2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge: January Update

 
The 2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge is hosted by Laura @ Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @ Because Reading and you can sign up at this link. For this challenge you must have 2 of 3 main goals, Blogging, Reading, and/or Personal and then subcategories for these goals.

My goals:

Reading Goals

1. Read at least 6 Classics. This was a goal I barely completed last year, but something I want to continue doing. So far I haven't started this goal yet, but it is still early. I am thinking Frankenstein will be my first read for this.
2. Read at least 70 books this year. I did not do this as a goal for the Bookish Resolution last year, but I did have it as a goal. I just missed it by 8 books, so I want to challenge myself on it this time. I have finished 8 books so far, so not bad!
3. Finish at least 4 series. I did well with this last year, but I have several more series that I did not finish. Another goal I haven't started yet, but hope to soon.

Blogging Goals

4. Blog at least 10 times a month. I met this goal for 7 out of 12 months, so I want to try this one again. I blogged 35 times in January!! This is three times my usual amount, but I did participate in two three read-a-thons, so that really helped.
5. Complete at least half of the challenges I sign up for this year. I came very close to completing this goal, but not quite. I will be signing up for challenges soon. So far I have started 8 challenges out of 16, so not a bad start. I may have a reading challenge addiction. :)
6. Be more active commenting on blogs and on Twitter. By more active, I mean getting on Twitter and commenting on blogs at least once a week. I did really well with this. I have been checking Twitter at least once a day and at least commenting on tweets. I have commented on a few blogs each week, but want to work a bit more on the blogging comments part.
7. Review at least half of the books I read. I basically just stopped writing reviews at the end of the year and I would like to do better with this in 2016. So far I have reviewed 6 out of 8 books and hope to write another review soon, so this is off to a great start!

Personal Goals

8. Lose at least 20 pounds. We are going to try Biggest Loser at work and our theme this year is Libraries Transform, which is ALA's theme. I gained back most of what I lost last year, so I would love to lose that weight again and maintain the weight loss. Hahaha! I will be working on this heavily during Lent.
9. Eat and drink healthier. I would like to eat at least a vegetable or fruit a day. I eat horribly and am not in good shape. I would also like to cut down on coffee and sodas, because that is all I have been drinking lately. I have managed to eat at least a veggie or a fruit a day, but not much more than that. I did better on sodas, until the end of this month and I am very slowly cutting down on coffee.
10. Exercise more. I would love to exercise at least a few times a month and possibly up this to a few times a week as I get in a bit better shape. I don't want to push things too fast, so for the first month or so, I would like to exercise at least 3 times a month. I barely managed to squeeze in exercise, so I really need to work on this next month.

My reading and blogging goals went well, but my personal goals not so much. I hope to work harder on them in February and get a bit healthier! 

Mirrored by Alex Flinn

This was my TBR read for January and also a COYER read. It is also my first read for the Retelling Challenge. It also works for Reading Bingo as a book with a one word title and for Full House as Published 2015. I received this as an e-galley on Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Harper Teen

This is a twist on the story of Snow White and does feature an appearance from Kendra! Violet has always wished she was beautiful and has always been jealous of Jennifer and her group of hot, mean girls. When Jennifer takes away Greg, Violet's only friend and crush, Violet feels like she is left with nothing. However, unbeknownst to Violet, she is a witch. When she is attacked by two boys, Violet calls birds to save her and she meets Kendra. Kendra teaches her to use her powers and tries to be Violet's friend. Violet, however, wants revenge and to be beautiful. She uses her powers to become the fairest of them all, but she can't steal Greg from Jennifer. After Jennifer is cruel to Violet, Violet makes a dog attack her and scar her, but still Greg loves her. Fast forward, Greg and Jennifer are married with a beautiful girl, Celine. Jennifer fears animals and with good reason. Jennifer is attacked all the time and one of these attacks in a zoo proves fatal. Violet then swoops in on Greg and Celine is left with a beautiful, wicked stepmother. Celine does everything to downplay her beauty and to stay out of Violet's way. Having only one friend, Laurel, Celine does what she can to stay away from home and both girls bond over their crush on rock star, Jonah Prince. Celine even gets the leading role in a play to spend more time away from home and meets Goose, who is only 4'5", but doesn't let his size dictate his life. Celine likes Goose, but can't tell his intentions. While struggling with all this, tragedy strikes, and Violet wants Celine dead. Celine must depend on Goose and Kendra to help her survive and when all else fails, she must depend on true love.

