2021 Bookish Resolutions

I am not typically the kind to set New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, I don’t know the last time I did. My philosophy is, if I see something that needs to change I should just do it, not wait for some arbitrary date. But, as it happens, this December I’ve noticed several things about my reading life that I would like to change, but can’t bring myself to do anything about during the holidays. So January 1 (or more probably January 9, lol) seems like as good a time as any to start. 🙂

1. Read more diversely

This has actually been a resolution of mine the past two years, and I’ve been doing better. But last year, even after I made a pointed effort, still fewer than half the books I read were by authors of color. While I kept up with my stats throughout the year (which really helped), it was easy to pass blame on all the random books I was gifted, or the MG awards list not being diverse enough. This year, none of that! It’s time for fewer excuses and more results.

Goal: 50% or more books this year by authors of color

Calendar Girls January Theme

I don’t know about anyone else, but we’re getting in the full Christmas spirit at my house! My oldest son is especially excited about Christmas, and every day he puts a new ornament on his advent calendar and then very enthusiastically counts how many days are left.

But here online it’s time to start thinking about what we’re going to pick for the January post on Calendar Girls. Good gracious, it’s nearly 2019 already! We had a lot of feedback this month, so thanks to everyone who voted. Now, without any further ado, our theme for January 2019 is…

What’s Ahead in 2018

I’m not a huge planner. In the past the things that I’ve planned have always seemed to … not work out. You can plan and plan and plan, but inevitably something doesn’t go the way you thought it would, and you have to re-do EVERYTHING. So I’ve sort of stopped planning. I keep ’em vague.

I DO like goals. That’s different. But let’s not go into that, lol.

All this to say, I don’t really have a plan for this blog going into 2018. I’m just going to do what I did this year: do whatever I want and see which direction it goes.

But there are a couple of things that are solid and (probably) going to happen, so let’s take a look at those.

Goodreads Challenge

Setting my goal for 30 books. This is a lot less than 2017, but there’s a few good reasons.

1. Giving birth and maternity leave. I’m trying to be realistic here.
2. As you’ll read below, there’s a couple of behemoths on my list. Like, 800 pagers. They’ll slow me down quite a bit.
3. I can always bump it up, but not down. I mean, you can, but how would you live with yourself?

*Side note* I love how goodreads is like, “You’re on track!” even though I’ve read 0 books. Bless January 1st, lol.

My Life in Books Tag

Happy (almost) 2018 everyone! New Years has never been one of my favorite holidays. Personally I can’t understand why we would wait til January for new beginnings, just start NOW. But I AM really looking forward to 2018 and what it is going to bring, especially for my blog.

Thanks to Naty at Naty’s Bookshelf for tagging me in this one! I think it’s a great one to roll out the new year with, and let you all get to know me just a little better.

As usual, any prompt that requires me to use my bookshelf will use the Goodreads random feature.

Find a book for each of your initials.

I liked how Naty spelled out her name instead. That’s more fun. So I’m doing that. (Get over it.)

Kite Runner (oooo, depressing choice!)

And Then There Were None (one of my top choices of 2017!)

Two Towers (LOTR is my all-time favorite!)

Inheritance (easily the WORST book on this list…)

Eleanor & Park (<3)