Another Year, Another Chapter: 2019 Reading & Blogging Goals

Happy New Year! Well, so far this week we've gone over the books I've read this year, the blog this year, and today we're looking towards what's to come in the new year!

First, let's see how I did with my goals last year. Last year I didn't make a lot of specific goals, but general ideas for the directions I wanted to go with my reading, writing and blogging.

"I know I want to keep doing the same, reading lots of CanLit, lots of diverse literature, and reading even more widely than I do currently, whether that be through characters, setting, language, or genre. And I still want to keep reviewing and promoting books that I think deserve more love."

 For not having a certain goal or anything, I think I definitely did this to some extent. I've kept up my reading of CanLit and #ownvoices and diverse literature, just because that's the kind of books I keep on my lists and look for when I'm looking for something to read. And actually, a couple years ago my goal was to read 40% ownvoices and I wasn't quite there, but this year I hit it! Would love to surpass 40% though. I still want to read more in translation, and more book from non-Western authors. I also want to read some diverse fantasy! I've gotten a craving for fantasy recently and want to discover the different kinds of stories that are out there. There's so much more now than just Western European-based medieval fantasy, I love it.

As for reviewing, I did a bit of that, mostly prodded by books I was sent and stuff, but I want to do more!

"But I've recently got back into writing, and I want to start talking about that more too - including sharing more of my own writing and my thoughts behind that terrifying process."

 This was the second part of my vision for last year: share more writing, including my thoughts behind the process! I did a bunch of creative writing-type posts on my thoughts on writing which was super fun. I'm proud of those posts even if they aren't as popular to a larger audience. You can also check out some classic embarrassing childhood writing if you want too.

Besides these two visions for my blog, I've spent a lot of time this year actually WRITING. Which means I don't blog as much because I'm writing, but that's been really fun. I actually re-wrote two books, and started world-building for another one. I also won NaNoWriMo while doing one draft re-write. Who knew that university and assignments were so harmful to writing productivity??

So, next year! As I've talked about before, I've gone through many iterations of this blog - from fun, silly teen to actually having a vision for what I want this blog to be (see my about page if you're curious). And now this year, since I am done school and can actually have time to do some creative things, I want to commit a bit more to this blog. So here are my goals for next year:

1. Have a schedule, and post at least once a week.

I'm not sure exactly what the schedule will be yet, but I know I want to do way more reviews than I do currently (like more than just when I get ARCs sent to me to review).

2. Commit to Women in Translation Month!

Hopefully I won't be traveling as much this year in August, but even if I am I want to be prepared to actually have reviews and posts and stuff up on the blog! This will also help with reading books in translation and stuff.

3. Do more Local Book Nook posts! 

I also want to do get back to doing Local Book Nook posts. I have a few Local Book Nook posts, but I'd love to have a more extensive collection, featuring bloggers from all over the globe! Contact me if you know of a reader or blogger who might be interested in talking about their favourite local books!

4. Get up to 50% #ownvoices

Like I said, I read about 40% ownvoices (where the character shares the same identity as the author) books this year but I'd love to keep increasing that!

I think that's plenty for now, but please stick around to see what happens around here in the next year and please get involved! I'd love to work with you. Do you have any ideas for the blog this year? What are your favourite kinds of posts? What would you like to see?

2016 Reading Goals

Like a lot of bookworms, January is the time for thinking about how I'm going to challenge myself in my reading for the following year. I wanted to share them with you, mostly so I will feel more obligated to actually stick to them! This year I haven't really made any commitments to do a certain number of books of any category. I mostly just wanted to try to pushy myself to read more diversely and outside of my comfort zone. Also a lot of my goals involve just trying to succeed at things I failed last year. 

1. Read diversely! This is always a goal of mine, although it definitely takes work and I can always do better. I especially want to focus on reading what people have called #ownvoices on Twitter, where the identity of the main character is shared by the author.

2. Read more books by non-Western authors, or with non-Western settings (like, outside the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia). This is really hard sometimes because of language issues, but I know there are books out there! (Also if you have recs for me for any of these, please comment and let me know!)