I love Flinn's twists on fairy tales. Beastly is still my favorite, but this one had some interesting ideas. We get to see inside the "evil queen's" head, when we hear Violet's story. I really did not feel sympathy for her or Jennifer or Greg, but it was nice to see the motive. Then we get to see into "Snow White's" head. Celine does provoke sympathy and has the sweet, innocent quality that Snow White from Disney had. I also liked seeing into Goose's head. Using someone who has dwarfism was definitely a twist, but I worried that it would be too much. Flinn does and doesn't make it an issue for Goose. She does by showing he suffered bullying, just like Violet and Celine, but that he conquers this by using humor. She shows how the humor hurts him at the same time. I also like that she shows he can be the "hero," jumping over balconies, conquering fears, and that he can be a love interest. I was worried about it, but I think she did a great job. Overall, Kendra is still my favorite character and I felt so bad for her throughout this book. She tries so hard to do right, but there is always something she is unable to prevent, showing that magic, while powerful, is limited. If you want an enchanting tale with multiple points of view and a love that will have you cheering, then read this book! 4 cups of cocoa.

A Winter's Respite Read-a-thon Wrapup

This is hosted by Michelle @ Seasons of Reading and True Book Addict, Castle Macabre and The Christmas Spirit blog.

I finished 2 books last week, The Shack and Magic Steps. I read 376 pages in The Shack (large print version) and listened/read roughly 100 pages in Magic Steps.The Shack was pretty intense and I am still thinking about this book. We have book club tomorrow night and I will be interested in seeing other people's thoughts. Magic Steps was a reread for me and I love the series! I also managed to start The Blue Sword and read 100 pages in it. This one is also a reread, but it has been years since I read it and I don't remember anything. It is good so far and will work for a couple of different challenges I am doing this year. Overall I read 576 pages and chatted a bit on Twitter, so not too bad. How did you do?

Thanks to Michelle for hosting!

The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow

This was my first nonfiction read for the Nonfiction Challenge and was also my read for the Full House challenge for the category of Thought Provoking Book. This was a book club book that I would not have picked up on my own, but I am glad we read it!

Gotham

This is written by Jeffrey Zaslow, who most people know as the person who helped to write The Last Lecture. I have not read The Last Lecture, but I did enjoy his writing style in this book. A man writing about female friendships seemed strange to me. Could he capture what it is really like to have a lifelong female friend? Would he just make the usual snide comments about PMS and menopause when the women were emotional? Would he try to explain everything away or would he actually listen? He really seemed to present the women as they see themselves, but also providing a bit of push when they wanted to downplay items. He is interviewing the women in their 40s and talking to them about a friendship that spans elementary school to adulthood for some and high school to adulthood for most. 10 of the 11 women were still living at the time of the book, one died mysteriously in her 20s, but the other 10 still think of her on an almost daily basis. Zaslow looked at letters, diaries, pictures, and gathered oral recollections from the women, their friends, families, daughters, and people from their high school to show how important female friendships are and to see how these women have managed to keep their friendship going so long.

You can't help trying to identify with a particularly woman and then thinking about how you are not like others. To me, Jenny, who is married and just starting to have children, would be the one that reminded me of myself now. If I start a family now I will be in my mid 30s and been married 8 years, just like she was when she had her first child. The same ideas of is it too late and having to adapt after going that long without a child, resonate with me. I also identify with Sally, who was treated a bit badly by the friends, who wanted her to be more outgoing and more talkative with boys and how ostracized her for a time. This has happened with me and my friends. They would get tired of me and the fact that I did not date much and was not as cute as they were and would drop me for awhile. When their boyfriends broke up with them or other girls were mean to them, they would come back to me. It still happens with a few of them, but I have some stronger friendships with people in my circle and have come to accept the "mean" girls as they are. I think for any woman who has spent a decade or two with her friends can relate to this book.

