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2022 Reading Goals Check-In

Now that the year is halfway over (can you believe it?), I thought I’d check-in on my progress with my 2022 reading goals. My reading goals for 2022 are:

  • Read at least 24 books.
  • Read at least 50% of my IRL book club books.
  • Read a book for 50% of the monthly tags hosted by my Goodreads group: Play Book Tag (PBT).
  • Read every Book of the Month book I select before the end of the year.

I’m also participating in two challenges:

  • The Unofficial Trim Challenge hosted by PBT.
  • The Narniathon hosted by Chris (Calmgrove).

I’ve been keeping track of my progress on my 2022 Reads page.

Yearly Goal

My goal for the year is to read 24 books and I’ve read 23. I only need to read one more book! I guess I’ve kind of annihilated that goal. I’m not going to officially change my goal; I’m now seeing if I can read 52 books by the end of the year, which will be the most books I’ve ever read in one year.

So far, my favorite books I’ve read this year are:

  1. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  2. Anxious People by Frederik Backman
  3. Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis
  4. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
  5. Every Summer After by Carley Fortune (no review yet)
  6. A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross
  7. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
  8. The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
IRL Book Club

I made a goal to read at least 50% of my IRL book club books this year. I’ve currently read 5 out of 6. I didn’t get a chance to read May’s book because I was really stressed that month, and when I’m stressed or sick my reading goes first. Here are the books I read:

To reach my goal, I only need to read one more book. I plan to read more, though, as we have some great books scheduled for the last half of the year.

Play Book Tag

Each month we vote on a “tag” (a theme) and share, discuss, and review books that fit the tag. I wanted to read one book for at least 50% of the tags. I’ve currently read 5 out of 6 tags so I only need to read one more book to reach this goal. I plan to read more tags as long as they interest me. Here are the books I’ve read:

Book of the Month

I joined Book of the Month in January. I made a goal to read every book I get by the end of the year. I’ve read 3 out of 6 books so far.

It looks like I’m a little behind on this one. I might need to sacrifice some of the challenges so I can reach this one.

Unofficial Trim Challenge

Each of us created a list of 24 books that are on our TBR. Each month, a participating member randomly picks a remaining number between 1 through 24. Then, we read the book associated with that number on our list. Because there are 24 books, this challenge will last for two years. I’ve read 6 out of 6 books. (I read two as book club books; they still count because they’re not on my TBR anymore.) I didn’t get a chance to read May’s book, again, because I was stressed. I also didn’t get to June’s book because I was sick with COVID for a week and it threw off my groove for the month.

Narniathon

The Narniathon started in December 2021 and technically runs until next month so participants can read an extra book if they want. The seven books of the Narniad are enough for me. I’m behind on the last two books because of how May and June have treated me. I’m going to try to catch up in July.

Anyway, I’m really happy with my reading progress. I’ve read more than I obviously thought I would. It’s been fun and I’ve discovered so many great books and authors. I can’t wait to discover more during the last half of the year.

How are you doing on your goals this year?

P.S. I forgot this was posting today so some of the sections were incomplete and show as such in Feedly and Bloglovin’. Oops.

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Top Ten Tuesday #24

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Books on My Summer 2022 TBR

This week’s prompt is hard for me because I’m a mood reader. I might plan to read specific books because either they fit a challenge, they’re for book club, or I just want to read them. The problem is if I’m not in the mood, there’s no amount of obligation that can force me to read a book. With that being said, here are ten books I’d like to read this spring, mood permitting:

The first six of these ten are books I haven’t read yet and ones I really want to read. The two Narnia books are because I’m a bit behind on the Narniathon, and the two Harry Potter books are because I started a reread of the series in 2020 and I didn’t get to the last two.

What about you? Which books are on your Summer 2022 TBR? Do we have any in common?

I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that life is full of dialectics, or two opposing truths. In this case, the two opposing truths are: 1) I don’t agree with JKR’s stance regarding trans people, and 2) I still love Harry Potter.

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Sunday News #24

Sunday Post and Sunday Salon are blog news memes hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer and Reader Buzz, respectively. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week on your blog, and showcase books and other things.
Feeling

I’m feeling so much better. I still have lingering fatigue from COVID and, every now and then, I still cough or have some body aches. It’s so much better and more bearable than it has been, though.

Corey and his dad are also doing a lot better too. His dad still has some lingering congestion. We recommended he take some guaifenesin to help clear his mucus. Hopefully that will help. Corey also feels the fatigue, but he says it’s getting better.

I’m also starting to come out of the brain fog and headache I had from coming off my medication. I’m feeling much more clear-headed, which is one of the best feelings in the world.

Blogging

This week on the blog:

I celebrated my 15th blogoversary on Thursday. I also have a giveaway going with my blogoversary. It’s for a book of your choice (up to a $15 value). If you want to enter the giveaway, check out my post for instructions.

