#273

[@uz.kostlivec]

This is my Super Bowl.

[@esmesemple119]

Raeleen's green hair brings out her eyes so much!

[@slockwo111]

Rae-green!!!!!

[@WitchRocks]

Let it be known that when Ariel announced she read 70 books this year, I clapped 😂

[@BooksUnbound]

Thank you 🥲 - Ariel

[@izzzzzzzzy19]

Raeleen, the new bookshelves are looking great!!!

[@rosea570]

Ariel, your best memories of the year reminded me just how much you packed in the last 12 months! No wonder you are exhausted! Hats off to you.

[@najualb]

This is genuinely such a special marker of the end of the year for me that I couldn’t watch it when it came out - saved it for a special coffee moment in the morning so I could really savor it!

[@sds242]

I think the coming year I'll switch from tracking my reading on a website to using a spreadsheet... the specific stats you're able to come up with is just too fun!

[@oonamcdermott7263]

This talk of Tove Jannsen reminds me that I went to a bookstore and found a book by a woman named Tove, and had recalled how much Ariel enjoyed Tove Jannsen. I mistakenly thought this Tove was the same Tove and bought the books. Read it, and LOVED it, only to find out she's a different Tove. The book was Childhood by Tove Ditlevsen, and will now be reading more of her work. A mistaken recommendation gone right!!

[@BooksUnbound]

Omg hahaha that’s amazing - Ariel

[@hennamelender]

The Copenhagen trilogy is amazing (& it's memoirssss Arielll! ), her short story collection The Trouble With Happiness was also good! Tove Jansson's equivalent of Ditlevsen's Childhood would be the Sculptor's Daughter. I really recommend it, it's very sweet :--)

[@julianarichardson7370]

I listened to the early version on Patreon but clicked so fast to see Rae’s green hair! Love love it! It’s so cool!

[@RaeofSunshine530]

Ariel, at about 50:30 into the video you were looking for a one last Raeleen quotation, but you stopped in the middle of the word "quotat-" My brain filled in "quotato". 😂 🥔

[@MJ-in-Canada]

When Raeleen said, “I love how much you guys are nerds like us” I yelled, “And proud of it!”😄

[@ellens.8857]

Listening to the podcast but had to take a peek at the video to see Rae-green’s hair. Love it and enjoying the podcast, as usual!

[@zmk782]

Love these end of the year stats episodes and I look forward to them every year! I'm not a maths girlie, but I love book stats! I track my reading on the Storygraph and their charts are great!

[@sarahfolger5232]

Book Nerds Unite!

[@bayliemadisonn]

it truly is the most wonderful time of the year

[@marthacampbell6188]

This was such a great Books Unbound year. I can't wait for your goals episode because I just relistened to last year's goals episode and it was wild and lovely to know how you have done. Favourite books unbound moments for me this year: every part of the Bisset Books book truck journey 🧡 peach hair 🧡 getting my book recommendation read out by Ariel for The Book of Tea 🧡 Anne of Green Gables PEI event 🧡 Jane Austen festival 🧡 Raeleen and Ariel having opposite goals this year and being so invested in how you were both doing with them, and being so excited when Ariel reached a milestone and got a reward or Raeleen did other things like rollerskating or swimming and camping 🧡 Ariel's engagement episode 🧡 Raeleen's sabbath celebrations and daisy cardigan (which I'm now making one of for myself) 🧡 just all the lovely cosiness and friendship and appreciation for the lovely things in life that you guys promote every time you let us hang out with you both in your podcast 🧡

[@beckycanty]

You should have Max as a guest on the podcast!

[@gellybean3698]

Agreed!!

[@BooksUnbound]

We have! Episode 88! :) - Ariel

[@gellybean3698]

@BooksUnbound omg I totally forgot! I'll have to listen to it again 🤣

[@beckycanty]

​@@BooksUnboundOh I had no idea! Thanks for letting me know :)

[@nannybells]

eve's hollywood was my last read of 2024 so i'm definitely reading slow days fast company next, ty!!

[@imperatrice211]

I've been dying to get green highlights, I always thought it would look amazing with dark hair and Raeleen did it and confirmed it 🤩

[@guineawheat]

I've had green hair for a year now and can confirm, is awesome. Looks lovely on you!!

[@tej98]

Master and Margarita was my favorite book of the year, so let this serve as motivation for Raeleen to conquer it in 2025!! It's sooooo good, and the car is by far one of the best characters.

[@Michelle15556]

Unrelated to books but... Ariel, the nail technician did such a great job with your nails! I do nails myself and I know that it's difficult to correct nails that tend to grow downwards (curl down). From what I can see, your nail lady did it perfectly ❤

[@BooksUnbound]

Omg yes! We had a whole conversation about this! It’s her pet peeve when nail techs do that wrong and I felt like I was in very capable hands 🥲 - Ariel

[@Michelle15556]

@BooksUnbound Yes, you're definitely in good hands if she pays attention to that ❤️

[@madeleinenowak876]

If you want another book about the funeral industry, all the living and the dead features interviews with folks in different jobs relating to the funeral industry. Each chapter focuses on a different job and also includes wonderful reflections. Loved it!

