2016 Bookish Resolutions Update/Wrap-up ~ December

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Lucca
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in December

Blogging Goals

• I've been better at keeping up with commenting and commenting back in December. Yay! :D 

Reading Goals

• I RAISED MY RATING! It's only at 25% BUT I raised it a whole 3%, y'all! Can you tell I'm delighted?!? *happy dances* 
• I didn't get any of my Kids' Recs List read in December, but I've kept this list on my Resolutions Challenge for next year, with some updates from my kids. 

Personal Goals

• Personal goals? What personal goals? I didn't put forth much effort towards my personal goals in December. I was just too busy with other things. I have tweaked this goal category for 2017 to make my goals more tangible so I hope to meet my goals better each month. 

How did y'all do with goals in 2016? Any tweaks for success in 2017?

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ November

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in September

Blogging Goals

• I sucked at blogging goals in November. But I knew that was going to be the case. THANK GOODNESS I'd done blog ahead so I had posts scheduled. That's been a relief. And commenting? What commenting?!? But NaNoWriMo ends today (psst...I hit the 50000 word goal! My novel isn't quite done but I'm a winner nonetheless!) I'll be catching up with comments over the next few days!

Reading Goals

• My rating is still at 22%!! Ugh! I did post a review and I have another I need to get posted but... Maybe I can get it up a couple of percentage points by the end of December???
• I didn't get any of my Kids' Recs List read in November. I've managed to get ONE request per kid read this year.

Personal Goals

• My personal goals centered on NaNoWriMo this month. And seeing as I hit the word goal, I'm calling it a win all the way around. :D In December, I'll get back to exercising and keeping a better schedule. I need sleep, y'all! I kept some late hours and then got up early...I'm feeling it. I was slow at reading over the last month. Thank goodness for audiobooks - I listen when I'm traveling back and forth between dropping off and picking up kids, at the store, cleaning...  

How'd y'all do?

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ October

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in October

Blogging Goals

• I've continued to be better at keeping up with commenting and commenting back in October. Yay! :D I'm still working at creating a schedule to balance everything though.  

Reading Goals

• My rating is still at 22%. I'm not doing so well with this resolution. I'll continue to work at it though. 
• I did get one of my Kids' Recs List read in October - Alice in Wonderland was an interesting read. I'm hoping to get a chat review done with Jax. I also read another book, I'll Give You the Sun, at Sky's request. She didn't change her list to include this one but I'm still going to give myself some credit! ;)

Personal Goals

• My personal goals - well, it seems I can't get it all together at one time. :) I'm still continuing to work at them. I slacked off a little on exercising in October because we had some colder weather and it was WINDY so I didn't make it outside. I can exercise indoors but my kids had left the exercise room a disaster and I just couldn't make myself go down there. :/ I participated in the Blog Ahead Challenge in October and was able to get 28 posts created and scheduled. This DOES free up some time for me to participate in NaNoWriMo in November. Woot! I even have posts scheduled into January. That's a good feeling.
  We left today for our final band competition - State - in Grand Junction. I know my kids will move right into the next musical activity on their plate, but I'll be glad marching band season is done even if we've had a great season!
  I AM participating in NaNoWriMo starting Tuesday. I will do my best to be as present as possible in the blogosphere. But if I'm not around as much, just know I'm working hard at writing. :) 

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ September

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in September

Blogging Goals

• I've been better at keeping up with commenting and commenting back in September. Yay! :D I'm still working at creating a schedule to balance everything though.  

Reading Goals

• My rating is still at 22% because although I posted a few reviews, I also received a few more books for review. Ugh! I do have a few reviews to post so maybe it'll be higher next month!
• I didn't get any of my Kids' Recs List read in September. I'm sucking at this!! Alice in Wonderland is *still* sitting next to my library chair. I'll get it read. Really, I will.

Personal Goals

• I'm still hard at work on my personal goals. I have continued exercising and to be honest, it's audiobooks that are keeping me hitting the trails. ;) I'm participating in the Blog Ahead Challenge in October in order to get posts created and scheduled. This will free up some time for me to participate in NaNoWriMo in November. Woot! We have the first band competition under our belt (they placed 1st!) and I'll be at the second competition all day today. I spent a 4-day weekend last weekend in Portland visiting my oldest and we had a grand time. Even though my kids are keeping me busy, I do feel like I'm doing better at keeping a daily schedule. 

