 Hello friends, it's time for the start of the end of the year. This is probably my favorite time of year to make content. I also like the start of the year. I do like start your videos. I love end of the year videos so much. It just like satisfies something in my soul, like deep down. It makes me so happy doing end of your videos. So I was thinking what is, I mean obviously it's the start of December. I'm still going to be doing some reading. So I don't want to do like my best books, worst books yet. So I was thinking what's something we can like do at the start of the month that's still an end of your video. And it's time to, I don't really want to do this, but it's time to talk about my series reading in 2023. My series progress, how many series I finished, how many I started. And I reached my series goal, spoiler alert, no. Because I'm probably not going to be starting any more series now the rest of the year. I know I'm going to be reading one more that's part of a series and I've marked that on the spreadsheet just because I will have finished that by the end of the year. I will have read that book. I want to finish the series. But unless I unwrap a start of a series in wrapped up, which there are a few of them, there's actually not that many. I'm like, it's just telling a lot of fear in me, but there's probably only like five or six. And I'm just going to like psychically evade them, like ban them off, you know. I won't let the psychic, next year it's fine. I'm fine starting the next year, but just not in December. That's so cruel. So I don't think I'm going to be starting any more series. So I think we're safe to see my series progress. So we're going to look at my series spreadsheet. I've got some stats to talk through you guys. And then last year I asked everyone Instagram some things you wanted to know in this video as well. And I'm going to answer the same questions like best series I finished, series I'm glad I finished, series I want to finish, series I want to start, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So shall we just get into it? I'm very excited. Oh, I love graphs. I love the spreadsheets. I'm just excited. Okay, let's chat, like, let's, let's, let's settle down for a second everyone. And let's chat basic stats. Okay, well, we need to come to terms with this, the fact that start this year, I had 34 ongoing series that I was currently reading. Okay. And my goal, which will be the same goal next year, this is, this is always my goal now, is to have a net negative. So at the end of the year, I wanted to be currently reading at least 33 series, if not less or at most, I guess, 33 series. So starting on 34, how many series am I currently reading? 39. Okay, you have to give yourself permission to fail. That's not terrible. And I want you to sit with that in a moment, because we're gonna, we're gonna do a bit of a switch up in a moment. And I don't know what the results that are gonna be. So I just want you to sit with that. I'm currently reading 39. So that's plus five. It's not the worst. It could be, it could be much worse. We'll get into all my stats, but I feel like my overall impression of my series reading this year is that it's not the best, but it's not the worst. And that's not something insightful. But I'm okay with how much series progress I made. So I started 11 series in 2023, and I finished eight. So you should think that would only be plus three, but a couple of ones that I, I think two of the ones that I finished were ones I'd started this year. So it didn't make an, it didn't affect the currently, the total. But something I am pretty proud of that I did want to tell you guys, I'm gonna have a little look at this when we go through the spreadsheet in a second, but how many series I'm still at the same place as I was at the start of the year is 20 out of the 30 that I could be. So I've made progress in 10 more series this year, which last year I only made progress in six series. Last year I made a big focus on finishing series. I read a lot of series where I only had one book left to finish the series, but I didn't make a lot of progress in any of my other series. Whereas this year I did make a bit of effort. And some of those series I read like three books in the series this year. So I feel like that is, you know, is a positive in my view. Also I just want to say in these stats, in all of these stats that we're gonna go through, I only include series that I am currently reading or I finished, I don't include series I have DNF because that would skew the results somewhat. So let's have a little look at the spreadsheet and I'm gonna tell you what we're gonna do. So this is my reading spreadsheet. Some of you have seen it before. Basically, it's very simple. It is color coded for the year that I read the books. This is 2019, this is 2020, that's 2021. If a book is in bold, that means that I only have one book left to finish the series. Escaping from Houdini is the book I haven't read this year yet, but I'm going to read before the end of the year. So that's why it's marked as that. Something that's underlined means I own it and something that's in italics is something that hasn't come out yet is basically all that means. So this is my currently reading series. As you can see there, we've got a, like even though we've got four series up there that I've made progress in this year that I haven't finished but I'm glad that I've made progress. This is a little bit of like a No Man's Land. These other books that I started in 2019, I need to make some progress in some of these this year or DNF. I can't believe I haven't made progress for a while in the singing Hill Cycle. That's not good. What are you feeling right now? Embarrassed. These three middle grade series, I would really like to make some progress in these if not finish some of them. I know that all the Sinclair's mysteries are on script. I think maybe in a picture of magic and these two Tinning Lost Fairytales and Mr. Jordan Moth