Wednesday, February 17, 2016

All Grown Up Now

I'm signing up for another challenge, but as it's a category challenge I'm just planning to read what I read and see if they match up. Lists without pressure, that's the key to my heart!

Purple Ink Studios is hosting the 2016 Grown Up Reading Challenge, which she links with her idea of reading more mindfully. Her goals are to read broadly, schedule reading time, take notes, and set goals. Signing up for challenges is something I do because I do want to read more broadly (that's one reason I keep signing up for the 50 States challenge). I have been dividing my day into reading time, chore time, etc., although in my case it's an attempt to actually put down the book and get the chores done. I suppose that is reading like a grown up! And the IMWAYR meme is my chance to stop and assess what I've read. So I'm endorsing those four goals.

Also, I can't feel pressure to read everything because it is literally impossible -- at least one of the categories is a null set. There are no books I was supposed to read in high school that I skipped. I was more the kid to read every book in a "Pick One" set than the kid to skimp and watch a movie or read the cliff notes. Worse, since I had an older brother one year ahead, I typically read everything the year before just to warm up, and then read it again in my year. I was a very annoying student who somehow did not have a huge circle of friends.
  1. Book about history: The Wednesday Wars, Gary Schmidt 2/12/16
  2. Biography/autobiography: I Will Always Write Back, Caitlin Alifirenka, Martin Ganda, Liz Welch 2/20/16
  3. Book about a famous person: Venus on the Half-Shell, Philip Jose Farmer 3/9/16
  4. Book outside your comfort zoneGod Help the Children, Toni Morrison 2/16/16
  5. Book about relationships: Kat, Incorrigible, Stephanie Burgis 1/28/16
  6. Book about science: Parallax, Alan Hirshfeld 2/4/16
  7. Book about business: Mercenary Instinct, Ruby Lionsdrake 1/30/16
  8. Book about self-improvement  Tale of Despereaux, Kate DiCamillo 2/3/16. More typically, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo 4/3/16
  9. Book about religion/theology: Mortal Heart, Robin LaFevers 2/11/16
  10. Book about finance: The Spider's War, Daniel Abraham 6/27/16
  11. Book you were supposed to read in high school but didn't (???): Bayard Rustin: Invisible Activist, Jacqueline Houtman 3/4/16
  12. Book about art: Every Last Word, Tamara Ireland Stone 2/19/16
  13. Book originally written in a different language: Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand (Hooker) 2/1/16
  14. Book more than 100 years old: Rob Roy, Walter Scott 2/27/16
  15. Book set in a different country: Canadian Summer, Hilda van Stockum 1/30/16
  16. Book that has won the Pulitzer Prize
  17. Classic: Blake: Huts of America, Martin Delaney 5/18/16
  18. Banned Book: Coraline, Neil Gaiman 8/6/16
  19. Book about language/communication: A Family of Readers, Roger Sutton & Martha Parravano 2/17/15
  20. Book about Music: Give Me Wings, Kathy Lowinger 3/12/16
19/20

I found this challenge at the end of January, so I'll start tracking my reading from now on, although since I try to add only one challenge a week, I won't officially sign up until February. I like how I have the choice of reading nonfiction or fiction -- a book about science could either be one where science drives the plot, or a book that explores something scientific for a layperson. Or a textbook, but I doubt I read any of those for pleasure!

Note on number 11: This is a book about someone I should have learned about in high school but didn't. I thought that was a neat way to complete the category!

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