Monday, January 19, 2015

Reading Challenge: Week 2

Week two of my reading challenge was supposed to have me reading a book by an author who shared my initials. That didn't go as planned. I couldn't find an author that had my initials, so I decided to settle for books by two different authors, each with one initial of mine. This also didn't work.

I had chosen To All The Boy's I've Loved Before by Jenny Han and The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. Since I do the majority of my reading from books I've borrowed from my library, I had to wait for others to finish before I could check them out. I was hoping that I would be able to check them both out, but I'm still on the holds list for Jenny Han's book.

I did get to read The Angel Experiment and I really enjoyed it. It gets a solid four stars from me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series as soon as I've finished the other books I have checked out from my library.

Week 3 challenge: A duology.

There were many duologies on my list that I would have enjoyed reading, but either my library only had the first book, or I would  have been several people back on the holds lists. 

I did some searching for a while, and finally came across Amalia Howard's series, The Aquarathi. I settled on this duology simply because it was the first one that I was able to check out from my library without playing the waiting game with the holds list. I also didn't want to take a chance on someone else borrowing them while I was searching for another.

I love libraries, but sometimes I wish I were able to afford, and had the space to store, all the books I'll ever be able to read. Oh, what a dream.

Monday, January 12, 2015

First Week of My Reading Challenge

My book prompt for last week was a book set in the future. I chose to read The Host by Stephenie Meyer. Partly because I already had it checked out from my library and it fit the prompt.

I really liked this book. I live under a rock, so this was the first book by Stephenie Meyer that I've read. As I was reading it, I was going to give it four stars. I was really enjoying it. Then it made me cry.

I never cry. Okay, maybe once every four or five good months, but that's pushing it. It's like my personal filter for awesome things. If it makes me cry, it's an automatic five stars. I don't care if the rest of a book was mediocre, if it makes me cry because I feel the pain the characters are going through, it's getting five stars.


This weeks prompt is to read a book written by an author with your same initials.

I couldn't find one. So I'm going to improvise. I'll read two books, both written by an author that has one of my initials.

The first is To All The Boy's I've Loved Before by Jenny Han. The Second is The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. I'm on the holds list for both of these books, though there aren't many people in front of me. I may not get to read both of these books this week, but I'm going to hope I will.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Reading Challenges For 2015

If you read my last post, you might remember that one of my goals for 2015 is to read 100 books. To help me reach my goal I will be participating in two reading challenges.

I have written the prompts from each challenge on strips of paper and put them into a jar, so when I need a new book the prompt will be random.

The first is a weekly drawing. Every weekend this year I will be picking a prompt at random, choosing a corresponding book and reading it before that week is up. I did make a slight tweak to this challenge, though. 

In the original version there are only 50 prompts, one of which is a trilogy, for a total of 52 books. One for every week of the year. I prefer, though, that once I begin doing something regularly that I continue to do it, or it messes me up completely and I get off track. So if I pulled the trilogy in the middle of the year, it is very likely that I would forget to go back to the challenge and pull a new one for a couple of weeks. Then once I remembered I would be behind, and there's nothing I hate more than being behind in something and needing to work quickly to catch up. In light of this, I added two prompts. There is now a prompt for every week of the year, for a total of 58 books that I will have read by the completion of the challenge.

Seeing as there was a trilogy already on the list, I simply added a duology and a quartet.

The second challenge is Katytastic's TBR Jar Challenge 2015. This challenge is once a month.

Both challenges will have me reading 70 books throughout the year, so I only have to come up with 30 more to meet my totally attainable goal. I'm not insane, am I?

I drew my first prompts yesterday. My weekly prompt is to read a book set in the future, and my monthly prompt is to finish a series.






I haven't picked a book for my weekly challenge yet, but hopefully I'll be able to find something among the books I've checked out from my library. (Side note: Why was I the only one that didn't know it was possible to borrow eBooks from library's? Seriously?)

My monthly challenge was easy to decide on, seeing as I'm currently in the middle of reading Veronica Roth's Divergent Series. I've read Divergent, have Insurgent checked out in eBook form, but I'm on the holds list for Allegiant. I'm hoping the people in front of me will read quickly and I can check it out before the end of January. There are 50 something people in front of me, but I'm going to think positively.

Friday, January 2, 2015

New Beginnings

I recently turned 19, and it made me really think about my life. It's a bit cringe-worthy.

I made a bit of a fuss over my birthday. I didn't want to turn 19, I dreaded it with no real reason in mind. I realize why now.

I dreaded becoming older because I was stuck, and had been for a long time. I was stuck in the same thought patterns I had been in, and I was acting the way I always had. I felt that the world was moving along at a quick pace, and I was stuck in the same position I had always been in. I feared it would always be that way.

I lost sight of who I wanted to be, and the things I wanted to do. I let myself fall into a pattern of always bending into whatever shape the people around me thought I needed to be in. Always doing the same things, acting the same way. I wasn't allowing myself to be myself. I was allowing the world to go on without me. But no more.

I don't usually make a list of New Year's resolutions, but this year I have. I know what I need to do now. I need to allow myself to be who I am without fear of being considered less than anyone else.

This is my list of the things I'll be doing in the coming year to embrace who I am.

1. Read at least one hundred books. I've fallen out of reading the last couple of years, but with the help of a couple of different challenges I hope to change that.
2. Get my business up and running. It's been a long time coming.
3. Learn to draw well enough to be accepted to, and hopefully receive a large scholarship from, a good art school.
4. Write the first drafts of three or four novels, and complete revisions on at least two of them.
5. Do something writing-related every single day.
6. Exercise often. I hope to begin taking dance lessons this year, and I need to build up my stamina.
7. Learn to read and speak Hebrew. I've been wanting to learn for the last couple of years, but never got much farther than a few basic words.
8. Become as neat and tidy as possible. I am a naturally messy person. I at least need to organize my mess. I'll settle for that.