Reading

I read less than I wanted to this week because of all the craziness happening with selling our place. I did start reading SIMON VS. THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli, but I haven’t made much headway. From what I’ve read so far, I’m really loving the book, though.

Listening

This week, I listened to “Mad World” by Gary Jules. Even though it’s such a sad song, I love to listen to it when I need something calming.

Watching

Corey and I rewatched MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: FALLOUT. We’re both big fans of the MI series and we wanted something actiony.

We also tried to watch EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, but Corey’s eyes give him trouble and he couldn’t read the subtitles. He has neurological issues with his eyes so it’s not anything corrective lenses would fix. I’ll watch the movie by myself sometime because it’s looks really good.

We also finished watching OBI-WAN KENOBI. We really enjoyed the series, thought it was really well done. I know it was only billed as a limited series, but I hope they do a season 2, especially since Ewan McGregor has expressed interest.

Loving

I love my therapist so much! He’s writing me a letter that says my cats are emotional support animals. No matter where we move, we can’t be turned away because of our cats. (My therapist’s only writing this letter because my cats ARE emotional support animals. We’re not trying to scam the system.)

Wanting

I want to show off my nails. I got a mani-pedi this week. I decided to do rainbow nails for Pride. I love how they turned out. (You can see my sad, empty shelves in the background. I’m really looking forward to getting my library back in order when we move.)

Needing

I need to know where we’re going to move. We have a few places picked out, but we can’t finalize any of our plans until we close. It’s so stressful and I hope it all works out. We currently have four days until we close and six days if you don’t count today until we move.

How was your week? Anything exciting happen?

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June 2022-Book Club

My IRL book club met on Wednesday evening to discuss June’s book. We met in-person and discussed THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig. There were six of us who met together and five of us read the book. Here are some highlights of our discussion:

  • Everyone who read the book liked the premise and message.
  • A couple of people thought the book was predictable, but it didn’t change what they thought about it.
  • One person thought it was preachy, but it wasn’t hit-you-over-the-head preachy.
  • All of us who read the book are still thinking about it. We all think it’s a book that will stay with us for a long time.
  • I was the only one who felt Matt Haig wrote it about and for me.
  • View Spoiler »
  • A couple people said they had to suspend belief while reading about Nora’s experiences because they don’t think she’d be able to just jump into a life as easily as she seemed to.
  • After our discussion, the person who didn’t read it said she wasn’t going to read it. She said it sounded too preachy, even though the person who said it was told her it wasn’t a bad preachy.

This was a really interesting book club. We had a lot of great discussion about regret, living life fully rather than passively, and making life enjoyable. I love books like THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY because whether you liked the book or not, its subject matter always encourages a lively exchange.

Next month, we’re all choosing a memoir to read. During our July meetup we’ll review each memoir. I hope this will be fun and garner a lot of discussion. Right now, I’m leaning toward reading:

  • AS YOU WISH by Cary Elwes,
  • TASTE by Stanley Tucci,
  • BECOMING by Michelle Obama,
  • FAILURE IS AN OPTION by H. Jon Benjamin,
  • GIRLS CAN KISS NOW by Jill Gutowitz, or
  • LET’S PRETEND THIS NEVER HAPPENED by Jenny Lawson.

Have you read any of these memoirs? Which one do you think I should read? Or, do you recommend I read another one instead?

Anyway, have you read THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY? If so, what do you think about my book club’s discussion about it?

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15 Years of Blogging & Giveaway

I posted my first post on this blog on June 23, 2007. It was about my excitement for the upcoming release of HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. I laid out my predictions for that final installment. View Spoiler »

I can’t believe that was 15 years ago. Some years have been better than others, but I’ve really enjoyed my little corner of the internet. I debated whether I should say anything about my blogoversary since I haven’t blogged continuously the entire 15 years, and my blog now only shows posts from December 29, 2021 onward. (You can read about the whys if you’re interested.)

Blogging’s very cathartic for me. I love talking to people about the things I enjoy doing, especially reading and books. I love the creativity I get to express through blogging. And, I love all the friends I’ve made around the blogosphere. I actually met a lot of my IRL friends at different book events for bloggers in Utah. (There were a lot of us at one time. Now, I’m one of only a handful remaining.) I also have many online friends I’ve met through blogging, and I hope I can meet them IRL someday.

To celebrate my blogoversary, I’m hosting a giveaway for a book from The Book Depository (up to $15 value).  The giveaway will go until the end of June and I’ll announce the winner on July 4 (if my internet is up by then as I’m moving on July 1 and 2). The giveaway is open to any country The Book Depository ships.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How long have you been blogging?

I learned in DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) that life is full of dialectics, or two opposing truths. In this case, the two opposing truths are: 1) I don’t agree with JKR’s stance regarding trans people, and 2) I still love Harry Potter.

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