[@moniquebaham]

Great episode!! I’m so glad I found your podcast years back! Happy New Book Year!!

[@witchreads]

my favorite trilogy of all time love these episodes so much!!! literally my favorites to rewatch as well

[@lizapixie626]

I just love you guys thank you for another great year

[@chooseyourthoughts7692]

Very excited for this (and the upcoming episodes!) 😊❤😊❤ best time of the year!

[@vaibhav6826]

Loved this so much. I was having a terrible day and this helped

[@anaelwynn]

Books Unbound is my favourite podcast ❤ thank you for another great year! 💚 Looking forward to future episodes, as always 😊

[@nannybells]

the green is sooo pretty

[@maevajesse]

It’s so funny, because I really am a literary person, I studied languages and literature, and I hate numbers, but I LOVE stats! And I love stats about my readings so, weirdly, this episode is always one of my favorites and I got so excited when I read the title of this episode 😂😅🎉

[@myriam8190]

I’m exactly the same 😂❤

[@MJ-in-Canada]

Same. Can't get enough book stats.

[@rachelbernatowicz9391]

same! Have always been bad at math, but love reading stats!

[@hugoomarianne9234]

Oh this episode is a godsend. I’ve been sick all day, trying to rest to get better for Xmas, this will do the trick for sure.

[@lavenderlattte]

I LOVED THE EPISODE!! Fun fact, i think Ariel is up to something regarding book sizes that fit in your palm and bag because the japanese book editions have something called bunko edition which is exactly that, small editions people can read on the go!

[@chooseyourthoughts7692]

Just want to add: I see a lot of cozy fantasy, more than before…I think you were spot on!

[@kristiedeaver]

Thanks for a fabulous year! This year (the 2025 reading year), instead of bookmarks, I'm doing a Patreon sub! I'm looking forward to another great year of reading!!!

[@violetinknotes]

Fun to hear your wrap up! Proud that I persuaded my local book club (ladies, most in their early 60s) to read "Lesser Known Monsters of the 21st Century" and they liked it! I'd not read it yet either and went based on Raeleen's review. It was a good collection of stories.

[@TheAribibi]

OMG RAELEEN YOUR HAIR IS STUNNING

[@mikayla5949]

Raeleen caused me to read The God of the Woods, which led me to read The Unseen World by the same author, which is my favorite book of the year, and Liz Moore is one of my favorite authors now!! Also Ariel caused me to read Lucy Worsley’s 3 biographies about Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and Queen Victoria, which were some of my favorites also! Love this podcast so much and all the recs are great ❤

[@ParadoxKismet]

This is so much fun! I love Raeleen's hair 💚. I loved seeing the favorite books. It really is interesting to see how all the stats play out. 😊📚🏆🌟

[@sydrichey6600]

My way of reading my TBR is going from my oldest books on TBR to the most recently bought/got

[@tinysealooter]

I love this!! Congratulations on your reading breakdown video!! I love stats!

[@tanyahudson2156]

The hair is awesome. By the way I forgot that I also read Lesser Known Monsters… great recommendation

[@tmtb80]

Hmmm.... best biography I've read....Savage Beauty about Edna St Vincent Millay. Reads like a great novel.

[@AbKhaos]

I'm reading The God of the Woods right now and LOVING IT! I'm even more excited now that Raeleen said it's her favourite of the year! I can't wait to dive more into it!

[@sleepily]

What an event!!! I look forward to these episodes so much :))

[@kimberlylopez3230]

I was thinking about the the cartoon covers on romance books and i have wondered if the cover design is maybe due to the Wattpad covers that have generic cover art 🤷‍♀. Also, when I was younger (about 18 during the 80s) I remember the Fabio type books had "cover" flaps, so it would have like a cut out cover that went over the "bare chested hunk" so if you were reading in public you could have the flap covering the art and it had maybe flowers or something related to the story, like a treasure chest if it was a pirate theme. It would be nice to have that comeback so it would not cause confusion for readers as to what is beneath the covers (LOL) but also be discrete for readers that don't want everyone to see the couple on the cover in a passionate lovers embrace.

[@daysleeper1989]

I have been checking my own stats as you were asking questions and I am so happy to say that I read 39/90 books in translation, that is over 40% of my reading! So proud of that accidental achievement. On the other hand, only 6 mashed potato books were conquered.

[@pithygrapefruit]

The winner of the Akutagawa Prize cowrote her book with AI this year. Rie Kudan. Big controversy. That’s Japans most prestigious lit prize.

