I am so excited to continue my 2016 resolution into 2017 – 3 books a month was the perfect challenge for me. There were a couple of months that it didn’t happen, and months where I easily crushed 4 or 5 books, which is great! It also helped me to be more intentional about my reading. In the past I would really only read things when they got super popular or I was going on vacation or when I needed an audiobook for a commute. I’d find myself aimlessly wandering the library or getting overwhelmed by al of the options and reviews on Goodreads. Instead, when I know I’m going to be reading 3 books a month, I have to make a plan and request/buy books ahead of time to make sure it happens.

A book club is a great place to start, if you want to read more but don’t really know ~what to read. I follow along with 2 book clubs – 1 IRL and 1 just online. Yeah. Did you know you can just follow along online? If you don’t like the idea of meetings and discussion and the pressure to read the books – don’t! Just use their selections and read their questions/thoughts online! I read and meet with Bon’s Book Club for as many months as I can as my IRL book club, and then I follow along with most of the books that Delicious Reads does for their super fancy book club.

Another way I’ve prepared for some great reading in 2017 is by creating a “shelf” in Goodreads. Yeah, I’ve been marking books as “want to read” since I first started using the site YEARS ago. So whenever I looked at that shelf it was so overwhelming! Instead I created a custom shelf and added books that I absolutely want to read this year to it. That way when I realize I only have one book planned for a month, I can pull up that list and then choose from it, rather than scrolling a list that is 8 years old and 400+ books, including Moby Dick. Do I want to read Moby Dick? Yes. Am I going to? No. My 2017 Books shelf has the more hot, current, interesting reads that I’m much more likely to choose and be excited about!

(You can also set your 2017 Book Challenge on Goodreads, which is a great way to keep track of the books you read this year!)

Here is my current list for 2017!  I am only reading some of the Delicious Reads (DR) picks because I’ve either already read or am not interested in their picks for some months. The books for Bon’s Book Club are labeled BBB. The rest are open spots that I’ll fill with my own picks!

January – The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams (BBB), The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket, Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin, Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley

February – The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf (BBB)

March – Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (BBB) (excited to give this one another shot – NOT on audiobook!), Kids of Appetite by David Arnold (DR)

April – Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (BBB) (honestly I may read this sooner so I can watch the HBO series!), Hunted by Megan Spooner (DR)

May – Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski (BBB – this is my pick and I’ll be hosting! Nervous and excited because it’s ~scandalous), Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan (DR)

June – Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (BBB)

July – More than Happy by Serena B Miller (BBB), Caraval by Stephanie Garber (DR)

August – A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness (BBB), East of Eden by John Steinbeck (DR) (lol maybe)

September – Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult (BBB), We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson and Jonathan Lethem (DR)

October – Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley (BBB), Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (DR)

November – Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham (BBB)

December – totally free!

I like to have a mix of real/audio/ebooks depending on the month (I am currently reading The Wide Window on ebook, listening to Happier at Home on audiobook, and reading a hard copy of Sink Reflections lol), but with a newborn I’m sure most of my books for February-April will be ebooks since reading on my phone is my nursing jam. We don’t have any big road trips planned but I’ve already sold my soul to Lord of The Rings for the Beard whenever we take our next long drive so that’ll show up eventually. And then once I’m cleared to exercise in March/April I’ll be back on the audiobooks bandwagon! I’m so excited to tackle this resolution this year, even though I’m sure it’ll be a little trickier with two babies.

As always, if you need book suggestions I am always full to bursting or you can check out my books/reviews here on the blog (search by Books category) or on Goodreads.

And now onto my Books I Read: December!

Gemina

Spoiled Hanna Donnelly cares about nothing but her dreamy boyfriend Jackson, her father (the commander of the Heimdall Station aka the edge of the UNIVERSE where they live), and finding various ways to distract herself from this boring existence (combat training, doodling, illegal drugs…). Nik Malikov is her dangerous drug dealer, part of the mafia crime family who run a variety of illegal operations on Heimdall Station. Soon they find themselves in the middle of a battle for Heimdall Station when the BeiTech assassin thugs arrive, hoping to head off and destroy the incoming Hypatia – which is housing Kady Grant and everyone else fleeing from the BeiTech assault on Kerenza. Tears in the time-space continuum, bloodsucking worms, secret identities, and lots of teen banter make for an interesting space caper. 

