I'm taking a chance to check in after month one to see how I'm doing my new years goals. While I may not do this monthly on the blog, I make it part of my monthly goal setting to check in on my yearly goals which will usually look like the following. Overall on meeting my goals for the month I would give myself an 80%. Not bad but not perfect.
Mostly a success but I did buy a new pair of headphones when I found myself in a pinch last week. However, it ended up being a HUGE failure because the headphones were awful (cheap cheap cheap) and I ended up finding my other headphones later. *Facepalm* Lesson learned.
This month I failed to take a single Skillshare class. I did however, make some forward progress on an art collection to display in a cafe, so I’m happy with that.
Fail. The only one of my subresolutions that applied on a monthly basis was blogging and that did not happen.
I used a streak freeze twice in January, so as of right now, I’m on a 29 day French streak.
In previous years, I’ve never set a reading goal, let alone put together a list of books that I wanted to read. Previous strategies for finding books to read were limited to 1) what was assigned to me in class, 2) what was suggested to me by English teachers or the library recommendation service, 3) what Barbara Kingsolver had written and 4) staff picks in Powell’s books. My reading was sporadic enough that there wasn’t really a need to keep a list of books I wanted to read.
At the end of last year though, I started actually keeping a running list of books that I wanted to read, which at the beginning was mostly comprised of those books I had wistfully bought from Powell’s and were then relegated to my bookshelf, never to be thought of again. I enjoy the romantic idea that the books we buy but don’t read say as much about who we are as a person as those that we do. Once it became apparent to me that my reading speed was no longer 3 pages/day, I wanted to have a running list of books that I could pick from. This list was accumulated from multiple different sources, including “best books of 2018” and “books that made the most impact on me in 2018” lists, as well as recommendations from the library and (in the case of Peter Sagal’s book) find that celebrities that I like had written books about topics that I care about. The list feel free to check out the list here.
January started out strong, finishing 4 books - 3 fiction, 1 nonfiction - and made significant progress on two nonfiction books and I wanted to put in my two cents on if I would recommend them or not.
I read this book at the start of the new year and finished it in two days. I’d seen it on multiple “great reads from 2018” lists and it was part of SPL’s peak picks program. Unfortunately, I read the book really quickly largely because I wanted to be done with it. The book follows three characters and their experience with religious faith and a cult that makes its mission denouncing abortion clinics. While I found the focus on abortion clinics to be topical, the writing felt like it left a lot to be desired in terms of character development and I personally found it hard to be invested in the characters and plot itself. There was also an event in the book that proves to be a turning point (for the worse) for two of the primary characters that I found very hard to believe given the character portrayal thus far. It’s a good quick read if you like dark books at the intersection of religion, love and activism, but ultimately it wasn’t for me.
This book was another one from the “Best of 2018” lists and was also part of the SPL peak picks program. This book was incredible. The characters, the imagery, the fantasy-based plot that weaves together Western African mythology, modern fantasy fiction (like Harry Potter) and activism movements like Black Lives Matter- I could not put this book down. I was particularly grateful for one day at work which involved a lot of running tests, because it meant that I could set the tests to run and then read while I waited for results. Thankfully, the sequel is due out this year and I’m anxiously anticipating its release.
I found this book on a “books that had the greatest impact on me in 2018” list and I’m a sucker for a snarky title like this one. The book recounts Hadfield’s quest to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut, with his life philosophies inserted in between life-threatening stories and Hadfield’s humor. Many of the life philosophies were things that I myself needed to hear and actually helped me reframe my perspective on my own life. This is a book I would (and probably will someday) read again just because the messages are good ones!
I heard about this book in the later half of 2018 and instantly put it on my list because it took place in the American South, where I’m from, and the title features one of my favorites from the South, crawfish. I’ve heard about this book again and again from “Best book” lists and bloggers that I follow who say that they flew through this book and loved it. I only wanted to read it more when the reviews likened it to Barbara Kingsolver, my favorite author. So I was super excited when I saw that it was my turn to rent it from the library and was not wrong. This was another book that I just could not put down. The characters and imagery make you feel as though youre really in the swamp with the main character and I was highly invested in the murder plot along the way. Past that, it hits home for me when the main character goes to lengths to protect her piece of swamp and marsh from deforestation and development and repeatedly incorporates into the plot how vital these ecosystems are for both land and sea but remain underappreciated. Very Kingsolver-esque. This is another one that I want to give to everyone and tell them to read and will hopefully read again one day.
This was another quick read that I stayed up late to finish. The meat of the plot revolves around a recently married African American couple in the South who are ripped apart after the husband is incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. But in addition to that plot, what really drew me in was the deep and meaningful exploration of multiple different relationships (parents, lovers, stepfather-son) among the characters. It also hit me hard while I was reading that I kept thinking “thank goodness this is fiction, I wouldn’t wish this on anyone” that this is SO often the story of POC. Recently, I’ve been reading a number of books written by marginalized people and hope that it can help me understand a little better and be a better ally to them.