Tag: challenge

Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

Library Love Challenge Update — things are going well!

Posted on by Jennifer

Hey y’all! In April I found and decided to join the library love challenge hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart. With a pandemic going on, I knew I wouldn’t be able to physically go to the library for a while, so I thought this challenge would be a reminder to leverage the digital resources they have as well! I usually do already, but I’ve branched out even more.

My goal was to read twelve books from the library. At the time, this was pretty reasonable because it averaged out to about a quarter of the books I read a year. Now… I‘ve already surpassed my usual reading goal by a lot, and I’m not slowing down. 😅 So I’ve definitely completed the twelve book tier, and am now working towards the next tier of 24!

Progress!

If you’re interested as well, go see the full post and sign up link from the hosts! It’s never too late to join. 😀 The levels for the challenge are:

  • Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books (my goal – complete!)
  • Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books (my new goal!)
  • Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
  • Library Addict: Read 48 books
  • Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books

My reads:

  1. Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
  2. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  3. The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin
  4. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
  5. Illidan by William King
  6. Akin by Emma Donoghue
  7. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
  8. Brunch and Other Obligations by Suzanne Nugent
  9. Rascal by Jean-Luc Deglin
  10. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu
  11. Beach Read by Emily Henry
  12. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
  13. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  14. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
  15. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Posted in Book Talk, Chatty

A year complete in under 6 months!

Posted on by Jennifer

Well, I officially finished my Goodreads goal for the year of 52 books!

I’d been expecting this, just based on the fact that I was furloughed from my job and most days were spent reading for several hours. It was an easy guess that I’d blow through them pretty quickly. 😂

Like I’ve said before, I don’t plan on changing my goal to be a higher number, but instead am working on creating other reading-based goals for myself. Here are a few of my new monthly goals:

  • reading a recent or upcoming Indie or self-published book, to help authors who need it
  • read an ARC from NetGalley or Edelweiss (I’m not behind, but I like to keep up with upcoming releases)
  • read a book from my decade-plus-long TBR that I’ve been excited about forever and just never got around to

I’m also pushing myself to read books that are outside my usual picks. Genres I don’t read much of (like thrillers and mysteries), or classics I’ve never read (like The Iliad), or books that are just really freakin’ long (I’m finally going to read Kingdom of Ash and finish the Throne of glass series. This beast is 984 pages long!!!).

If you’ve got any favorites that are in one of those categories or that you might otherwise want to challenge me to read, let me know in the comments so I can check it out!

Posted in Book Talk

2020 Library Love Challenge!

Posted on by Jennifer

I recently learned of a challenge that I think I can wholeheartedly embrace, despite my usual struggles with reading challenges! My impulsiveness will not hinder me for this one, since it’s the 2020 Library Love challenge! Hosted by Angel’s Guilty Pleasures & Books of My Heart, the goal is simple: read books from the library!

Who doesn’t love the library? When I move to a new place, I always go to the library to check it out and get a card within a day or two of moving in. Usually before I’m even fully unpacked. Priorities, right? 👌🏼

So this year I’m joining the 2020 Library Love challenge and going to shoot for at least 12 books (the lowest tier). This whole pandemic thing has lowered what my usual goal would be, since I’m buying a lot more books from local shops right now to try and support them during these difficult times. My library branch has also been closed since last summer in the longest ever construction project for nothing important (don’t mind the salt…), so I was already to a lower start with library visits this year. Ah, well.

Progress!

If you’re interested as well, go see the full post and sign up link from the hosts! The levels for the challenge are:

  • Dewey Decimal: Read 12 books (my goal)
  • Thrifty Reader: Read 24 books
  • Overdrive Junkie: Read 36 books
  • Library Addict: Read 48 books
  • Library Card on Fire: Read 60+ books

My reads:

  1. Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno
  2. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
  3. The Little Bookshop on the Seine by Rebecca Raisin
  4. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle
  5. Illidan by William King
  6. Akin by Emma Donoghue
  7. Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner
  8. Brunch and Other Obligations by Suzanne Nugent
  9. Rascal by Jean-Luc Deglin
  10. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Xu
  11. Beach Read by Emily Henry
  12. Why Not Me? by Mindy Kaling
  13. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
  14. The Japanese Lover by Isabel Allende
  15. Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez
Posted in Book Talk

Why I’m Too Impulsive for Reading Challenges

Posted on by Jennifer

Reading challenges, everywhere!

It’s not a new thing, in any way. I see soooo many bloggers and group posting about the reading challenges they are taking part in. Readathons, themed reads, category challenges…magazines, Goodreads groups, libraries….everyone seems to have some challenge they’re carrying on about!

Seriously.

The examples.

Are pretty much.

Endless.

But they just don’t work for me. And, with a dose of painful honesty, I think it all comes down to my commitment issues.

I can’t have just one

To be clear, those are commitment issues with books only! My beau and I are fine. But when it comes to anything that will even slightly try to shape what I end up reading, I am so quickly running in the other direction!

It doesn’t really make sense, because I typically read multiple books at the same time. I also typically read 7-10 books a month —

sorry, writing that just felt quite surreal for a moment —

So it’s not like I don’t have the time or space for a few extra books. So what gives?? Why can’t I find the joy of a book club, or a clever list challenge from a trendy online site, or even a fun themed group option in my Goodreads groups?

Books = heart

It’s actually simple: what I read is almost 100% dictated by my current mood. They’re totally dictated by where my heart and head are at in a moment. The idea of feeling obligated to read something ruins reading for me. Most likely, I would end up struggling through any book that I was required to read for a club or group if it wasn’t one I was feeling at the moment, which then ruins the whole experience!

As I’ve been beginning to write more about my reading through this blog, and adventure into “required reading” spaces like author requests and NetGalley reviews, I’ve been very careful only to accept books I knew I was interested in reading at the moment. Otherwise, they would either go unread for too long (which is unfair to those who offered the book), or I would read it with resentment and probably rate it more poorly than I otherwise would since I had a negative attitude about it (also not fair). Reading is important enough to me to ensure that I keep it as something I enjoy, rather than a chore.

Usually the ultimate goals of reading challenges is to get people to read genres they might otherwise not pick up. But I read a fairly wide range, though I clearly trend more towards YA and fantasy. But there’s still nonfiction, and mystery, and chick lit, and romance, and historical fiction, and so on… so I think I do okay without forcing myself to read something else.

So really… it’s just better of for everyone if I don’t try to cram my reading time into a box of any kind. 🤣 I will remain flexible and random in what I read, and do it happily!

Oh… except for that whole thing where I’m starting a book club. But at least I have some sway over the books included, so hopefully that will work out? 😂

Convince me otherwise!

What challenges have you done or are planning to do? I’d be interested to see if any can sway me enough to give them a shot! How do you stick to your challenge goals when you don’t feel like reading the book needed for that challenge?

Posted in Book Talk

Spine poetry – life of a refugee

Posted on by Jennifer

I’ve seen this wonderful idea on instagram, that I don’t have enough physical books to participate in myself anymore. The idea is to take a look through your books and create a poem from the titles you have. I LOVE that, but alas, moving so often means I’ve had to cut down my physical collection.

But I’m adaptable! So instead, I’ve pored through some of the book I have listed on Goodreads to create a poem. It actually ended up holding a good deal of meaning for me, so here’s what I got on my first attempt!

They called us enemy
Run away
New kid
This is my America
A love hate thing

Continue reading “Spine poetry – life of a refugee” →