December Wrap-Up // January TBR | 2015/2016: Happy New Year!

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image source: here. edited by me.

First of all, let me say, HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!

It's a new year, it's a new day, and I'm really excited to see what 2016 has to offer. Last December was really hectic because I had several trips out of town as well as participating in various events. I was surprisingly very social last month. On the down side, because I was busy doing other things, I didn't really have much time left to read. Whenever I got home, I would be too tired to pick up a book and just went straight to bed. But at least at the end of the year I still managed to reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge goal of reading 90 books even though I only read 7 books in December! And these are the books I've read and reviewed last month, non-review posts in December and the books I'm planning to read in January!

Daily Life of Clumsy Tomoko by Suzuki Tomoko

Read this back in November, it was a light and fun read about the illustrator's life in various situations. This book successfully made me laugh several times because I could totally relate to how she reacted in certain situations. Gave this book a 4/5, but was hoping it would be a bit longer though. ✮✮✮✮

The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto by Mitch Albom

One of my most highly anticipated read last month, and to be honest I was slightly disappointed. The writing is still beautiful, as usual, but I'm sad because I couldn't fully relate with the musical history in this book. It was still a really good and emotional read though, a lot of shocking revelations and twists. So I ended up giving it a 4/5. ✮✮✮✮

See You Again by Arini Putri

The author sent this book for me to be reviewed; it's a young adult story after discovering oneself at a young age and all the conflicts surrounding their lives. There's a lot of characters in this book but the author surprisingly managed to weave the story really well. Quite emotional towards the end as well, and I really love the message delivered through this book. 4.5/5 for this one. ✮✮✮✮½

Love Theft #1 by Prisca Primasari

This is the first book in a duology, also sent to me by the author to be reviewed. I find this book very unique because the characters are thieves, and there's romance involved. There are still a lot of mysteries left unanswered so I'm highly anticipating the next book. I gave this book a 3.5/5 because I need more explanations. ✮✮✮½

Perfect Pain by Anggun Prameswari
I joined the blog tour for this book and the story has a domestic violence theme in it. It's a heartbreaking yet uplifting story about the struggle of being a domestic violence victim and how to survive through it. I rarely read books about domestic violence, that's why I find this book really interesting. In the end I gave this book a 4/5. ✮✮✮✮

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Finally I picked up this beautiful book! Like I said in my review, I went into this book with a really high expectation; and for me, the story kind of falls short of that expectation. It is indeed beautifully written, but I wasn't able to fully relate / sympathize with the main character. Despite my disappointments, I still rated this book 4/5. ✮✮✮✮

F.A.K! (Frequently Asked Kuestions) by Devlin Putra
This one is a book made by my college classmate, and of course I had to read it! It's a book that answers various questions with illustrations. I love how witty some of the answers are and it's a quick and entertaining read. 3.5/5 for this one! ✮✮✮½

I am currently reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and will be reading  Vampire Flower by Shin Ji Eun soon, because I need to catch up on some of the books I received from authors/publishers to be reviewed. I'm still unsure of how my reading will be in 2016, especially in January; but I will try my best to read as much as I can. However, if I ended up not reading as much as I hoped, it's okay too I guess. Because I really want to just take it slow this year with reading and enjoy it more instead of being pressured all the time. I might make a post regarding this issue in the near future, but we'll see if I'm in the mood for that ;)

Non-Review Posts in December:

Penerbit Haru: Haru Awards 2015
Perfect Scenario Giveaway: Winner Announcement 

November 2015: Book Haul
Personal Project 2015: Donate for Comments — Conclusion!