3. Read more books by indigenous authors, not just written by authors from Canada and the US but outside as well. 

4. Continue to read CanLit! I loved discovering all the great CanLit out there this year, and I'm not ready by any means to be done with it yet!

5. Read more books with non-American authors than American authors (I failed at this in 2015.)

Of course other challenges may crop up throughout the year that I may join, but that's all for now!

What are your 2016 reading goals? What is a recommendation you can give me for any of the above?

Review of All The Books I Read in 2012

Last year, I read 120 books. This year, I made it to 115. It's really interesting to compare the two years and see the different books I read, and the trends in my reading habits. For instance, once I started working in an elementary library this year I started reading a lot more middle grade. If I was savvy enough, I might make some charts or something. But for now, you just get lists, full of some recommendations for you for the new year (if you haven't already read them)! 

 

Best Books of 2012

 

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins - Sigh. She's done it again. Amazing.

 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Read more of my thoughts on this achingly beautiful, wonderfully written book here. TFiOS is definitely his best book yet.
 

 

Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt - I'm pretty sure this is the only book that doesn't have a death in it that has made me cry. This is such a beautiful, beautiful book and it is now my favourite book of all time aside from Jellicoe Road. This is one of those books that just makes me go gaaaah sooo good, go read it pleaaase.

 

Savvy by Ingrid Law

 

True (...sort of) by Katherine Hannigan - Both Savvy and True I talk about in this post. They are both awesome, deep middle-grades that definitely made me think.

 

Books I Bought in 2012

 

Finally and Forever by Robin Jones Gunn - I love RJG, so I will buy anything new she comes out with. (Although I can't quite recall if I bought it, or if I got it as a gift... if you gave it to me as a gift, correct me if I'm wrong).

 

 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - I knew it would be hard to get at the library, and I kind of had a feeling I might want to have it, and I was right. If only I would've brought it to the Philippines with me...

 

The DUFF by Kody Keplinger and The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Both of these I bought as eBooks. I figure that still counts, because now I own them and I can read them whenever I want! Yay!

 

Books I Reread in 2012

 

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

 

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - Not quite as good the second time, but still awesome. I love Melina Marchetta.

 

 

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke - The last time I read this I was in middle school, I think. It's interesting how just being a few years older changes my opinion of a book. I still love it, though, and Dustfinger is my favourite character of all time ever.

 

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - So how many times is this now? 5? 6?

 

Harry Potter 1-6 - I will never tire of rereading these.

 

Divergent by Veronica Roth - I reread this for the sole purpose of remembering what happened so I could read Insurgent. It was still just okay, even the second time around.

 

 

2012 Releases I Read in 2012

 

A Million Suns by Beth Revis - I liked A Million Suns better than Across the Universe, but I did noticed that the some of the story elements were repeated. I liked it though, and am still looking forward to eventually reading Shades of Earth.
 

Insurgent by Veronica Roth - I enjoyed this much better than Divergent, although I haven't fallen head over heels for either of them. I liked the tension between Tris and Tobias, and I liked how it was unpredictable. I did not like all the mind-controlling drugs, as they seem to be used a lot in dystopians now a days and in my opinion they are getting old.

 

Article 5 by Kristine Simmons - I really enjoyed this book. It was a smaller scale dystopian than Insurgent or The Hunger Games, but that just meant it had a bigger focus on the two main characters, which I really enjoyed.
 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
 

Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard - This is a good summer read, but it wasn't really anything special to me.

 

Worst Books of 2012
 

Wings by Aprilynne Pike - I read this book because of a recommendation from a friend, but I did not really enjoy it (sorry, Megan). The writing was good and the idea was unique, but there was a love triangle that was done absolutely terribly.
 

How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbaleister - I really, really did not like this book. It was very shallow, and I kept waiting for the characters to use something useful and become less selfish. They did not. This would probably be the only book I would ever encourage people not to read.  

 

 

So. What were some of YOUR favourite books that you read this year? I need some recommendations of things to read for the coming year. ;)

 

Happy New Year!