Month in Review: December 2015

All my pets were extra enthused New Year's Eve...

Well, the holidays were eventful. I spent most of my time pre-Christmas making our traditional Christmas cookies and desserts (krumkake, lefse, Christmas thumbprints, peppermint pretzel bark, peanut butter bullseyes, coconut bon bons), only to have my grandma fall in love with the dessert that took the least time to prepare (peppermint pretzel bark for the win).

While we were in Montana, our hostess had many doggie guests at her house, leading me to ostracize Torrie in our room of the house, as she would much rather sleep than socialize. A dog fight broke out Christmas Day-evening while Torrie was safely locked away and Keisha was restrained in my arms, and our hostess's dog got a hole in his neck a little bigger than the size of a quarter. Since I am exceedingly curious about all things veterinary, I went with our hostess to the emergency animal hospital, where we found out the poor dog would have to stay the night. Apparently, emergency animal hospitals get quite busy during the holidays, with all the unusual happenings afoot. Long story short, the dog is fine and his wound was nicely stitched up after a hefty vet bill, and I was the 'evil' one since I helped escort him back to the kennel for the vet tech. I likely would've had a nervous breakdown if it had been Torrie or Keisha involved, but luckily since I always have 'worst case scenarios' rolling through my mind, my paranoia paid off.

Statistics:
 Total Posts: 12
  Total Critiques: 5
  Genres:
    Classic Sci-fi: 1
    Historical Fiction/Magical Realism: 1
    Out-of-Orbit: 2
    Part of a Series: 1
    Urban Fantasy/Sci-fi: 1

Most Popular Posts of December:
NQAC: Biweekly Update #24: Near the Year's End Reading
"Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1)" by Ilona Andrews
SFF: The 5 New To You Authors' Books You Want to Read in 2016
O.o.O.C.: "Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal" by Ben Macintyre
SFF: The 5 Bookish Charities Santa Claus Approves Of
O.o.O.C.: "Autobiography of a Face" by Lucy Grealy
"The Island of Doctor Moreau" by H.G. Wells

Pageviews for the Month: 1429!
Comments: 13!

Reading Challenges Updates:

Snowflake and Spider Silk Bingo Challenge

Applicable Books:
(No More for the Year) Grand Total: 20 Squares (my goal was 13)


Travel the World in Books Challenge

Applicable Books:

Ghost Boy: The Miraculous Escape of a Misdiagnosed Boy Trapped Inside His Own Body by Martin Pistorius (Set in South Africa)
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (Set in Paris)

Reading Stats:

Books read this Month: 13!

Book Stats:
Has a Diverse Main Character: 3
Doesn't Have a Diverse MC: 10
Female Main Character: 4
Male Main Character: 7
Pair and/or Group of Female/Male Main Characters: 2
Genre:
 Autobiography: 2
 Classic: 5
 Contemporary: 1
 Historical Fiction: 1
 Comic: 1
 Historical Romance: 1
 Sci-fi: 1
 Urban Fantasy/Sci-fi: 1
Published in 2015: 1
Published in 2000-2014: 5
Published in 1990s: 1
Published in 1980s: 1
Published in 1900-1920: 3
Published pre-1900: 2
Self-Published, Small Press, or Other: 2
Traditionally Published: 11
Series Books: 4
Standalones: 9
Ebook Version: 13
Paper Version: 0
Favorite of the Month: Tie between The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and My Man Jeeves (Jeeves #1) by P.G. Wodehouse (Both 5 Star Reads)
Least Favorite of the Month: Probably Life, the Universe and Everything (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy #3) by Douglas Adams. It didn't make me laugh as much as the previous two.
From the-pile: 0
From the-invisible-pile: 5
Recently acquired: 8
Added to the-invisible-pile: 0
Books bought: 3
Pages Read in 2015 Thus Far (according to Goodreads): 29,708 pages

Ratings:
5 Stars: 2
4-4.5 Stars: 6
3-3.5 Stars: 5
2-2.5 Stars: 0

Author Stats (1 = 1 book read by x author):
Male: 8
Female: 4
Male/Female Team: 1
Diverse: 2
Not-so-Diverse: 11
Living: 7
Deceased: 6

Planning to Read in 2016:

I am going to try and participate in #VintageSciFiMonth, though I can't make any guarantees. I recently checked NetGalley to find The Custodian of Marvels (The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire #3) by Rod Duncan available, so I'm planning on definitely reading that one.

Upcoming Posts:

Best Books of 2015

Rather self-explanatory, but I'll be listing the books I loved best that I read in 2015 (but weren't necessarily published in 2015).

Year in Review: 2015
Again, self explanatory- this is a post mostly for me to see how my blogging and other achievements this year.

"The Round House" by Louise Erdrich
A historical fiction I read a while back, and haven't gotten around to reviewing. Set in North Dakota on an American Indian Reservation, it follows a teenage boy whose mother was attacked.

I hope your holidays were pleasantly eventful!