The women's stories were fascinating and at times ordinary, but still likable. The sections on the studies of friendship were a bit dry and statistical, but parts of them were interesting. It was only at those points that I doubted Zaslow's ability to tell the story of female friendship. He felt the need to tie it to those facts and to make sure this was a fact-based analysis. While statistics are important, friendship is something that is so much more. These brief sections were the only time I lost interest and he did quickly get back to the narrative.

Would this have been stronger if written by a woman? That would be the question I would have if I saw a guy writing about women. I think he did fine with it. He has three girls and is strongly attached to his wife, so I think he probably discussed this in detail with them. I also think he brought out more from the women than if they were talking to another woman. When I talk with other woman, I both complain, but gloss over my faults. I think when we talk to men, we are more honest with words, but less so with emotions. I wish Zaslow had asked his wife to talk to the women too to gain the emotional insight, but his use of private emails and diaries did help with this a bit. I think he managed to leave out his own bias quite a bit, so overall he did well.

This really made me think about my own friendships and that I am lucky to have friends from elementary school and college who know me and love me. It makes me think about past hurts, past joys, and hopeful futures. 3.5 cups of cocoa and a very interesting read.

Story Sprites Round 3 Challenge Signup

So I noticed this challenge on Rachael's blog, Rachael Turns Pages, as a challenge she signup for and I thought it looked really fun. The Story Sprites challenge is hosted by Great Imaginations and here is a link to the signup. The goal is to complete a path by April 1st. You pick a color and complete those squares. You can do more than one path if you want. I am having a hard time choosing which path to take! I think I am going to try for purple, but I may try for more than one color if I get on a reading kick. Thanks to the bloggers at Great Imaginations for hosting!

Reading Bingo Challenge Signup

So I could not help signing up for a couple more challenges. Jessi's Reading Bingo had been on my eye for a bit.




This is hosted by Jessi at Novel Heartbeat and you can signup at this link. I love book bingo challenges and this one looks like one I can complete. I will try for a line or two, but I would love to do a coverall! Thanks to Jessi for hosting!

Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

This was my first Reading Assignment book and my book for January. It also works for the Flights of Fantasy challenge and for my Full House challenge as Would Make a Good Movie. I hope to read the rest of the books for the Prequels and Sequels challenge, but as the first book, it does not count for that.

Simon Pulse

So I love Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic and The Circle Opens series and mentioned that on Twitter, so a few people recommended Alanna to me. I know Amy from Tripping Over Books and Kristen from The Book Monsters both raved about the book, so I had to pick it up. I made it one of my reading assignment books, because I knew I would make sure to read it then. I loved it!

Alanna and her twin, Thom, want different lives than the one their father has planned. Really their father ignores them most of the time, but does decide that Thom will be a knight and Alanna will go learn to be a lady. He does not care that Thom wants to be a sorcerer and definitely would not let Alanna become a knight. He has never even thought about the magic that they both have and usually leaves the servants to deal with them. Alanna hatches a scheme that she and Thom will trade places. Thom will go with Maude, who has trained their magic and how is supposed to take Alanna to the convent, and Alanna will go with Coram, pretend to be a boy and try to become a knight. While practicing their magic, Alanna has a vision of a black city, which could be a bad omen for the switch, but instead pushes the two servants to support the switch. They do and Alanna is able to train as a page and to get the chance to be a squire when she turns 14. While at Duke Naxon's, Alanna trains with the Duke's son, the Prince, and other boys who quickly become her friends, well all of them, except Ralon. Ralon bullies her and Alanna knows to prove herself, she must defeat the bully. She will have to defeat him, an illness, and her own changing body to try to achieve her goal. She must find friends along the way, friends who will keep her secrets, if she can survive her years as a page.

Alanna is only around 11 at the start, so she is not yet growing into her female body, so it does seem plausible that she could pass for a boy. I loved how strong she was and how she faces her own battles. I also liked Jonathan, the Prince, and George, the Rogue, King of Thieves. The boys feel the need to protect her(him), but also let her try her own strength. I also like the magical elements, which we only really get a glimpse of at the end. Magic was the interesting part of the Circle books, so I am interested to see how it plays out in The Song of the Lioness series. I really enjoyed the world of Tortall and can't wait to get started on the next one in the series. It was really an easy and fast paced read. 5 cups of cocoa.