Best of 2017: Favorite Random Non-Book Things

2017 has been a rough year. We don't know about you but we've tried to find happiness in the small things this year. As we say good bye to this year and welcome in 2018, we were inspired by this Tor.com post to share with you posts that list the TV shows, movies, and the random things that brought us some joy these last twelve months. And of course we'll tell you about our favorite books, but not until next week. Today, we're going to be talking about our favorite random non-bookish things!

Rose Red

It's been a really long time since I have fallen in love with a whole album that wasn't a soundtrack and even longer since I've bought one. I usually just listen through an album once or twice on Spotify and then purchase individual songs if I liked them. I knew on my first listen through that Memories... Don't Open by The Chainsmokers was going to be an album I loved and that I needed to own. I don't know how many times I've listened to it but I love it as much now as I did the first day I listened to it. That doesn't happen near enough for my liking anymore.

My grandma decided out-of-the-blue to give me and my sister her Christmas Village. Her village is epic and is the culmination of forty years of collecting. We were only able to set up a very small portion of it but it makes me so happy! I was fascinated with it as a kid and not much has changed now that I'm an adult. My favorite thing to do right now is to turn off all the lights and just stare at our Christmas tree. Although, I now have the utmost respect for the amount of work that her and Grandpa putting this thing up year after year.

A webcomic counts as a non-bookish thing, right? A good friend of mine recommended Check, Please! by Ngozi to me earlier this year and I've kind of become obsessed with it! Like I check the website every day for new updates and have fallen down the fanfic rabbit hole multiple times this year. Check, Please! is webcomic about hockey and pies and discovering who you are during college. It has a diverse cast of characters and lots of hockey action! Plus, it's a queer romance and I ship it so hard. SO HARD! This webcomic is seriously adorable and hilarious and it makes me so happy! If you want to spend an enjoyable few evenings, I highly recommend checking it out! (Haha! I made a pun!) The shenanigans that Bitty and the Samwell hockey team get up to are freaking fantastic! You can start reading it here!

Gretl gave me this awesome Twelve Days of Harry Potter Socks Advent Calendar for my birthday and it has been the best thing ever! I've been like a little kid on Christmas every morning when I get to open that day's socks. And I have loved them all so far! It's given me so much joy and I'm only halfway through it. If you want to see all the socks, I've been posting daily pictures on my Instagram.

Artist Credit
One of my favorite things this year has been seeing all the fanart that people in my fandoms have made. There are some super talented people out there. I frequently find myself falling down the Tumblr rabbit hole for hours looking at just fanart. I have a ton of fanart saved to a folder on my desktop. It's mostly Yuri on Ice, ADSOM, The Raven Cycle, and My Hero Academia art and I regret nothing. It's the simple things in life that really make me happy and this is one of them.

Gretl


If you had asked me my favorite artist a few years ago, I would have said something dark like Airborne Toxic Event. But this has been a year in need of fun, happy music like Fitz and the Tantrums. And a five year old singing Hand Clap is one of the Best Things.

Bookstagram/Photography
Okay, that's kind of a bookish thing. But my Instagram feed, unlike Twitter, has been almost entirely free of politics. So it can be an escape from the news. And I'm having fun sort of relearning the photography thing. My last year of college it was the only class I actually enjoyed, even though I wasn't that good at it. (Okay I got a B, I wasn't awful.) But doing everything in my iPhone is totally different than doing it in a darkroom.

Etsy shopping
Again, this one's a little bit bookish and probably grew out of bookstagramming, but I bought a lot of bookmarks this year, and some candles. I've always been a shopper, but not so much online. I like the idea of supporting small, women owned business. I'm even thinking about making some jewelry and drawing again, though I'm not planning to start an Etsy shop or anything.


My cat
I found Luna last year around Thanksgiving. She just came to the door and meowed til I went to pick her up. I haven't had a cat since I was little but she's been my rock this year. She's been through old dogs and new dogs and a kindergartener and takes it all in stride. Too bad we humans can't all be so even tempered.

What were your favorite non-bookish things of 2017?

and

Did you miss one of our Best of 2017 posts?
Favorite Movies
Favorite TV and Streaming Shows

Did you see our Super Giveaway? Check out Wednesday's post.