are wrapped up. So I could make progress if I unwrap those at some point. But yeah, these are probably priorities to me. I would like to make some progress in those middle grade series or DNF them. There we go. Like I said, I read three books this year in the Lady Hardcastle mystery series. I read two from the Before Look If It Gets Gold series and I am gonna, I think there's gonna be like loads of books in series, but I personally am gonna finish with Before We Say Goodbye. I'm not gonna continue with the series after that I've decided. But yeah, here's a series. Look at her. She's so cute. Don't talk about Saga. Oh my god. A few more that I've made progress in though this year. So I'm happy. And then these are the ones I've started this year that I have not finished and all of them I have only read the first one, which is pretty bad. I mean bookshops and bone dusts I'll read soon. I would like to finish off these too soon on my own. Do I own, I don't own a firendless. Why do I think I did? Oh, because I have the audiobook. But yeah, I would like to make some progress in these. And then we've got a completed series. Look at all of these. Wow, look at all of these. And these are the series I finished this year. I'm not gonna do reviews for these in this video because I feel like I'll talk about three of them. So I'll talk about my favorite ones that I finished. But kind of my attitude towards a lot of these is like, they were okay. I didn't love, we'll talk about the three that I am glad that I finished and most enjoyed. But I didn't love a lot of the series I finished this year. And then we have DNF series. So any series that I only read the first book for there's quite a few this year, as you can see that I only read the first book for and then decide DNF or I DNF'd along the thought wise see this year after reading the second one. So yeah, now what I need to talk about that we're gonna do. Get ready everyone. I'm ready to cause absolute havoc. A lot of you always tell me to not count the series that I am up to date with but have not finished because I can't finish them because the series themselves not finished to not count them in my ongoing series. And I always hesitate to never do that because whether I do it at the start of the year, the end of the immediate, it's going to screw with the stats, right? So I always had off on doing it, right? Because I will my currently reading my ongoing series will deflate but like not organically. But I've decided to just do it. So we're gonna do that now. We're gonna make a new section on the spreadsheet for series I'm completely up to date with. Now, I don't know. I don't know how many that will be, but we are gonna count however many series I am ongoing as my end of year total at the end of this. Does that make sense? So my end of year total is not 39. We're reducing it. The rules don't apply. I don't know if we're gonna get close to 34 or 33, I guess is the goal. But let's see, shall we? Okay, let's see what ones we've got. I am up to date in the way we're children series. That is one. I won't be up to date for that vlog because anyone comes out in January. But for now, I am up to date in hell bent. I'm up to date in last level to die. I'm not sure if it's going to be anymore. Or I'm up to date in Dahlia Lively. Anything else that I'm up to date with. Okay, that is it. So we took four away. So that means I'm currently reading 35 series. Yes? Actually, I missed out that I am up to date in the sworn soldiers series by T. Kingfisher, so I am only currently reading 34 series while I am amazing. Okay, that is our new total. I am currently reading 35, which means I've only plus one series this year because all of these ones, yeah, are ones that I got up to date with this year. So I feel like that's fair. Okay. Are we happy with that? I'm really happy with what I'm seeing. So yeah, when I get up to date with a series, I'm going to move them down here instead. So that is, we've made the change now. So now going on when I set that goal, when I set my how many series I want to be currently reading, it's going to take that into account. Does that make sense? I always get so many comments about this. I do a series video. So I think you guys are going to be glad. I think you're going to be glad about that. Okay, let's go into a few more stats that I've got. So on this bar chart, this is how many series I've started this year. So in 2019, I started 11. In 2020, I started 19. In 2021, I started 20. In 2020, I started 10. And in 2023, I started 11. So I only started one more series I did last year. Listen, 2020 and 2021, the girl was out of control. So I wanted it to stop me. So I wanted to sit me down and have an intervention with me because why was I doing all of that? Anyway, so I'm in control, but I'm out of control and I'm also controlled. So in a way, I'm everything. So yeah, I feel like I didn't start too many series this year. I kept it pretty under control. That's a kind of number I'm happy with, the kind of rates that I'm finishing them. In terms of how many series I finished each year, in 2019, I finished three. In 2020, I finished four. In 2021, I finished four. In 2022, I finished 15. And in 2023, I finished eight. So not nearly as many as I finished last year. But like I said, last year, I pretty much polished off all the series on my DVR that I only had one book to finish in order to finish the series. Whereas this year, I read some series that I had a few more books to finish, etc. So it's not bad. I'm finishing double the amount of series that I was in those previous years. So again, I am okay with this. I haven't reached the goal. But you know, the whole point, like I always said, the whole point of making this a focus and starting to track this was to just have some level of control. Because if I'd carried on at the rate I was in 2020, in 2021, like starting 1920 series and finishing four, that is not sustainable, you know? Whereas I now feel like my series reading is somewhat