Allison's "Third Times a Charm" Reading Plan

[Allison]

This is my third year attempting to do this reading challenge. Last year, I read 34 books for the challenge (but I also got engaged and planned a wedding). I highly doubt that I will read all 52 categories, but my goal is 40, since I rely on the library to get my books. I also like a lot of Non Fiction Christian books, and those are harder to fit into these categories.

These are the books I know I want to read, so I will be updating as I go along. I will definitely not be reading in order
45/52
✓- completed
*- currently reading

The 2017 List
✓ 1. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2016: The Sun Is Also a Star
✓ 2. A book with at least 2 perspectives (multiple points of view): This Is Where It Ends
✓ 3. A book you meant to read in 2016: Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living
✓4. A title that doesn't contain the letter "E": Longing for Paris: One Woman's Search for Joy, Beauty, and Adventure--Right Where She Is
✓ 5. A historical fiction: All the Light We Cannot See
✓ 6. A book being released as a movie in 2017: The Circle
7. A book with an animal on the cover or in the title: The Horse Dancer
✓ 8. A book written by a person of color: The Mothers
9. A book in the middle of your To Be Read list: The Light Between Oceans
✓ 10. A dual-timeline novel: The Last Letter from Your Lover
✓ 11. A category from another challenge: I'm not participating in another challenge, so I'm picking one that my Bible Study is reading for the next few months: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough
✓ 12. A book based on a myth: The Penelopiad
✓ 13. A book recommended by one of your favorite authors: Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want (recommended by Donald Miller-
my favorite Christian writer)
✓ 14. A book with a strong female character: Since We Fell
✓ 15. A book written or set in Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland): A Man Called Ove
✓16. A mystery: The Woman in Cabin 10
✓ 17. A book with illustrations: Everything, Everything
18. A really long book (600+ pages): The Nix
✓ 19. A New York Times best-seller: Today Will Be Different
✓ 20. A book that you've owned for a while but haven't gotten around to reading: Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns
✓ 21. A book that is a continuation of a book you've already read: The Elite
✓ 22. A book by an author you haven't read before: Small Great Things
23. A book from the BBC "The Big Read" list (link):
✓ 24. A book written by at least two authors: The Knockoff
✓ 25. A book about a famous historical figure: Alex and Eliza: A Love Story
✓ 26. An adventure book: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
✓ 27. A book by one of your favorite authors: After I Do
✓ 28. A non-fiction: Nothing to Prove: Why We Can Stop Trying So Hard
✓ 29. A book published outside the 4 major publishing houses (Simon & Schuster; HarperCollins; Penguin Random House; Hachette Livre) - check all the editions: Steadfast Love: The Response of God to the Cries ofOur Heart
✓ 30. A book from Goodreads Top 100 YA Books (link): All the Bright Places
✓ 31. A book from a sub-genre of your favorite genre: My Not So Perfect Life
✓ 32. A book with a long title (5+ words, excluding subtitle): All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
✓ 33. A magical realism novel: The Brightest Star in the Sky
✓ 34. A book set in or by an author from the Southern Hemisphere: Three Wishes
✓ 35. A book where one of the main characters is royalty: The Selection
✓ 36. A Hugo Award winner or nominee (link): The Man in the High Castle
✓ 37. A book you choose randomly: One
* 38. A novel inspired by a work of classic literature: Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice
✓ 39. An epistolary fiction: Attachments
✓ 40. A book published in 2017: Into the Water
✓ 41. A book with an unreliable narrator: The Girl with the Wrong Name
* 42. A best book of the 21st century (so far): Me Talk Pretty One Day
✓ 43. A book with a chilling atmosphere (scary, unsettling, cold): All the Missing Girls
✓ 44. A recommendation from "What Should I Read Next" (link): The Problem with Forever (based on putting in The Sun Is Also a Star
✓ 45. A book with a one-word title: Wonder
✓ 46. A time travel novel: The Girl from Everywhere
✓ 47. A past suggestion that didn't win (https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... A book recommended by a friend/family member (my brother-in-law's mother): The Marriage Lie
✓ 48. A banned book: Looking for Alaska
✓ 49. A book from someone else's bookshelf: On the Island (given to me by one of my coworkers)
50. A Penguin Modern Classic - any edition:
✓ 51. A collection (e.g. essays, short stories, poetry, plays): Talking as Fast as I Can: From Gilmore Girls to Gilmore Girls, and Everything in Between
✓ 52. A book set in a fictional location: The One

[Celeste]

Cool. How did you put in the checkmark? I can't even underline.

[Allison]

I somehow figured it out last year, so I just pulled up the thread and copy and pasted it. Wish I had a better answer!

[Jackie]

If you press alt 251, that will give you the checkmark √.

