2025 Reading Challenge discussion
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Lisa's Reading List - 2021
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Haha, I cracked up at the sight of this image. LOL!Good luck with your 2021 reading goal and btw, how many books did you read this year? ;)
Trisha wrote: "Haha, I cracked up at the sight of this image. LOL!Good luck with your 2021 reading goal and btw, how many books did you read this year? ;)"
Honestly? I have no idea :D I I legit stopped tracking them anywhere somewhere around the time I hit the mid-year reading slump and I was at 31 then. I have a bunch that I started, then put down, then started, then put down just to then pick up again and finish. So yeah I need to do a count and update everything :D
Good luck to you aswell, Trisha! Maybe I'll see you at a buddy read in 2021 :)
... 2020 IN REVIEW
RESERVED - STATS OF 2020
2021 READING PLANS
As a self-competitive person, I feel that not having a predetermined numeric goal for the year works best for me, so that's what I'm sticking with in the upcoming year.
My official Goodreads challenge will therefore be set at one book, all the while hoping to exceed that and come closer to the 50-book mark.
In 2021, I've decided to downsize on the group's challenges, and focus more on my own personal challenges.
Most of my goals remain the same as in previous years:
- I aspire to be more diverse in my reading.
- I wish to put a dent in the classics.
- I want to read more broadly in general.
In order to do so:
I aim to continue reading from more countries, books originally written in foreign languages, as well as a minimum of one non-fiction and one classic per month.
Wish me luck!
SOME 2021 INTENTIONS
Last year I briefly entertained the idea of bringing back monthly "log entries", like did a few year ago. Ultimately though, I opted against it, because… reasons. And honestly? Thank god for that because with 2020 being what it was, it would've just been one more thing I didn't stay on top of.
However. I still do want to do it. I'm just a little fuzzy on what the format will be. But yeah, I want to do those again this year. So stay tuned for that happening, I guess.
Another aspect I plan on having make a comeback this year, are the monthly summaries. It's a hassle and time consuming, for sure. But I really enjoyed having all the stats and colorful charts to look at each month.
Lastly, this is an idea I've been toying with for a while now.
Because reading from the Goodreads Choice Awards is a personal challenge of mine, I've been trying to find ways to make it a bit less haphazard.
So here's what I've come up with: a genre-focused monthly challenge.
What do I mean by that?
Well, basically I'd like to focus on reading a particular genre for a whole month, each month. Since I'm interested in reading 11 of the 20 categories, I'll randomize those and that'll be my genre pick for the month.
Those are the plans! Bring on 2021!
Hey Lisa, I wish you good luck with your reading goal and I hope you come out victorious at the end of 2021 :)
Batul wrote: "Hey Lisa, I wish you good luck with your reading goal and I hope you come out victorious at the end of 2021 :)"Thanks Batul!
Best of luck with your challenges, Lisa!I'm happy to see that you want to read more classic and diverse books, I do too!! I'll be checking out your progress to get ideas for my reading list :)
Luci wrote: "Best of luck with your challenges, Lisa!I'm happy to see that you want to read more classic and diverse books, I do too!! I'll be checking out your progress to get ideas for my reading list :)"
Sure thing! Stop by any time :)
Well, I feel like I say that every year, and each year I'm not quite as pleased as I'd like to be. But here's to hoping 2021 will be the year where I actually make a serious dent on the classics I'm interested in!
If you by any chance pick up a Spanish/Latinamerican classic (Cervantes, Marquez, etc), feel free to let me know. I'd totally be up for a buddy read on those.
Will do! There are a few that I've been meaning to read for ages, maybe 2021 will be the year... :)
Thanks for the LOL with your the image up there! Hope you have fun with your reading this year! And good luck with your goals whatever and wherever they may be :D
Sunny wrote: "Thanks for the LOL with your the image up there! Hope you have fun with your reading this year! And good luck with your goals whatever and wherever they may be :D"Thanks so much, Sunny! Good luck to you too :)
Also leaving you some (hopefully) good luck for 2021's reading! Love your sign post ;-)
Auntie Terror wrote: "Also leaving you some (hopefully) good luck for 2021's reading! Love your sign post ;-)"Thanks, Auntie! Much appreciated :)
December for me is really the month where I just want the year to be over (especially this year!). I'm definitely excited as to what the new year will bring.
Tabula rasa in every possible way in 2021!
Good luck this year Lisa! Happy reading!
RJ from the LBC wrote: "Good luck this year Lisa! Happy reading!"Thankyou, Randy! I truly appreciate it :)
I hope you go beyond your book resolution this year! Best of Luck!
Blagica wrote: "I hope you go beyond your book resolution this year! Best of Luck!"
Thank you, Blagica! :) I hope you have a great year.
Lisa wrote: "Good luck to you aswell, Trisha! Maybe I'll see you at a buddy read in 2021 :)"Hey Lisa, I’m keeping an eye out for your 2021 list so that I catch you at a buddy read.
Btw, happy new year! :)
Trisha wrote: "Lisa wrote: "Good luck to you aswell, Trisha! Maybe I'll see you at a buddy read in 2021 :)"Hey Lisa, I’m keeping an eye out for your 2021 list so that I catch you at a buddy read.
Btw, happy ne..."
Happy New Year to you aswell!
Well, I don't plan out a reading list before-hand. But I was just looking through the January/February proposed buddy reads. Sadly though, nothing jumps out at me at the moment, but I might join you in April for The Broken Girls :)
Lisa wrote: "I might join you in April for The Broken Girls :)"Hoping that you do join us! :)
RESERVEDSo 2021 is finally here!