[@estellepeterson7015]

Love the green much more than the peach!

[@HavaDay5979]

Great, such a fun video! Parnassus on Wheels is a mashed potato book for me too. I want to read it early next year.

[@AnasNoBuyYear2025]

I am so excited for this episode, and you look amazing Raeleen!

[@sassiqueen1200]

I'm similar to Raeleen, I don't "officially" set 100 books but it's there in my mind, but the gratifying feeling lasts for about 5 seconds before I'm over it and wonder why I put all that pressure on myself lol

[@Talesinmaking]

I think Raeleen narrowing down her reading this year was fun listening to how she managed it, I was thinking though she could do the same next year but keep the 50 goal only for first time reads and if she wants to go nuts and read more then re reads are an all you can eat in book form. Haha!

[@jamgart]

Love this. Such fun! ❤

[@MJ-in-Canada]

“Oh my gawd, we’re so cute!” Yeah, you ARE!🤣😊

[@srabine4435]

Thank you so much for the spreadsheet template!

[@MariannesStudio]

I've got a question: do you annotate your books?!? I'd love a whole episode on this if there isn't one yet

[@Flora_Poste]

Last year I bought a reading spreadsheet from Etsy, because... I really wanted a cool looking spreadsheet. But it was so convoluted and tracked so many things I never pay attention to, that... I stopped updating it in February 😅 So next year I'll try to simplify and go very idiosyncratic with my lists. Maybe just go back to a reading journal and just create a spreadsheet in december for the graphics?

[@michellewayne]

I've been waiting for this one 💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻

[@silvercookies]

I love the mermaid hair Raeleen! I'm trying to still read, but my brain, I think, also needs a break because nothing is really engaging me, which is a shame cause I got library books, lol.

[@calypsoflowers]

For Westerns, Molly Gloss, though she has a couple outside the genre but still with Western themes and tone.

[@lulukan64]

I loved this episode! Love your hair Raeleen.

[@itchystitchy]

I loooove the green hair!!! Ariel - I feel like the quality of books you read is in part the luck of the draw. Even if you feel drawn to only read 12 books per year you can't be sure that you will enjoy them all. I suppose forcing yourself to read x amount of books per year requires that you create a TBR that is padded with books you are less drawn to simply as an expedient to set up a list or schedule to meet your goal.

[@asophcalledskye]

The joy I feel at seeing this episode uploaded 🫶🏻 thanks guys!!

[@peggymccright1220]

What is a mashed potato book? I know you explained it before but I forget… love this video 😘

[@KyndleWylde]

Totally recommend American Psycho as an audiobook

[@nellikoivu505]

I'm so excited to hear the stats❤❤

[@sadsixersfan]

Proust is great.

[@meganyoung3180]

Raeleen you forgot that you did read a chef memoir! Eat a Peach!

[@peggymccright1220]

I have a question… how do you count poetry? Just one poem or a book of poetry?

[@CozyIrishChai]

Do you guys share your spreadsheets at all for community members to use for themselves? I would love to keep track this year

[@blaaabllaaaa]

It is linked in the description 😊

[@arobinreads]

❤❤❤

[@createcek]

Omg guys!! What if it’s gonna be an Ai and human romance novel like two sides of the love story based on ~a real experience~

[@witchreads]

also I know Ariel says she’s read all of moshfegh BUT did you read “my new novel” by moshfegh from Gagosian’s Picture Books, an imprint created by emma cline?

[@SophieEllenDay]

BIG QUESTION: Because you do your statistics in Earl/mid December, do you include any December books you read after doing last year’s statistics podcast ep? Feels like you’re potentially leaving out 2-3 weeks of the year in your round up otherwise!

[@BooksUnbound]

We don’t read on a calendar year! Because of these episodes our reading year is actually wrap ep to wrap up ep, so our new year of reading has begun in order to respect the sanctity of the stats!! - Ariel

[@SophieEllenDay]

@ ok amazing, so you’re including the last couple of weeks of the previous December too? That makes me happy! I was worried you were giving yourselves a disadvantage 🤣

[@myriam8190]

Listen, I have no idea what the actual answer is as to whether we should consider Kafka Austrian or Czech… But he was born into a family of German Jews and wrote in German…

[@desireebezanson94]

Keep going Ariel. Davy isn't very prominent in the rest of the series 😂 also Anne of Windy Poplars is a filler book that was written after the original set so I would skip over it and read it after if you want more Anne.

[@99galinache88]

There's a book, "What makes us human? An artificial intelligence answers life's biggest questions" by GPT-3, Iain Thomas and Jasmine Wang that was published in 2022 I think. Seems that it's just a bunch of mis-quotes and quasi-philosophical q&a, though it is interesting as a cultural artefact.

[@aashreyar7396]

OMG!

[@pjlacey3990]

I really don’t like to reread books.