[Sophie]

Just click on the "some html is ok" on the top right comment box to learn how to underline.

For check marks, stars, hearts, etc. just google "keyboard symbol" and you'll be able to copy loads of symbol into your plan.

[Martha]

Good luck Allison! I read All the Light We Cannot See, A Man Called Ove and All the Bright Places last year, they're all excellent!

[Allison]

Martha wrote: "Good luck Allison! I read All the Light We Cannot See, A Man Called Ove and All the Bright Places last year, they're all excellent!"

Thank you! I just finished A Man Called Ove. I started All The Light We Cannot See a while ago, but had to return it to the library before I finished. Hopefully now there isn't as much of a demand for it, so I can actually read it :)

[Allison]

I've made a lot better progress than I thought I would at this point in the challenge. Have finished 6 and currently reading 2 (The Sun is Also a Star and Choose Joy).

I've made some changes to my list (picked up a book for my random category, but it turned out to be an unreliable narrator, which I needed to fill).

Goals for the rest of February: The Sun is Also a Star, This is Where It Ends, After I Do, and Wonder. Work is super busy this month, and our weekends are pretty stacked, so I'll be content with 4.

[Allison]

February Update:
Currently Reading
#9: Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?: Reading this with my husband, so it may take a while to finish
# 11: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough Reading this for small group at church. I think we should finish by mid-end of May
#19: Today Will Be Different: Just picked it up from the library and will hopefully start tonight.

Read in February
#1: The Sun Is Also a Star
#4: Longing for Paris: One Woman's Search for Joy, Beauty, and Adventure--Right Where She Is
#27: After I Do
#45: Wonder

Goals for March
#2: This Is Where It Ends (didn't get to this one because some holds came in from the library)
#8: The Mothers
#19: Today Will Be Different
#26: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
#32: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things (if my hold comes in on time)

I feel like I have done a much better job at choosing books this year. I don't know if it is because of the categories, or if the books I want to read naturally fall into some of these categories. I still have a few I have to decide about, like the category for a challenge that didn't make the list, but I'm saving that one until I get to a book that I really want to read, but can't fit it anywhere. But, I'm ahead of schedule, which is good. It's also been a good challenge to rely on the library, since my husband and I are trying to spend less money and accumulate less "stuff." The only book I've purchased is Choose Joy, and that's because we are using it in Bible Study, and I'll need it longer than the lending period at the library.

I'm not sure if I will be able to keep up this pace though- we are going out of town a couple times in March, and I have a huge project for work at the end of this month. But then Spring Break is the first week of April, so I will have some time to catch up. And then once Spring Break happens, only 7 weeks until summer vacation! One perk of being an educator :)

[Allison]

March Update
I didn't get around to reading some of the books I thought I would, and read others I didn't think I would get from the library as quickly as I did.

Currently Reading
#8: Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?
#11: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough
#16 :The Woman in Cabin 10
#28: Nothing to Prove: Why We Can Stop Trying So Hard


Read in March
#2: This Is Where It Ends
#8: The Mothers
#19: Today Will Be Different
#22: Small Great Things
#26: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper
#37: One
#43: All the Missing Girls

Goals For April
Since I am on Spring Break this week, I have a feeling I will read quite a bit. Hopefully my goals aren't too ambitious.
#16 :The Woman in Cabin 10
#17: Everything, Everything
#24: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
#25: Alex and Eliza: A Love Story
#28: Nothing to Prove: Why We Can Stop Trying So Hard
#30: All the Bright Places
#31: My Not So Perfect Life
#32: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

[Tracy]

Good Luck!!

I love your #9, and the fact that you're reading it together :-)

[Allison]

Tracy wrote: "Good Luck!!

I love your #9, and the fact that you're reading it together :-)"

Thanks Tracy! We just got married in November and we are hoping to read at least one book on marriage each year. I read The Sacred Search: What If It's Not about Who You Marry, But Why? while we were dating, so I thought this one would be good to start with. So far it's been really good :)

[Allison]

So I definitely thought I would be more ambitious in April then I actually was. I had a lot of weekend and work commitments which took away from reading. I'm still ahead of schedule and managed to still read 5 books.

Read in April
#16 :The Woman in Cabin 10
#17: Everything, Everything
#28: Nothing to Prove: Why We Can Stop Trying So Hard
#31: My Not So Perfect Life
#32: All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

Currently Reading
#8: Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?
#11: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough
#34: Three Wishes- this was not my original plan for this category, but somehow I finished my book an hour before my two hour flight, and the bookstore in the San Antonio airport had limited options.