See You Again Giveaway: Winner Announcement
Perfect Pain Giveaway: Winner Announcement
Love Theft #1 Giveaway: Winner Announcement
Movie Adaptation Review: Paper Towns
December 2015: Book Haul

January TBR:

The Dragon Next Door by Cho (Jung Sol)
Namaku Subardjo by Hapsari Hanggarini
Sayap-Sayap Kecil by Andry Setiawan
 The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

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Like I said earlier, December was absolutely hectic for me because of various events and trips that I went to. At the beginning of the month, I accompanied my parents on a trip to Singapore for medical reasons. Since I'm just there as a company, I get to explore Singapore and buy things that I couldn't buy in Indonesia. The best part about that trip was visiting the Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. It's such a beautiful place and I spent hours sitting inside, reading on my Kindle. And of course I wouldn't miss going to Kinokuniya bookstore and browse for books even though I got out with only 1 book. It's always nice to be inside such a huge bookstore <3

A few days after I got back from Singapore, me and my family went on an early holiday trip to Bali. Basically all I did there was eat, sleep, swim, repeat. I was feeling kind of guilty with all the food that I consumed, so I actually swim every single night. I love the ocean view and even though we were there for only four days, it was a nice short getaway :))

Since this year my family didn't have any plans for Christmas and New Year, I decided to participate in some other events. The first one is doing a Christmas Charity with my friends from church, and you can read the details in my Donate for Comments wrap up :) I feel that in such a joyful month, I must share joy and happiness with those who are less fortunate. And then I also went to a Christmas Party held by a church community that I recently joined. It was a fun time: we exchanged gifts, ate a lot of food, and also played games. I'm still trying to fit in and adapt in this new group of people; hopefully I'll survive—considering the introvert that I am.

I must say that I've been very social last month, and I really want to pat myself on the back because this is so unlike me. These days I'm trying really hard to start saying yes to a lot more things. Taking chances and just basically being out of my comfort zone. A lot of times doing these things made me uncomfortable; but I want to grow more as a person instead of being content with how I am right now. Socializing is probably one of my biggest weaknesses because I'm always awkward most of the time, so I hope I can get better at that :)))

☆ Music / Movies / TV Shows ☆

I wasn't really updating on the newest songs last month because I was too occupied with other stuffs; but these are the ones that I listened to the most—especially around Christmas time <3 There first one on the list is Taetiseo's Dear Santa, a very Christmas-y song that's perfect for the season. And then there's 사랑난로 by Jellyfish Entertainment (Seo In Guk, one of my favorite singers ever, sings in this one!), and Gain's 열두시가되면, which is also an upbeat song that's perfect for celebration :) Lastly, it's another song by Hillsong called Jesus I Need You from their latest album Open Heaven/River Wild. I put this song on repeat around Christmas time because it reminds me of God's love and mercy in my life <3

When everyone else went to watch Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I went to the theaters and watched Raditya Dika's newest movie, Single XD I haven't got around to watching Star Wars because I was planning on catching up with the previous ones first. Unfortunately I couldn't find the time to do so. I guess I'll have to wait a little longer before I watched that super-popular movie that got almost 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Back to the movie Single, it was a fun and entertaining movie to watch. I was constantly laughing out loud with my friends—most of the time it's because of Raditya Dika's blank face. The story has a good message behind it as well :) Then I also watched Paper Towns at home and I already wrote a movie adaptation review for it if you want to know more about my thoughts :)

As for TV shows, I still haven't got the time to start watching the ones that I mentioned in the previous wrap-up post, but I decided to add one more to my watch-list. It's a drama called 리멤버 – 아들의 전쟁 (Remember – War of the Son), and it's about a son who becomes a lawyer to save his father from false accusations. But most importantly, 유승호 (Yoo Seung-ho) is the main cast in this drama! Ugh, I love him so much. He's such an amazing actor <3 <3 I heard amazing things about this drama, hopefully I can watch it soon :3

And that marks the first day of 2016! I hope everyone had fun welcoming 2016 and I wish you all nothing but the best for the year ahead! Do you have any particular plans or resolutions this year? I'm not sure if I'll be making any resolutions because I have a hard time keeping up with it. But we'll see. I hope I'll be able to keep up with my reading despite all the other stuffs happening in my life :) I don't want to worry too much and just take this year one day at a time :D That's it for now, I'll see you in the next one ;)

   by.stefaniesugia♥ .