Happy Almost-New Year, fellow book lovers! I’ve already done my book wrap up for 2023, so go check that out if you want to know about how my reading year went, but I thought I’d do a proper one too.
What hasn’t happened this year? That would be a better question. 2023 was wild. I quit my job as a journalist at the beginning of the year (I left because of the work conditions, but I did really like the actual job). I had to take some vacation days before leaving my old job, and a longer trip didn’t work out, so I went to a spa town in the Czech Republic for a weekend and then to Turkey for a week. I got sick in Turkey, which was highly annoying, BUT still had the most magical experience on a hot air balloon in Cappadocia. That whole region felt like travelling to a different planet, because of the unique landscape. I can highly recommend it, if you ever have a chance to go!
I also got engaged at the beginning of the year! Soon after, I started my new job, which was a big change. The summer flew by in a flurry of work, finding my feet, wedding prep (my own and for a family member’s wedding), and at some point I felt like I potentially might go crazy, but it all worked out in the end. The wedding was great, especially because many different friends and family members from around the world came together. Not gonna lie though – I was happy to disappear on honeymoon to Vietnam and South Korea afterwards. We traveled a lot in the two and a half weeks we had, so it was very busy, but also amazing.
Back home, it was more work, a bachelorette in Vienna, another wedding and then right into Christmas season. As you can see, this year was mostly good stuff, but there were also extremely stressful times for various reasons, so I’m trying to use the time between Christmas and NYE to wind down and relax.
I also got back into book blogging this year and loving it! I’m not super active on X anymore due to known reasons, but I have a BlueSky account with not too many followers yet, if you want to add me to chat some more about books on there: @vloraandcake.bsky.social – or otherwise let me know where everyone is congregating now. Threads has finally come to Europe, but I’m not super convinced of the concept, tbh. I don’t love connecting my personal instagram to it, because I was using my Twitter account back in the days to connect with bookish people, not so much my friends and coworkers who might not be interested.
Overall, 2023 was a good year for me, despite the world feeling like it’s literally burning. I wouldn’t mind if 2024 was a little quieter, but still looking forward to some good adventures, bookish and otherwise.
Books
What better way to use Christmas money to buy books? One of my best friends from out of town was visiting, so we spent a nice day having brunch and buying books together, which is why I’ve acquired a couple of new ones.
- The Secret History by Donna Tartt: So this one was actually a Christmas gift for that very same friend, but it turned out she already had it (hey, at least I know her taste). I decided to get her a different book and keep this one myself even though it doesn’t sound like 100% my cup of tea, because it has good ratings, so I might as well give it a try.
- Between Us by Mhairi McFarlane: I didn’t know this book existed before I went to the book store, but there was a 4 for 3 special, so I added it to my pile when I saw it. I didn’t even bother properly reading the blurb, because I’ve loved other books by this author, so I was excited to see she has a new one out!
- Waiting for Sunshine by Jane Sanderson: I’m happy to see this has a good rating on Goodreads, because it was another random pick at the bookstore. The subject sounded interesting, and I haven’t really read a lot of adoption-focused books, so I thought I’d give it a try!
- The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas: Okay, honestly, this title slaps. Also, you can’t see it in this picture, but the cover looks beautiful in person. Looking forward to reading this.
- The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende: I’ve been wanting to read something by this author for ages, and the blurb sounded interesting.
- The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin: My husband had a list of my favorite books analyzed by ChatGPT and sent me a list of other books I might like based on them. This was one of them and when I looked it up, the ebook was on sale for 99c, so of course I had to get it.
Movies and TV shows
I’ve been busy with Christmas, friends and reading the last few days, but my current dinner show is Fresh Off the Boat. Just started season 3 and still love the writing.
I hope you had a great year! What were some of your best moments and books? Let me know in the comments!
PS: Linking up with Stacking the Shelves, this Monthly Wrap-Up and the Sunday Post.
Reviews and Cake 
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