Just to reiterate, 2017 was a hard year for everyone. I set several high-bar goals for myself, and unfortunately fell short on a lot of them. Was this one?
Yes and no.
I pushed myself to read more than I ever have before, and I was able to enjoy and be inspired by some pretty wonderful writing. In the end, I may not have reached my goal of finishing 24 books this year, but I was pretty darn close and am pretty dang proud of myself for it. (I didn’t finish them all.)
(22) Beautiful Ruins: A Novel by Jess Walter
I had just finished another book and didn’t want to lose that reading momentum. But didn’t have anything lined up. Then, in one of my daily trips down the rabbit hole that is the internet, I found myself reading someone’s list of someone’s favorite novels. That is the story of how I ended up reading this book.
And I enjoyed it!
It took me a while to get into it because I had to figure out all the characters and timelines. Once I did though, this was a really fun, easy book to read.
At the root, it’s a love story, and while the storylines can get a little far-fetched, the feeling at the root of them are actually very relatable. It might be a little soon to be thinking about summer, but this would make a great beach read.
(23) Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
After our last (long) book club selection, our group’s leader decided on something short to ensure we’d squeeze one more book in before the end of the year.
Clocking in at just 128 pages, this made for another quick read, but one that required a surprising amount of thought. While it’s part of a trilogy, it reads fine on its own.
The story centers around a group of three friends to discover an untouched land populated by only women.
It sounds simple enough, but it really made me question a lot of the things that we have just come to accept about our society – little things like how we keep our pets or big things like how take care of our planet and resources.
(24) Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini
This has been on my “to read” list for a while. I had been waiting to either get it from the library or find it for a good deal online. Jackpot! $3 later, it was mine.
I’m actually still finishing this one up, but it’s kind of what you’d expect. Leah Remini’s larger than life character on King of Queens and Kevin Can Wait? Turns out that’s just her, and it makes for a very entertaining read – almost like just listening to your funny, loud friend telling a story.
I think that’s probably what makes this book so readable, since the actual content is pretty disturbing.
Scientology has always been shrouded in mystery, and if this book proves true, I can see why. If you’ve ever wondered, this is an interesting perspective from an insider’s experience.
So close, and yet…
It’s okay though. I still consider 2017 a win for reading. Since I was as close as I was AND since there were some pretty extenuating circumstances that kept me from reading more, I have decided to increase my goal by just a sliver – to 25.
I don’t have as thorough a list ready to go as I did for last year, but I do have several ideas and a handful already purchased to make sure I can’t make any excuses.
Do you have a reading goal for 2018? If so, what is it? Find me on Goodreads if you need some help getting going. 2018, I’m coming for you!
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