Saturday, January 2, 2021

2021 Back to the Classics and Chunkster

I really like the Back to the Classics and have decided it will be one of two I sign up for this year to help motivate me as I work through my Classics Club list. I'm not assigning any books, though I've gone ahead and categorized my remaining books where they fit. I'll link everything at the end of the year. I'm also signing up for the Chunkster Reading Challenge as most of these books are fairly hefty.


1. A 19th century classic: A Study In Scarlet

2. A 20th century classic: East of Eden, Endless Night

3. A classic by a woman author. Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Endless Night

4. A classic in translation: Don Quixote, Anna Karenina

5. A classic by BIPOC author: ???

6. A classic by a new-to-you author: Vanity Fair or Anna Karenina or Don Quixote

7. New-to-you classic by a favorite author: East of Eden or Endless Night

8. A classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title: ???

9. A children's classic. Peter Pan

10. A humorous or satirical classic: Martin Chuzzlewit

11. A travel or adventure classic: ???

12. A classic play: A Winter's Tale

Friday, January 1, 2021

Looking Forward 2021

As I said in my post yesterday, I've been thinking about my reading and what I want out of it. I work in a children's library, and when I started this blog, I had been reading mainly children's literature. I wanted to start reading adult literature, but wasn't sure where to start so I joined a few book challenges and was using this blog to track progress and write reviews. 

For the last two years, I'm noticing that I haven't been as interested in my challenges and I'm not reading much children's literature at all. I've liked the challenges because they do help me grow as a reader. Reading outside my comfort zone has been fun in some ways. But at the same time, I tend to then get frustrated when I read something that doesn't "count" for a challenge, even if I'm enjoying reading it. Basically, I'm really good at starting off focused, and then I get distracted and look at all the pretty things. It's a problem. 

So this year I'm doing things a bit differently. With the exception of potentially two challenges, I'm not signing up for or making my own challenges. I'm just setting some goals. There are some challenges that I will be using to provide roadmaps, but I don't plan on signing up and counting books for them. So without further ado, my 2021 reading goals. 

Goal 1: Make progress on my Classics Club List

Technically five years is up in January 2022, but of the 11 books remaining on my list, six are over 500 pages long. Two clock in at close to 1,000. I don't see myself finishing by 2022. I also foresee needing some motivation because, while I always feel like I get a lot out of reading classics, sometimes it's a bit of work to get through them. I will vaguely follow the Back to the Classics challenge simply because it's a great motivator. There's also a chunkster reading challenge I found that could be a fantastic motivator as well. 

Goals 2 and 3: Read more children's books and read more diverse books. 

Professionally, I cannot overlook children's literature. At the very least, I need to keep up with what's out there. On top of that I really want to focus on diverse literature for kids. While I don't plan to sign up for challenges, there is a Reading Children's Books For Adults and a Diversity Reading Challenge that look like they could be a great road map if I need help there.

Goal 4: Read books I enjoy.

I really enjoy fantasy adjacent novels for just plain fun reading. There's a fantasy challenge that could be fun for a road map of discovering new fantasy because it's always fun discovering new stuff! But aside from that, I've really enjoyed trolling the New section on Goodreads and grabbing something from there. Almost every book I've read since September is from there, and I've enjoyed every one!

Goal 5: ETM Study

Recently I've been studying with a group called Education Through Music. Their way of teaching music has really resonated with me, and every time I attend a workshop, I come back with more ideas for deliberate, successful teaching both at my library and my private music studio. They have quite the book list to study regarding things like motivation, teaching practices, brain development, child development, and the like that are really fascinating. I always keep meaning to read them... but never do. 

As for my Mount To be Reads and DeLint novels and the like... I'm still going to keep those lists, but I'm not making them as much a priority at this point. 

I feel good about these goals. They give me some direction in my reading because some of my reading does need direction, but since they're goals rather than challenges to be participated in, I can move them aside for other things as desired. 

Wishing you all a Happy New Year and Happy Reading!