March Goals Recap

Goal: Join the library + read 10 library books

Outcome: Complete failure

I do not know why this goal is so hard for me. It has been on my list of things to do for 4 years now. Yes, you read that right: FOUR YEARS. At this point I can't help but think I have a mental block or something. Am I secretly sabotaging myself? Maybe. Kindle has been offering some good books lately for 1.99 so I am just buying them rather than getting my self together and joining a library. What does this say about me? Very unflattering things. 

This is where accountability comes in. I am telling y'all that I am joining the library this Monday, April 11th, come hell or high water. It is going to be the first thing I do so that I do not get busy doing other things. I have literally put it on my calendar.  

It is always so embarrassing to admit that I am not a member of a library. This has got to stop. Knowing that y'all know what I am supposed to be doing on Monday is exactly what I need to push past myself. Feel free to text me encouraging or taunting things to make sure I am doing what I said I would do. It is time. 

February Goals Recap

Well, March came in like a lion this year for me. The month started off awesome with a trip to Boston that I will blog about later (I am in the middle of a serious love affair with Boston). I ended the awesome trip with the flu. Can I just tell you that the flu officially sucks as an adult? I feel like a 90 year old smoker who just ran a marathon. It has taken me a week just to recover from having the flu, not to mention the week that it ravaged me like a plague. The good news is I am (almost) back to 100%.

More good news: I accomplished my February Reading Goal! I reviewed 5 books on the blog, which is actually harder than it sounds. Well, harder is not quite the word, maybe more like time-consuming. Believe it or not, I do not just sit down and write whatever comes off the top of my head. And y’all should be thankful for that. I do not think any of you want to read a review that comes from the comparative literature part of my training. Well, maybe a few of you would, but for the majority it would be too much like school and I want you to try the books I recommend, not run screaming because you are suffering from PTSD due to high school English.

Anyways, I tried to review books that did not fall into the same genre. It is nice to read things outside of your comfort zone. It makes you a better thinker, better reader, and a better person (most times). I have a bit of a reputation of being really smart; the reality is I am really well-read. That in and of itself covers a multitude of shortcomings. Try it sometime. Start a sentence with, “I heard on NPR…” and see if people’s perception of you doesn’t change. I chose to review one nonfiction book, one classic retold, a YA fantasy, a book of short stories, and then the best book I have read in a long, long time. If you have time to read only one book this year please, please, please read Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I am posting the link to the reviews (though I am sure all of you already read them) below so you can check them out. I hope it encourages you to read a book that you would never have picked up, whether it be one of these 5 or one that has been recommended to you or one that has an interesting cover.

Next month’s goal has been one of my reading goals for the past 3 years. Will I finally manage to accomplish it? Stay tuned to find out :)

Books Reviewed

• Uprooted by Naomi Novik
• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
• Jane Slayre by Charlotte Brontë and Sherri Browning Erwin
• Trigger Warning by Neil Gaiman

New Look + 2016 Reading Goals!

Jenny's 2016 Reading Goals

I wanted to try something a little different with my resolutions this year. Rather than setting a couple of year-long goals, I am going to be doing monthly resolutions. This will make me feel like I am accomplishing things and also giving me a realistic time frame. Let's be honest — year-long resolutions are really difficult. I have been pretty good at my reading ones so far, but I want to try to really stretch myself. This is the first year I am not in school since preschool; I can literally read whatever I want whenever I want. My twelve micro-resolutions are going to help me rein in that freedom. Freedom is not a bad thing, but I need a bit more structure or else I will only read the same genre or re-read the same things over and over again. It will also help me to actually achieve my goals without completely restricting my freedom. (The older I get the more I realize that boundaries are not bad things. I am slowly getting wise.) They are a mixture of reading and blogging and I will, of course, be updating each month.

January: Only read non-fiction + classics
February: Review 5 books on the blog
March: Join the library + read 10 library books
April: Only read books that are on my Goodreads TBR list
May: Read 1 work in Old English (do not want to get rusty!)
June: Do a Top Ten Tuesday post for each Tuesday of the month
July: Read 15 books on Buzzfeed's list of greatest books by women
August: Read 1 work in Old Norse
September: Read 10 books that have been recommended to me
October: Read 15 books set in cultures other than my own
November: Write 10 blogposts
December: Read The Hobbit in Latin (yes, this is a thing!)

Also, in case y'all were so taken with my reading goals that you did not notice, we have a new look here on the blog! Lesley Anne and I wanted to update our style with something more clean and user-friendly. It took quite a bit of time to choose one because there are so many great ones out there. The good news is our tastes are pretty similar so we did not have to worry about breaking up a friendship over choosing a blog format (I feel like that could be the plot of a YA book). I know we have been negligent about posting these past few months but that is something we are both hoping to change. Thank you for sticking it out with us. Hope y'all's new years are off to a wonderful (if chilly!) start :)