What I read in January

The semester is in full swing, and I’ve found myself buried in reading—mostly for school and reviewing purposes.

So, during the month of January, I only finished two books:

• Dangerous by Shannon Hale (but it was begun in December, so I’m not including it for my reading challenges.)
• Cold Shot by Dani Pettrey

So what else have I been reading? Well, here’s the full list…

• City of Blades by Robert Jackson Bennett
• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card and others
• In the Land of Armadillos by Helen Maryles Shankman
• Ten Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur
• Kindling Vol. II

I’m in the middle of seven books. It’s overwhelming. And it’s not exactly conducive to finishing any one book either.

I’ve also been heartily enjoying Table Talk for my daily devotions. I’ll post some on that soon.

Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: 10 books I resolve to finish this year

I’ve already written about my literary resolutions, but then I saw that the Top Ten Tuesday meme (hosted by The Broke and the Bookish) for this week was all about resolutions. At first, I was disappointed, and then I realized I didn’t make a resolution about specific books I am hoping to read/finish this year. So here they are:

1. Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (I’ve read much of this and loved it, but didn’t finish it, and then didn’t want to go back to it because I’ll have to start it in the beginning.)
2. Home by Toni Morrison
3. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Working through it right now!)
4. Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
5. Characters and Viewpoints by Orson Scott Card
6. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (I know, I feel ashamed that I haven’t read this, especially since I just completed a college Shakespeare class.)
7. 1984 by George Orwell
8. The Casual Vacancy (I’ve heard it wasn’t very good, but the author of Harry Potter wrote it, so I feel as if I should read it anyway…and I already own it, so why not!)
9. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
10. On Writing by Stephen King

 

2016 Literary Resolutions

Picture from thehealingpresence.com

It’s a new year, and I’m already a day late sharing my resolutions. Hopefully, this “day-late-stuff” is not how the year will continue. Either way, here goes:

1. Read the Word of God everyday.
   My mom ordered me Table Talk for Christmas, so I’m excited to start using that for devotions. Unfortunately, it’s going to my school mailbox, so I have to wait a week before I can start it. I’ll be sharing how I like it in the future.
2. Complete POPSUGAR’s 2016 Reading Challenge.
   I finally decided for this to be my main reading challenge I’ll focus on. It includes 39 books, and it should help me read a variety of genres and I’ll be able to use it to focus on mostly newer books…or at least that is my plan. I have already created a page on this blog to keep track of which categories I’ve filled, etc.
3. Participate in the BYOB Reading Challenge hosted by Literary Distractions.
   This one I’ll be doing somewhat in the background, mostly to help me remember to read the books that I already own. I own approximately 220 books, but haven’t read 85. I don’t have a specific number I’m shooting for, at least not yet, but I do want to be making a conscious effort to read the books I already own. I’ll be posting more info about this soon.
4. Read one classic a month.
   While I want to become more knowledgeable and aware of the new books surrounding me, I want to make time for classics. My first one completed will hopefully be Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I technically began it a few days ago in 2015, but no matter, 30 pages of a Russian novel doesn’t make that much of a difference.
5. Write at least one blog post a week.
   If I’m finishing this many books and reviewing them, this should be a piece of cake. Even if it’s not, I do want to try to be most consistent with my blog posts.
6. Write 20 minutes a day.
   I’ve talked about this challenge before, but I haven’t been consistent with it in a while, especially with the holidays and winter break. I want to begin it anew, and see how I do (just thinking about it has me writing in unintentional rhyme!).

There are other resolutions I have of course, but these six are my literary resolutions of 2016!

Happy new year!