Hello, hello!
Before we get into the grist of today's post, I just want to check in and see how those of you who are participating in #30DayBookBinge are doing! Have you read every day this month? It's okay if you haven't: just jump back in and attack it from a new angle! You got this!
And because I think accountability does wonders, I have a little challenge for you this week: post about it. Snap a pic of your current stack. Share a quote from your favorite read this month, or your current one. Ask people to vote on what you pick up next. It's totally up to you how you do it, but sometime this weekend or coming week, post about it with the hashtag #30DayBookBinge. I've found people who get involved (myself included) are far more likely to finish and consider the month a success -- plus community is half the fun!
Now.
I've made it pretty clear lately that I'm waffling HARD about my approach to reading -- and blogging -- lately, and though some part of me wants to take on all the challenges and plan all the things, another part of me wants absolutely no strings attached. So I'm in this weird kind of limbo where everything feels very nebulous and unofficial, in some way.
And while I think I'm leaning much more towards the 'no-strings' side of things, that planning, plotting, puzzles-and-challenges side of my brain will never be satisfied unless there's something to toy around with. And with that in mind, I decided to tackle a project / challenge to myself that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, which dovetails quite nicely with my goal of broadening my reading horizons: I'm gonna read a bunch of books I didn't pick.
I've had this idea kicking around for awhile now, and it was one of those things that I felt could be either amazing or disastrous, but either way, A Whole Thing. But the downside is, in the way I originally conceived of it, it would have been a big undertaking that would have eaten up a solid, continuous chunk of my reading time. But in my effort to approach things more casually and loosely, I had a little rethink and realized: it doesn't need to be one big reading vlog where I try to cram in as many of your recommendations as I can. It can be an ongoing series! And you know I love a series.
So I'm kicking it off now, currently reading someone else's recommendation, and I have another on request that will be read soon. But I want to get as many different picks from as many different people as I can, because the whole point is to discover things I wouldn't necessarily have picked up otherwise.
So below, you'll find a form (you know I also love a form) where you can send me one (or many) of the books you think I should add to my list for this project. It can be one you've recommended to me in the past and want to push me to finally read, or just one you think is entirely out of my comfort zone but that I should read anyway. It can be something you think I'll love, or you just want my perspective on -- or even one you think I'll hate! (But please be nice to me and limit the hate reads, at least a little bit. lol)
Any genre.
Any style.
Any format.
Any age range.
I'm going to compile a big ol' list and pull from them regularly to be part of a new series throughout the course of this year. Hopefully I'll find some new authors and styles to love (it's happened before!), and at the very least, I'll check off that box that says "read more widely in 2021" from my resolutions list!
Thanks in advance for your recommendations, and keep 'em coming!