two sequels. I'm not big on boxing, but I did like these.
• Book Club (1 & 2): I'd watched the original a while back, and did a rewatch of it before moving on to the sequel. Cute enough. I have joined two book clubs this year.
• Interstellar: Lots of big names and familiar faces in this ... I thought perhaps I'd already seen it, but I hadn't. I really liked it. A lot. 
• Hypnotic: This was okay, had some shades of  "Inception" and I'd had a bit of a question about the daughter (she looked very Hispanics for being Ben's daughter with the woman in the picture). I recommended this to my son and he liked it.
• Plane: Lots of action - enjoyable, just suspend disbelief. Action is always good while on the treadmill, gets the adrenaline up and makes me willing to hit an extra gym session to find out what happens. 
• Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris: This was a cute, slow, little show. Hubs happened to go to Paris shortly after I watched this.
• We Have A Ghost: Cute, felt young, but was enjoyable.
• To Kill a Mockingbird: I'd never seen this all the way through. I'd read the book and seen some clips here and there. I'd done a re-read of the book, and read the graphic novel (amazingly true to the source material, more so than the movie) so it was time to give the movie my attention. Borrowed the DVD from the library.
• Stranger Than Fiction: Will Ferrell in a more serious role. Hubs and I had watched this years ago and gave it a re-watch at a cabin get-away. Can't get the kids to give it a go ... I wonder what they'd think of it.
• Mamma Mia: I'd caught Hubs humming some Abba songs and recommended he give this a try. I'd already seen it but was more than willing to give it a rewatch. As cute as Pierce is ... he can't sing.  This and the 2nd Bookclub had a similar "twist" ending. 
• Hercules: Another musical re-watch at the cabin.
• The Nice Guys: I'd seen this, as had Hubs, but I think this was the first time we watched together.
• Emily the Criminal: Just okay - sad. 

I love GoodReads for books, and have received a few recommendations of similar sites to try to keep a record of TV/Movies. Have yet to investigate and commit to one. Until then ... my blog is my backup to help me remember what I watched when. 

Q2 ~ April/May/June 2023

 

Second Quarter of 2023 ... there was a little bit of loss as I got back into a bit of a routine, then bang. Again. Back in January 2022, I was doing the whole "New Year's Resolution" thing, setting a goal of 10k everyday and getting back to tracking calories and incorporating IMF when I woke up in the ER, having lost consciousness and cracking my head open. In April, it happened again. Store surveillance caught it, and it's been determined it was a seizure (probably that first time too), but we still don't know why. The outcome was the same (cracked head, loss of consciousness, ambulance, ER, stitches). IF one were interested, I detailed the events on the family blog (Jan2022, April2023). It impacts my activity, and my motivation.

I seemed to recover a little quicker after the April Incident than the Jan2022 episode - but then at the end of May I was hit with something else ... I got up in the morning and nope, getting up wasn't happening. The world was spinning and nausea was right there. It was a Friday morning and I got 500 steps that day (trips to the bathroom). 1000 or so steps on Saturday, slightly more Sunday, but I was bedridden for almost a week. I missed my son's basketball games on Saturday and Monday (a championship that they won, a final set of games with a team he's played with for years). I did a follow-up with the doctor but never really determined what it was ... if it was related to the head injury or seizures? I'd had a tetanus shot the day before (cut myself on rusty metal while gardening) perhaps a side-effect from that? Some inner ear crystals out of whack? It was awful. 

Sleep isn't as much of an issue - I seem to be successful there. 

I guess it's good to have some "health" success.

... shall I acknowledge the snoring struggles though?

Snoring set in strong after my bout with Covid and whatever followed a couple weeks after (Feb2023), although I am fairly certain that it's also weight related. It was my snoring that instigated my last successful weight loss (Oct2020-March2021) and it took care of the issue then, but the weight loss didn't stick, and I'd gained most if it back by later in 2021.  Hubs has had some snoring issues himself in the past, but not much since his weight loss. 

... I have NOT been successful at tracking calories or eating hours.

Not enough data to even warrant getting the graphs for intake or IMF.

Here's a look at LifeCycle ...

... and family stuff

Basketball, pickleball, an MS Walk (SIL diagnosed last year), #3 found his own place (which rearranged some rooms here at home). #2 and his wife got a new doggo, #1 got a new car, Hubs has been hiking, I've still been Zumba-ing ... and going through books!