Additional Goals for May
#24: In the Country We Love: My Family Divided
#25: Alex and Eliza
#30: All the Bright Places

[Allison]

Even though May is not officially over, I'm going to call it done. This month was rough- working in a high school always means May is rough, but I felt like this one was worse than others. I had no motivation to do anything when I came home from work, and it didn't help that I got stuck reading a book I really didn't enjoy. I ended up starting more books for some reason, which caused me to not read others that I had for a while.

Read in May
#25: Alex and Eliza

#47: ✓ 47. A past suggestion that didn't win. I chose, a book recommended by a friend/family member (my brother-in-law's mother), because the book she told me about on Mother's Day sounded really good and I couldn't find another category to put it in: The Marriage Lie
I found myself right next to a Barnes & Noble with 2 hours to kill and a $25 gift card, so I figured "why not?" It wasn't available at my library, so I figured I'd have to buy it at some point. Plus I read it in a day, so that helped my slump.

#48: Looking for Alaska

Currently Reading (same as last month, and then some)
#8: Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy?
#11: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough- one of the girls in my small group is getting married this month, so I doubt we will finish it anytime soon.
#20: Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns
#34: Three Wishes

I feel like I always fail on my goals, so I'm not going to write any actual books down in this category. Even though I feel like I'm slacking a bit, I'm still ahead 4 books according to the tracker. I'm hoping this summer that I read at least 2 books a week. That means I should be at 32 books by the end of June. I've made a few updates to my list and maybe making a couple others (depending on if/when some books become available at the library), but I hope to knock out a good many while I have some free time. Summer starts Friday!!!

[Allison]

Even though June isn't over, I thought I would update now while I had time, since I have made quite a bit of progress.

My goal was to be at 32 books by the end of the month, and I'm at 33, with 2 days to spare.

Read in June
#5: All the Light We Cannot See
#14: Since We Fell
#20: Wilderness Skills for Women: How to Survive Heartbreak and Other Full-Blown Meltdowns
#29: Steadfast Love: The Response of God to the Cries ofOur Heart
#30: All the Bright Places
#34: Three Wishes
#35: The Selection
#40: Into the Water

I was really struggling with what to read for my book over 600 pages. A lot of the ones I've read are over 500, but seemed to stop short. And I felt like I was neglecting my Bible reading because of this challenge, so I decided that I would put the Holy Bible: ESV Bible for category 18. Also, the current Bible study I'm doing has be jumping all over the Word. My copy has 1042 pages. Since it's hard to plow through in order (the Old Testament can drag at times when you go through all the laws or the lineage of people), I'm alternating between Old Testament and New Testament books. I downloaded an app to help me track my reading, and I only marked off chapters that I had documented in my journal that I have read this year. I know I've read more, but I wasn't sure which chapters. So basically I'm going read through the entire Bible in 6 months, which is about 7 chapters a day. I'm giving myself a good foundation though for the rest of my summer break (only 2 1/2 weeks & one of those we will be in Yellowstone), because I know things will get crazy at work come August and October.

I think I should be able to complete the challenge, since I'm 9 books ahead of schedule. My small group will be finishing up our book in July, so I will finally be able to mark Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough (#11) off my list. My husband and I are struggling to read Sacred Marriage: What If God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy? together (he's been on the job hunt for the last month, and I was busy with work before that), so I may have to switch that to another book, just to finish.

I would like to read 8 books by the end of July, which would put me at 40, but with the vacation and work starting, I may not make it. It would be nice to finish early though because there are a lot of new releases out/coming out that I want to read but don't have a category to put them in. We will just have to see what happens :)

[Allison]

July was not as successful as June, but with work starting halfway through the month and 10 days of traveling before that, it makes sense that I didn't read as much as I planned. I am doing a time intensive Bible Study by Beth Moore Entrusted - Bible Study Book: A Study of 2 Timothy and I had to read The ASCA National Model Implementation Guide: Foundation, Management and Accountability for work, and I couldn't find a category for either.

Read in July
#11: Choose Joy: Because Happiness Isn't Enough
#21: The Elite
#33: The Brightest Star in the Sky
#36: The Man in the High Castle

Currently Reading
#13: Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want
#46: The Girl from Everywhere

[Allison]

I didn't update at the end of August, but I wouldn't have had too many books to add. However, thanks to Hurricane Irma and work being closed for the past three days, I've been able to catch up on some reading. Thankfully, no damage here in my part of Atlanta, but some places are still without power.

Read in August/First part of September
#12: The Penelopiad
#13: Love Lives Here: Finding What You Need in a World Telling You What You Want
#39: Attachments
#44: The Problem with Forever
#46: The Girl from Everywhere
#49: On the Island

Currently Reading
#24: The Knockoff
#42: Me Talk Pretty One Day

I've made some changes to my book selections, and I'm getting down to categories that I'm not super excited about. Hopefully I will be able to finish this challenge and find some good books :)