2015 Reading Challenges

Making lists and then getting to checkmark the completion of items on a list are some of my favorite organizational tasks. I made four reading goals throughout the 2015 year:

1. Read more books and pages than last year (New Years resolution)
2. Goodreads reading challenge of 60 books
3. Blackout Card for Summer Book Bingo Game from the Seattle Public Library
4. Read all of the Best Books of 2014 from the Goodreads Choice Awards

With only two months left in 2015, it looks like I will only complete goals #1 and #2; however, I thought I would share the books that I did read for goals #3 and #4. The ones that are highlighted are the ones I read.

Summer Book Bingo

• Checked out from the library: Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
• From an independent bookstore: Columbine by Dave Cullen
• Set in the NW: Grey by E.L. James
• #WeNeedDiverseBooks:
• Translated from another language:
• Collection of short stories: Stay Awake by Dan Chaon
• Out of your comfort zone: Doctor's Sleep by Stephen King
• Set somewhere you've always wanted to visit: A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
• You own, but had never read: The Giver by Loris Lowry
• Prizewinner: The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson
• Banned: The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison
• Local author: The Body of Death by Elizabeth George
• Passionately recommend a book to a friend: Verbal Judo by George J. Thompson
• Author under 30: Not that Kind of Girl by Lena Dunham
• Turned into a movie: Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Graphic novel: The Encyclopedia of Early Earth by Isabel Greenberg
• Collection of poetry: Lullabies by Lang Leav
• Young Adult Book: The Young Elites by Marie Lu
• Memoir: Yes, my Accent is Real and Some Other Things I Haven't Told You by Kunal Nayyar
• Published the year you were born: A Perfect Spy by John Le Carre
• Re-read: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
• Recommended by a friend: Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor
• You've been meaning to read: Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee
• From Your Childhood: Holes by Louis Sachar
• You finish reading in a day: Laughing At My Nightmare by Shane Burcaw

My favorite two books from this list were Modern Romance and Lullabies. The books in red were the books I was planning on reading to complete that category on the bingo card, and I still do not know what books I would have read for the #WeNeedDiverseBooks and the Translated from Another Language category.

Best Books of 2014 from the Goodreads Choice Awards

• Landline by Rainbow Rowell
• Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthoy Doerr
• The Book of Life by Deborah Harkness
• Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon
• The Martian by Andy Weir
• Yes Please by Amy Poehler
• They Opposite of Loneliness: Essays and Stories by Marina Keegan
• The Star Won't Go Out: The Life and Words of Ester Grace Earl
• The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra by Helen Rappaport
• #GirlBoss by Sophia Amorriso
• Make It Ahead: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten
• Lullabies by Lang Leav
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
• City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare
• The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
• The Pigeon Needs a Bath by Mo Willems

When I made this goal, I didn't realize that some of the books on the list were part of a series, and so I would need to read several books before the novel on the list would make sense. On this list, my favorite novels read were The Martian and Yes Please. The major disappointment on the list was Landline. I have loved all of the other Rainbow Rowell novels, but Landline is my least favorite book by the author. Currently, I am getting ready to read her new novel, Carry On, and I hope it is as humorously, endearing, and entertaining as Rowell's other novels have been for me.