I was going back and forth about which book to review this week, and I decided what the hell, it's January 1st, why review a book at all? Instead, let's talk about reading goals.
Last year, I had two goals. First, read 150 books - any 150 books. Second, read (at least some of) the books on this 52 week challenge. I mean really my goal was to read most, if not all, of the books on that list, but then COVID hit and...yeah, that didn't really happen. Turns out in the midst of an international pandemic, living in a country where people are basically like **shrug, guess people are gonna die then, what could we possibly do to slow the spread** it gets a little tough to concentrate. I did just barely manage to hit my 150 book goal, largely by rereading some old favorites, so that's something! I also managed to squeeze in a couple of the books from the list before everything went to shit, and I've got a few others set aside to read, so I'll get there.
And now here we are, 2021, the year that everyone is pinning their hopes on. 150 seems like a good number of titles to stick with for books read overall, so I'm keeping that one. I debated going with 151, but...I dunno. Let's call 150 the official goal, and 151 can be the secret goal that only we know about. In an effort to expand my horizons a bit, I'll also be participating in Book Riot's Read Harder challenge. There are twenty-four challenges total, although keeping in mind the 2020 lesson I hope we all learned, to be gentle with ourselves, I probably won't do them all. Challenge #1, for instance, is to read a book you've been intimidated to read, and unless I can come up with something good, I may skip that one...partially because any books that would be "intimidating" to read seem like that's probably for a good reason (i.e. seems boring), and partially because I can't think of a book that I've been too intimidated to read. So. We'll see. January's prompts are below - what would you choose for each challenge?
I don't know that I have any books that I am intimidated to read unless you count the fear to start a new book/series you've been meaning to read for a long time as intimidating. If that counts, then either The Cousins by Karen M McManus or Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan.
ReplyDeleteI am currently reading a nonfiction book about (I think) anti-racism - The Black Friend: On Being a Better White Person by Frederick Joseph. And I have a couple other books I want to read, too. One of which is Why I'm No Longer Talking (To White People) About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
That totally sounds like it's about anti-racism! I've read Why I'm No Longer Talking (To White People) About Race, and I found it incredibly enlightening. I still have pictures in my phone that I took of some of the passages that I found especially good.
DeleteI think that's a good take on an "intimidating" book! I could probably go through my list and find something that I've been meaning to read for so long that now it's kind of become A Thing. Or a series that I'm like "I know once I start this I'll want to read the whole thing, and I already have so many books to read."
I don't read a lot, mostly text boxes in video games,and instructions on boxes of food. Something I will say I have been intimidated to read is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I know it's a young adult book, and it's not dauntingly long. I just HATE a couple of the characters, and can't tolerate them long enough to give the rest of the book a chance.
ReplyDeleteWhich characters do you hate? Also Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite of the series so I wouldn't be opposed to skipping it. ;)
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