THESE BOOKS ARE SO FREAKING GOOD. Whenever anyone posts a “What should I read next?” tweet or Facebook status I always say Illuminae, and now I can say it with even more confidence with Gemina right there to back it up. Very science-fiction-y, very YA, but also VERY well written, surprising, captivating, and interesting to the very last page.

Good

• One of my favorite things about these books is the variety of media and chapters. There’s a lot of easy stopping points, and when it’s jumping from one thing to the next it’s ok to read in short bursts. Or to read for 3 hours at a time.
• So many twists!!! Good, bad, shocking, relieving. Just awesome.
• The romance in this one didn’t annoy me as much as Kady & Ezra for some reason.
• More characters! A bigger cast kept this one fresh.
• It remains open and ready for the next installment, without feeling like it’s just yanking your chain. The story is moving along and resolving, as well as opening up new channels to explore.

Less Good

• The next book doesn’t come out until this fall. 🙁
• This one didn’t grip me quite as quickly. I started it in November but didn’t finish until December. Part of it I guess was knowing that I would eventually get super into it and would want to read for longer chunks, which I just didn’t have at the time.
• You kind of HAVE to read a hard copy if you want the full effect, which is a drag for people who love audiobooks and ebooks.
• While censored like Illuminae, this one definitely has more violence, sexual innuendo, and the drug trade is a central part of the plot. Not awful and definitely not something that I’d worry about for anyone over 14 or so.

The Bad Beginning

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire live a beautiful, fortunate life until their parents and everything they own perish in a terrible fire. Soon they find themselves with their evil legal guardian – Count Olaf – who is dead set on stealing their considerable fortune. They must deal with his disgusting and abusive parenting and find a way to foil his devious plans before he steals their fortune and does away with them for good. 

I read these back in grade school when they were brand new and genuinely enjoyed them. I think I only got through 8-9 of the 13, though. When I heard they were making a Netflix Original Series I was STOKED and decided to read them again. They’ll be released in 8-episode seasons, with each book getting 2 episodes. So the first season will be the first 4 books, which I’m hoping to have re-read by the release!

Good

• These books were refreshing then and they’re refreshing now. They’re dark, downright sinister, and don’t have “happy” endings. This instantly engages you because you aren’t really used to terrible things happening to children for entire books lol.
• As an adult I appreciate so much more now that Violet is a budding engineer. #Feminism for the win.
• Lemony Snicket does this cool thing where he explains and defines new vocabulary words in a way that is helpful, non-condescending, and actually entertaining. The teacher in me is just in love with it.
• I am just as entertained by these at 27 as I was at 12. In fact I’m picking up all these clever details I never noticed before!
• These would be really fun to read out loud to elementary aged kids.
• It only took about 2 hours max to read this on my phone. I’ve found YA books are the best to read on ebook, because they’re so easy and fast – perfect for when you can’t fall asleep, or you’re killing time.

Less Good

• They can be a little gross and depressing at times.
• They’re of course a little ridiculous.
• There are 13 books and I feel like you probably have to read them all to really ~get it.

The Reptile Room

After narrowly escaping the clutches of the evil Count Olaf, the Baudelaire orphans find themselves in the care of an eccentric but kind herpetologist – Montgomery Montgomery. They spend their days in pleasant pursuits preparing for a journey to Peru, before Uncle Monty’s new assistant Stefano arrives to ruin everything with his plans to harm them all and steal the Baudelaire fortune. 

Much more interesting than The Bad Beginning, this installment features another kind adult who is deceived by the evil Count Olaf, but with the built-in topical information that helps you learn a bunch of random stuff.

Good

• Learning random stuff and vocabulary about reptiles was just a kick
• All of the same benefits of book one – fast, interesting, educational

Less Good

• I mean, people die, so…
• You start to feel the “oh brother…” ridiculous exhaustion of implausible plotlines, which eventually caused me to stop reading the first time around.

I’m about to finish The Wide Window with The Miserable Mill on deck! I’ll have them finished by the time the series goes live on Netflix TOMORROW!!! Can’t even wait.

I hope you’ll join me in doing a bit more reading in 2017. It’s the best. Don’t even get me started.