Very grateful for audiobooks, as in my downtime in April and May, I could not focus my eyes to read or watch TV, but could just listen as I laid in bed for a week (both times). I have an earbud in and listen whenever I can multi-task (driving, shopping, housework, yardwork ... even while watching basketball games). I rate/review everything on GoodReads, and love the data from Storygraph. I'm JenBsBooks on both sites. 

I made a separate post about Q2 TV&Movies... What I Was Watching While Working Out. 

What I Was Watching ~ Q2 2023

The top/left six shows/series were watching while working out. Ally and Boston Legal were a night-time watch if I couldn't sleep, and the bottom row (+ Ted Lasso and a rewatch of Shrinking) were watched with Hubs. We got into a routine of an episode before bed. I really enjoy that little connection. You can see that we got a subscription to AppleTV (had to for Ted Lasso) then made the most of our three month trial with a new Roku. We did cancel at the end of the quarter.

My gym time was down a little this quarter ... I had another incident in April (it's been determined as an unexplained seizure. It landed me in the ER again) and then something (vertigo?) in May that had me down for a solid week.

• Dear Edward: I'd read the book not long before and had been a bit confused at the preview, as it seemed so different (Connie  Britton's character doesn't even exist in the book, featured foremost in the series). It was really different, but still could almost run parallel. The book revealed so much more about several people on the flight, whereas the series featured those people left-behind by the ones who died. The group therapy and friendships formed there reminded me of another book ... The Measure. I ended up really liking the TV series though. 
• The Shining Girls: Another book to series adaptation. Again, the main premise was the same, with a LOT changed. Again, I liked the series through. Very confusing (in both book and TV, but there's some "time travel" and that's always a bit mind bending). 
• The Last Thing He Told Me: Also based on a book, but I haven't read this one ... and don't think I have a desire to after watching the series. It was just ok. I figured things out long before the characters did. 
• Silo: Based on the book "Wool" which I have read, but it's been many years. I really liked the books, I had a hard time getting into the series. 
• Schmigadoon: I'd loved the first season. Here, the couple attempts to return, but it's changed to Schmicago, much darker. The female character mentioned that she'd been in the mood for the fun and fluff of Schmigadoon, and I felt the same way. It was still decent, but not the same.
• Shrinking: I love Harrison Ford, and I majored in Psychology in college ... I loved this series, and was happy when Hubs was willing to give it a go. I was more than happy to rewatch it. 
• Ted Lasso: I'd watched the first season in the gym a couple years ago, and did a rewatch with Hubs, then moved to season 2. We had to re-subscribe to AppleTV for the third and final season. Loved it. 
• Schitt's Creek: We'd watched the first couple of seasons last quarter, and went through the final three seasons this quarter. Learned to love this family. Sad to have it end. 
• Succession: Do NOT love this family ... felt a little obligated to watch the final season. Hubs was so sure that the death was a hoax. A bit glad to have this done and behind us. No likeable characters!
• 1923: A Yellowstone prequel ... had the same narrator from the 1883 for a bit, but all new characters (decedents) and stories. It was a bit spread out (from Montana to Africa) and I thought it was a single season like 1883. Nope, really nothing at all resolved, everything left up in the air for another season. I wish I'd realized that going into it. 
• Party Down (S3): We'd watched the first couple seasons last quarter, and then there was this third season done years later. A little funny to see the time shift, but not a favorite. We finished though.
• Barry (S1, S2): This had good reviews and kept us entertained.
• Ally (S5): I'm a little surprised I enjoyed this series again so much, 20 years later. I did though, I loved it all.
• Boston Legal: Just got through a few episodes (1-5) ... I've turned to books more for my night wind down.

Movies

• Luck: As we had AppleTV, I was watching anything that interested me. This had caught my eye and was cute enough. Some familiar voices ...
• 80 for Brady: I'd seen the previews for this when it was in theaters and it looked cute. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. It was pretty predictable and silly.
• A Man Called Otto: I would have been willing to see this in theaters, but didn't get around to it. I'd read the book and liked it. I thought the movie was a great adaptation.
• Gold: A random recommendation on a FB group brought this one to my attention. I hadn't heard of it before, even with its big name stars. It was good. 
• Dungeons and Dragons: This was cuter than I expected - but it had good reviews or I probably wouldn't have given it a go. 
• Extraction and Extraction 2: I felt a little like I was missing something as the first one started, wondered if I'd started the sequel by mistake. Was there something before. Both of this were action packed and super violent. 

That's movies and TV from the second quarter of the year ...

What are YOU watching?