One Year On......

Today is a special day in the life of this blog.

Exactly, one year ago I wrote up my first tentative posting and committed myself to not spending any money on books for the coming year. It was quite an undertaking for me to go an entire year without buying a single book. I’m delighted to say that I stuck to my promise unerringly and kept a running total of how much money I would have spent had I bought the books that I have read throughout the year and I am delighted to say that I have saved a whopping:

£373.74.

I am amazed by this total as I had not realised exactly what my reading habits were costing me!

The books I have read have come to me through a variety of ways; my wonderful local library, books which have been sitting on my shelves for ages, friends have loaned me books, publishers and authors have sent me books for review and my family and friends who have given me books as gifts for my birthday etc. I am very grateful to all those people who have contributed to my year of free reading in one way or another.

I also want to say a big thank you to all of you who have been reading this blog and to my followers and friends on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreadswho have made this such a fun experience. I have greatly enjoyed this challenge and sharing my thoughts on the books I have read with you all. As a consequence, I have discovered some great new authors and am looking forward to reading other books which they have written. Now that my year of literary abstinence is complete I am looking forward to investing in some of those books.

Initially, I committed to writing this blog for a year. However, I have so enjoyed the process that I would love to continue to share my thoughts on my reading with you all so I am intending to continue with the blog………but with a difference!

As well as book reviews I would love to share with you other items of literary interest including author bios and interviews, news of literary festivals, upcoming books etc. If you have any suggestions of what you would like me to include in this blog then please do let me know.

I would really like to kick off my second year of blogging by reading some of your favourite books. Do you have a favourite author? A favourite book? Please let me know by leaving a comment below and kick start my new year of blogging.