sustainable, somewhat. In terms of the genres of the series I finished, five were fantasy, two were mystery, and one was sci-fi. And then in terms of the series I've got ongoing, two are historical, 14 are fantasy, 11 were mystery, which I feel like is a little bit of an increase. And this ongoing also includes the ones I'm up to date. One is nonfiction, two are romance, one is magical realism, two are sci-fi, two are horror, and one is contemporary. So I think fantasy last year was like 55%. So I've diversified my series reading a little bit. Okay, that's all the stats and I look at the spreadsheet done. Let's go through some of those questions I mentioned earlier. So the first one is the top three series that I finished and I only really kind of have a top two. A lot of the series I finished were like, okay. My top two are like top, top, top five star favorite series ever. And the first one is the Sheets graphic novel series. The one I read this year to finish it was Lights. I don't think Brenda Thunder has any other graphic novel series and I just want everything. Brenna, give me your mix. The first one is the story of Marjorie whose mother has recently died and she meets this ghost called Wendel and in this world all the ghosts are sheets. They look like bed sheets. And by the third one we are really looking into how Wendel died and Wendel's backstory on what happened to Wendel. I love these graphic novel series. That's real. Even though she's fictional, it's real and that's important to me. I think that class is middle grade, both this and the other graphic novel series are technically middle grade. But I think anyone and everyone could read them. And I just think there's a lovely, lovely story to these that I am just, oh, I love them. I love the story. I love the message. I love, also the illustration style is so pretty. I think the color schemes are great. I cannot wait to read more from Brenda Thunder when she eventually publishes more because I just think it's amazing. The other series will not be a shock to anyone. And that is the Tea Dragon series, which I finally finished this year. I read both the Tea Dragon festival and the Tea Dragon tapestry, both five stars. But I think, um, I don't know which is my favorite in the series. I think I need to do a reread of the whole series back to back before I know which is my favorite in the series. But these are little fantasy graphic novels about these Tea Dragons that can brew tea, but also it's about the people who live in these communities. Like the Tea Dragons are quite a small part of it. It's more the communities that have these customs with the Tea Dragons. And I just love them. You guys know I speak about these a lot. But truly, again, the messaging that comes with these books is just, I always say it's, it's the attitude that I wish we all lived with in the world. I just think it's so beautiful, the way that these books view the world and view connection between humans. I just adore it. I love it so much. I cannot recommend this graphic novel series enough. I think it's a gift to the world. So I cannot wait to reread these and reread these and reread these and read them to my kids one day. And I just, I think again, guys, look at how gorgeous, some of these pages, I just, I just can't, I can't. It's so pretty. And then I was thinking of like, what do I want to say in the third one? Because again, a lot of the series I finished were like, you know, they were fine. I actually, I don't ever mention I read the whole of the Mr. Mercedes trilogy from Stephen King this year. And that was my first time reading Stephen King. And I did quite enjoy it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. And I've heard that some of Stephen King's worst. So I might like Stephen King. Who knows? I don't really view that as like, in the, I don't view the ones that I started and finished this year as as much in this category, because like, they were just a blip. You know what I mean? Whereas some of these series have lived with me for a long time with me not finishing them. But I wanted to give an honorable mention to the Girls of Paper and Fire series with the Girls of Fame Fury. I didn't love this one. I think I gave it a 3.5. But this was just a really important series for me. I started this series just as I was getting into reading. I think this is actually, yeah, this was the oldest series on my TBR at this point. Now it's a different one. I started this before I had my channel. I started this when I was just getting back into reading. And it was really, I don't know, I think it set the tone for a lot of what I like from fantasy. It really helped me figure out what books I wanted to read. I don't know, I just view this as a special series. So to be able to finish it finally felt very special. I didn't love this as much as like the first one. You could probably read it as a standalone. I don't think the second and third are nearly as good as the first book. But it felt like a momentous occasion because I'd been reading it for so long to finally finish this series. Then the next question was top three I want to finish next year. Now a series that was on this category last year that I did not finish is the Talking Jack River series. I will, I've already read the first two currently, but like I said I will be reading Escaping from Houdini before the end of the year. So then I only have one book left to read and I just need to read it because this is now the oldest series on my TBR. And I just want to get it done. I don't love these. I feel like both of them are like a 3.5 for me. But I do want to finish the series because there's something about them like the historical setting. They have little like, I don't know if you guys have seen before. They have like letters in them or they often have like at the start of chapters, pictures of like the setting or things that are happening in the book. So I do want to finish this series off. I'm this deep in. I'm just going to finish it