RESERVED - ALL THE BOOKS OF 2021Links to all the books of 2021. Click on the numbers to jump to a book review.
1 Welcome to Brookville (Kelly Ennis)
2 Ékelipsis (Tamel Wino)
3 Station Eleven (Emily St. John Mandel)
4 In a Holidaze (Christina Lauren)
Wishing you the best of luck in 2021! Congratulations on completing your official Goodreads challenge already! Sometimes, it is good to set lower goals because then you can read more for pleasure and there is less stress to reach those goals.
Rachael wrote: "Wishing you the best of luck in 2021! Congratulations on completing your official Goodreads challenge already! Sometimes, it is good to set lower goals because then you can read more for pleasure a..."Thankyou, Rachel and same to you!
Well, I mean... not reaching my reading goals will never be something that stresses me out no matter what. There are other aspects of life that do that plenty :D But yes, that's my mindset about it.
I set it to one book because, in all honesty, I simply do not care how much I read over the course of a year. Sure it's fun to see how much I can achieve, but I'll be just as thrilled if I read 10 books as if I read 30 or 50. I'd rather just focus on the qualitative aspect of reading rather than the quantitative :)
Welcome to Brookville by Kelly EnnisJanuary 4th - January 12th
This was....Probably not the best place to start my reading journey in 2021.
I don't even know how to best describe this book. Uhm... It's very Lynchian, I guess.
Welcome to Brookville is a weirdly fascinating collection of loosely interrelated short stories. These stories deal with torture, child abuse, anxiety, compulsive behavior, etc. Needless to say, this collection is horrific and macabre.
While I found some of the stories fascinating, I have mixed feelings about the writing style. The premise of this book intrigued me, and so I was really excited to read it. Unfortunately, though, this left me too much in the dark for it to fully work for me. I was often left feeling confused, which in turn prompted me to skim-read a few times, which in turn ultimately affected my overall interest in what was happening.
All that being said, it was a quick read, and I would still be interested in reading more from this author in the future.
Rating: ★✩✩✩✩ (1,5)
Applicable challenges: ATY Reading Challenge, Clear the Shelves, Let's Turn Pages, January Marathon
Ékleipsis by Tamel Wino13th January - 16th January
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." (Friedrich W. Nietzsche)
The "downside" to not knowing anything about a book, or an author before starting a book, is that you can't possibly know what's to come.
That was my experience going in to Ékleipsis.
The book description states the following:
"This gripping book explores the havoc wreaked when ordinary people abandon their humanity to pursue their darkest desires, and questions just how far people will go to follow their baser instincts. "
Key sentences like "How far would you go to obey your instincts?" and "What happens when we give in to the darkness", which are part of the book description, most definitely piqued my interest.
This is all fine and dandy as a sales pitch, just not what you get, in my honest opinion.
From that blurb, I imagined this collection would be much grittier, and much darker than it was. And who knows, perhaps I'm the cynic with a dark worldview, and a skewed perception of humanity.
Regardless, It left me feeling a bit underwhelmed and wanting for something more.
Ékleipsis is a collection of five stories, featuring characters dealing with personal issues, such as toxic and overbearing parents, jealousy, PTSD, anger management, and ludomania.
As is to be expected with short stories, some I enjoyed more than others. In fact, I hated the first two, feel indifferent about the third, and kind of enjoyed the last two.
Still, I found the endings for all five stories to be abrupt, anticlimactic, and predictable. The dialogue felt forced and prosaic, at times. Plot holes and continuity issues in a few stories. And the writing style from story to story didn't feel cohesive. It was as if they weren't all written by the same person, or as if they had been written years apart. Perhaps that was intentional. Perhaps Tamel Wino was experimenting with different styles and collecting them into one book. Either way, it didn't work for me.
On a more positive note though, I enjoyed the complexity of the characters. I never thought of them as inherently good or evil, but desperate, broken and flawed, for sure. And I really liked that.
Overall, I think the idea behind this collection was really good. A fusion between dark fiction and character study. However, the execution was unfortunately lacking.
Rating: ★★✩✩✩ (2,5)
Applicable challenges: ATY Reading Challenge, Clear the Shelves, Let's Turn pages, January Marathon
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel11th January - 19th January
FULL REVIEW SOON TO COME
Rating:
Applicable challenges:
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren20th January - 22th January
FULL REVIEW SOON TO COME
Rating:
Applicable challenges:
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2025 Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
The Proposal (other topics)The Beautiful Fall (other topics)
In a Holidaze (other topics)
Station Eleven (other topics)
Ékleipsis (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jasmine Guillory (other topics)Hugh Breakey (other topics)
Christina Lauren (other topics)
Emily St. John Mandel (other topics)
Tamel Wino (other topics)
More...
This is where I'll (supposedly) keep a reading log of all the books I read in 2021.
I say "supposedly", because let's be honest here, okay? And anyone who has ever stopped by my corner throughout the course of the last 4 years, will know this: I suck at keeping this space up-to-date past the month of May during any given year. So yeah... there's that!
Wishing 2021 will be an all-around better year in that regard though.
As usual, my preliminary thoughts, as well as ratings, will be posted for every book upon completion. In addition, I will link to my actual Goodreads review (if and when relevant). Furthermore, I will be posting a monthly-roundup tracking my progress, as well as a year-in-review.
My corner will (once again) be employed as a catch-all of sorts, to track all the challenges, any Buddy/Group Reads, etc. I partake in during the course of the year.
Please feel free to leave salutations, comments, suggestions and/or book recommendations :)
Happy reading!