Last year, I made my first "goal." I don't like resolutions... goals are more of something to aim for and easier to achieve if you make them SMART. Last year, I aimed to do one big act of kindness per week, and then post in a blog about it. And I did it! It was a blast! You can see the awesome, fun things I did here: www.KTandTheKindnessProject.wordpress.com.
Last year, one of my very dearest friends managed to read 104 books. We are voracious readers as a group but I only managed to read a third of what she read! This year, my goal is to read 52 books: one for each week of the year. I'm using this post as a way to mark my progress.
1/1 - 1/7 Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood by Julia Greggory
1/8 -1/14 Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
1/15 - 1/21 Bel Canto by Ann Patchet
1/22 - 1/28 The Alphabet Sisters by Monica McInerney I loved this book until they killed off a main character for no reason.
1/ 29 - 2/4 The First Counsel by Brad Meltzer (I got it for like 2 bucks on sale at Barnes and Noble. Brad Meltzer is a wannabe Dan Brown. It's a good mystery but no where near on the level that Dan Brown is.)
2/5 - 2/11 The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life by James J. Martin, SJ (This book took me AGES to finish but it was well worth my time!)
2/12 - 2/18 S by JJ Abrams and Doug Dorst
2/19 - 2/25 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Much shorter than I thought it was!)
This is the point that I officially fell behind... but in all fairness, I read 33 magazines in the first 8 weeks of this year. Catching up soon!
2/26 - 3/4 Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Caught up here. Also, I've come to the conclusion that I don't like Alice at all. She's a complete idiot.)
3/5 - 3/11 The 9/11 Commission Report - This was SO heavy and yet so worth it. I understand so much more about terrorism, UBL, Islam, politics in the decades leading up to 9/11, etc. I definitely recommend this one! It tool me 3 weeks to read this one so I fell behind again.
3/12 - 3/18 The Husband's Secret by
3/19 - 3/25 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (This one is a non fiction but it reads like a fiction. Very interesting and worth the read).
3/26 - 4/1 Emma by Jane Austen (Typical Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice is still the best.)
4/2 - 4/8 Wild at Heart By John Eldridge (I agree with the basic premise of this book, but disagreed about SO much of it. Homosexuality isn't caused by men who weren't loved enough by their fathers)
4/9 - 4/15 Wild by Cheryl Strayed (I think this is my favorite book that I've read so far this year. Well worth the read!)
4/16 - 4/22 Fifty Shades Darker by EL James (Yup, every now and again, smut is read)
4/23 - 4/29 Fifty Shades Free by EL James (No comment.)
4/30 - 5/6 The Night Circus by Erin Morgensten (I couldn't put this down. It was so wonderfully written, the characters were so lovable, the passion was muted, and it was such a slow build. 5 stars!)
5/7 - 5/13 Glitter and Glue By Kelly Corrigan (I expected this to be a fun memoir about what she learned while nannying. It was really a really long essay about how she loved her mother despite the fact that she doesn't like her mother. Whomp Whomp.)
5/14 - 5/20 Ok so I'm officially way behind. Doubting that I'll get one book a week but I will have read at least 3 magazines per week for the entire year! This week's book: Someone has to Set a Bad Example: An Anne Taintor Collection It was quite entertaining and silly and quick.
5/21 - 5/27 Hearts of Fire: Eight Women in the Underground Church and Their Stories of Costly Faith My mother recommended this one. it was a quick read and inspiring, although not life changing.
*Side note: I read another 46 magazines at this point. Stay tuned.
5/28 - 6/3 Notes from the Underwire By Quinn Cummings (This was a quick read and it made me smile, but it was not on the level of Erma Bombeck as the cover suggested it was)
6/4 - 6/10 The Trouble with Magic by Patricia Rice (more smut. But enjoyable)
6/11 - 6/17 Tattoos on the Heart by Father Greg Boyle, SJ (I do love reading more about Jesuits and their work. Homeboy Industries is an awesome project that is changing the world, one gangster at a time. I'd definitely recommend this book!)
6/18 - 6/24 Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (The sequel to Wicked. Wish I had read this immediately after reading the first. I think it would have made more sense then. Still good)
6/25 - 7/1 Dear Mrs. Kennedy: The World Shares its Grief, Letters November 1963 by Jay Mulvaney and Paul De Angelis (I really enjoyed this; it opened my eyes up to the time period better than anything else I've read. I particularly loved the letters LBJ wrote to Caroline and John Jr.).
7/2 - 7/8 Milkrun by Sarah Mlynowski (Cute, chick lit, nothing super fancy)
7/9 - 7/15 An Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott (I think LMA is quite possibly my favorite author ever)
7/16 - 7/22 Daring Greatly By Brene Brown (EVERYONE should read this book! It changed me so much!)
7/23 - 7/29 The Curius Incident of the Dog at Night by Mark Haddon (I liked the writing style and that it's told from the point of view of a young man with Aspergers but it ended a little too abruptly)
*I read another 21 magazines, bringing the magazine total up to 100.
7/30 - 8/5 Love, Sex, and Other Natural Disasters: Relationship Reporting from America's Finest News Source by The Onion (Hilarious!)
8/6 - 8/12 The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama (It took me 4 times to pick up and read this book, despite the fact that Obama is such a great speaker and the fact that I agree with a lot of his politics. It can't be read in short little bits here and there. It needs a large amount of time to make sense. Still a good book)
8/13 - 8/19 Yes, Please by Amy Poehler (this book makes it into one of my top books for the year. She is so profound in addition to being funny!)
8/20 - 8/26 Every Day by David Levithan (I didn't expect to like this one but picked it up at a friend's insistence and ended up reading it in one sitting. Well worth it!)
*I read another 34 magazines, bringing the magazine total up to 134.
8/27 - 9/2Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty (I liked this one better than The Husband's Secret)
9/3 - 9/9 The Artemis Fowl Files by Eoin Colfer (I love this series, despite it being a childrens' series)
9/10 - 9/16 A Charmed Life: Growing up in Macbeth's Castle by Liza Campbell (This memoir made me sad. She was never loved the way children should be!)
9/17 - 9/23
9/24 - 9/30
10/1 - 10/7
10/8 - 10/14
10/15 - 10/21
10/22 - 10/28
10/ 29 - 11/4
11/5 - 11/11
11/12 - 11/18
11/19 - 11/25
11/26 - 12/2
12/3 - 12/9
12/10 - 12/16
12/17 - 12/23
12/24 - 12/31
