This time last year I wrote a round up of 2017, and all the crochet and knitting projects that I had finished in that year. I was planning on doing a similar post for 2018, but I really didn't get a lot of crochet done, as it was a very busy year, and I'm afraid the first thing to go was my crochet and knitting time. I did manage to finish 3 crochet projects though, and start a fourth one, but for many months I did no crochet at all.
What I did manage to do though, in what little spare time I did have, was to complete my reading challenge for the year. I had set myself the challenge of reading 24 books over the year, and exceeded that by reading 32 books, which I'm pretty pleased with. Regular readers will remember that in 2015 I set myself the challenge of reading a book a week, and was delighted to manage it. Some of the books I read that year genuinely changed my life, and continue to do so on an ongoing basis. In the two subsequent years I did not do nearly as well, reading only 9 books in 2016, and then only 16 books in 2017, but I have kept on recording everything I read on my Goodreads page. I love being able to categorise and record my reading in this way, if only because it means that I can take books to a charity shop when I have finished with them without the worry that I will forget that I ever read them.
Books by Genre
I do read much more fiction than non-fiction, but I was surprised by how much non-fiction I did read in 2018. I also included one children's book - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix*, because I read it in its entirety to the 11yo. I started reading the Harry Potter series to him back in 2016, and we read the first 4 books over a 6-month period, but we then had a mutually-agreed pause as he started having nightmares about dementors and Voldemort. That pause lasted for 18 months or so, and then, at his request, we started reading the fifth book, and finished it towards the end of the year. Although the Harry Potter books are all classified as children's books, many of the themes from the fourth book onwards are really only suitable for older children. If you are wondering which of the books or films would be suitable for your own children, I can recommend having a look at the Harry Potter page on Common Sense Media.
Books by Month
I do enjoy seeing the pattern of how I read books over the course of the year, and 2018's pattern is no exception. I can see clearly from the graph that I either do crochet or reading in my spare time, as the bulk of the crochet I did was in the first three months of the year, when I finished only one book in that time. And there is also a reading-free blip in October/November, which is explained by the fact that my partner had an operation in October and we moved house in November - which left no time for reading, crochet or any other leisure activity!
The best books:
If you're a sci-fi fan like me, then Tade Thompson's Rosewater* is an excellent read. It has renewed my love of science fiction and I cannot wait for the sequel to be released. I have never read a book around alien invasion like it and believe me, I have read many.
If however, you'd rather read a love story told from the perspective of a painting then do please try The Improbability of Love* by Hannah Rothschild. This book gripped me from the first page, and I couldn’t put it down. The story was compelling, and I loved the way the painting had a voice as well. My favourite fiction book of the year was Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine*, by Gail Honeyman. I read this for a book club I go to, and really enjoyed it. Eleanor Oliphant is a very believable and engaging character and I really wanted everything to turn out ok for her. I also loved the way that some of the people around her accepted her for who she is and helped her when she needed it.
The best non-fiction book that I read in 2018 was Also Human* by Caroline Elton. This book was a fascinating look at how medicine affects doctors, and how they cope with the psychological effects of dealing with ill and dying people. I wish that it had been around for me to read when I was struggling to cope with my medical career, or that I had been able to consult someone like Caroline Elton when things felt like they were too much for me.
Crochet projects
And now to the crochet that I did manage to get done. The first project that I finished was 2 coasters for my partner. I made them for her as an anniversary present, and they are very large, so that her favourite mug (which holds 750ml of tea) will comfortably fit on them. There are two so she can have one downstairs and one upstairs.
The next thing I made was a superhero cape for the then 10yo's toy rabbit, which he was delighted by. It is orange because that is the colour of the cape that the superhero wears in the comic book he has been working on for at least the last year.
The third project I completed was a rainbow crochet scarf for myself. It took several months to make, because I kept putting it down to work on something for someone else, and I was concerned that I would run out of winter before it was finished, but in fact it was ready just in time for the snow we had in February last year:
Resolutions (of a sort)
For this year I have not made any formal resolutions, but I am hoping to read 24 books again, and have already managed to read two so I am on target for now. I would also like to finish the crochet bag that I started this year, using some rather lovely Debbie Bliss yarn that I have had lying around for more years than I care to remember. I am very slowly working on it, and took it with me on several car journeys in the last few months, but there is still a long way to go.
The other thing I would like to do is publish some more recipes. I have been quietly keeping a record of some of the food that I have made, including some of the vegan things that we have eaten while my partner did Veganuary this year, and I'd like to find time to publish them here on the blog.
If you'd like to have a look at all the books I read in 2018 you can find the complete list on Goodreads
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