off and read the last one. And then I do get a sense of satisfaction of finishing the really old series on my TBR. Because after this, the only series I started in 2020 that I won't have finished are the Wayward Shredden series which in my eyes should go on forever. And Ninth House. Well I think we're going to get a third book and then that will be it. But that won't finish. I should take a couple years to get that to be honest. Yeah those won't be finished for a while whereas it's in my power to finish these. Then I do want to say the Sinclair's Mysteries as well. I didn't grab that. Whoopsie. I don't know where that is. I couldn't find it somewhere about that. But the second one is wrapped up and wrapped up retro like I mentioned. And I always talk about those three middle grade series. I started in 2021 and I have not made progress on a single one of them. And so I think the Sinclair's Mysteries is the one I'm feeling most drawn to at the moment. A lot of people said the first one is the least good in the series and the rest are really, really good. It's like kind of I think Edwardian Britain. So like 1910s I think it's set in. And the first one is like a murder mystery at a department store. And I just I think it could be like a cozy... Last year I listened to almost all of the Small Spaces Quartet by Catherine Arden which is a horror middle grade series as audiobooks. And I think it would be nice to prioritize reading some of these middle grade books as audiobooks throughout the year. It's like palette cleansers. So I would like to finish that. And then a curveball that I am gonna throw in. I would really like to make progress in the Bear Town series. I don't own the second or the third. But I really enjoyed Bear Town. I read this about a year ago and I just feel like if I'm gonna make progress I need to make progress soon, you know? It's set in the small Swedish town that's very much built around this hockey team and the youth hockey team. And something happens that really divides the town and the town is divided on who they should believe and you know what the truth is. I don't know what roots the Second and Third books are gonna go down because they kind of feel like stand-alones. But I would, I really enjoyed this. I really liked Frederick Bachman's writing. I just thought it was very unique. So I would be intrigued to make progress in the series. It's a series I think about a lot in terms of making progress in. So it's a curveball because I don't own the Second or Third books. There's many series that I own more books than this. But I would like to still make progress in it. And then let's talk about the top three series I want to start next year. First one is Matterport Evensong by Reverend Richard Coles. This is a cozy mystery series where there's like a reverend who solves many mysteries. Look at the dogs! I have both the first and second books. If I'm gonna start a series it makes sense to start this one. I have heard mixed things about this one but I think it's one of those books you need to go into with the right expectations. I think it is quite lowly rated on Goodreads but I think it's a kind of book you need to go in not expecting a lot and kind of expecting like it to just be cozy and a bit of a fun time. It was a bit of a laugh. It's tongue-in-cheek Daniel. It's tongue-in-cheek. It's funner. Do you know what I mean? There's so many books that I feel like are rated on Goodreads because people didn't go in with the right expectations. But I'm hoping I will enjoy it. I love anything that's sort of good homage to you know a classic quaint English town murder mystery. I think one that I did say last year and didn't start this year but would really like to. I mean there's still time it's wrapped up but I don't want to start the whole series. It's the Veronica Speedwell series with a curious beginning. You'll tell me how much I'm gonna love this. It is now obviously one of the oldest books on my tbr if it's in wrapped up retro but I am just a little bit scared off of it because of how long it is. Like I know if I start it I know I'm not gonna finish it and that makes me nervous and so many of you have told me I'm gonna love it and so many other booktubers who have similar reading tastes too have loved it so I know I know I know I need to read it but the length has always scared me off but I will start it next year I promise. And then the third series I would really like to start next year is Blood Like Magic by LaZelle Sanbury. I believe this is only a duology and I followed LaZelle for many years. She's an author tuber and I followed her for many years and I remember when this came out. I got this not long after it came out and she's like published three books instead. It's quite embarrassing so because this is a duology I feel like it's not particularly a scary series to start because I could feasibly start and finish it next year but I just am really interested in all of her books like delicious delicious monsters I think there was another one. All of her books sound really really good to me. I just feel like I should probably read the one that I own before buying more so I would really really like to start this series this year and I just I've heard also really wonderful things from people who have read it and obviously I watched her speak about it so much when watching her video so I'd really like to start this one. So that is my series review for 2023. I hope that was interesting somewhat for you guys. I love chatting about series and yeah overall I feel like I did okay with my series progress because remember I've only got 35 on the going now which is only plus one so yeah I'm pretty happy with my reading progress my series progress this year but let me know how was your series progress. Do you track your series reading? Do you not track your series reading? What's the sitch? Let me know down below I would love to know. Thank you guys so much for watching and I'll see you very soon in another video. Bye!