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ August

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in August

Blogging Goals

• The kids are back in school and I can return to a 'normal' routine. That means I'll be around visiting y'all and commenting back. :D 

Reading Goals

• My rating is still at 22% but I have a few reviews to post so it'll be higher next month!
• I didn't get any of my Kids' Recs List read in August. Alice in Wonderland is up next though.

Personal Goals

• I'm still struggling...gosh, I sound like a broken record!! I have started back to exercising. And I've been working at writing. I have two WIPs going right now and I've enjoyed being able to switch between them. I say this like I've spent so much time at it...I haven't. But I'm working at it. Also, after a chat with Lexxie, I think I'm going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I was inspired on our vacation to the Southeast and want to get to work on that. ;) Band season is upon us so between competitions with my two younger kids and visiting/getting visits from my older kid, it's gonna be a busy fall!

Review ~ The Things They Carried ~ Tim O'Brien

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
Release Date: December 29, 1998
Genre: Adult, Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction
Source: Borrowed from Sky's shelf
Rating: 5 Bookworms
Challenges: #BookishResolutions, #COYER, #ShelfLove
Goodreads

Synopsis
They carried malaria tablets, love letters, 28-pound mine detectors, dope, illustrated bibles, each other. And if they made it home alive, they carried unrelenting images of a nightmarish war that history is only beginning to absorb. Since its first publication, The Things They Carried has become an unparalleled Vietnam testament, a classic work of American literature, and a profound study of men at war that illuminates the capacity, and the limits, of the human heart and soul.

The Things They Carried depicts the men of Alpha Company: Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and the character Tim O'Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.

"I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth." ... "What stories can do, I guess, is make things present." Tim, pg 171-172

The Things They Carried was powerfully told and emotionally engaging. It's a story of war but also of self-discovery. This book is technically a work of fiction, but it's rooted in truth and relevant -- extremely relevant. I was shocked, actually, to think of the similarities and parallels between the social and political climate of the 60's and that of today. But that quote above? That's the importance of this story being told. Also, 

"But this too is true: stories can save us." Tim, pg. 213

That's why this story needed to be told. In The Things They Carried stories were not only a way of keeping things - truths, ideas, each other - alive during the war but afterward they were a way of keeping the soldiers alive in death as well.

"Well, right now," she said, "I'm not dead. But when I am, it's like...I don't know, I guess it's like being inside a book that nobody's reading.""A book?" I said."And old one. It's up on a library shelf, so you're safe and everything, but the book hasn't been checked out for a long, long time. All you can do is wait. Just hope somebody'll pick it up and start reading."

I appreciated this analogy and it reiterated the importance of storytelling to keep the past - people, history, customs, and culture - alive. But I also think storytelling is cathartic for the storyteller. And Tim O'Brien is a master! This book is amazing in that it made me feel, made me think, made me consider... It's an experience I won't soon forget and isn't that the point?

***

My older daughter requested I read this because it made such an impression on her. Thanks for asking me to read this, Sky, and for listening to me and chatting with me as it left its mark on me as well.

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ July (um, May-July)

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in May-July

Blogging Goals

• I've essentially fallen off the face of the blogosphere over the past few months...I haven't even done update posts. I've not commented, commented back, linked to challenges or memes...nothing. But I'm working on a come back. *hehe* 

Reading Goals

• I've posted a few reviews to Netgalley over the past few months, and my rating is up to 22%. Still working at it!
• I read one book off my Kids' Recs List in July. Will continue to work on their recs.

Personal Goals

• Obviously, I'm still struggling...with everything outside of family time. In the words of Arnold...I'll be back.

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ April

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Lucca
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in March

Blogging Goals

• I've continued to do a fairly good job at keeping up with commenting back this month. :) I apologize for not being the greatest at commenting. It's been a very busy month personally with preparing for end of year events in music and my daughter's graduation. 
• I've linked my New Release Challenge reviews. I didn't have any other reviews to link for my challenges. Yep, it's been that sort of reading month.
• I've thought about Code Academy. Does that count?!?

Reading Goals

• I didn't post any reviews to Netgalley this month. BUT I'm participating in the Clean Sweep ARC Challenge in May so I should get at least a few posted. :)
• I didn't get any books read off my Kids' Recs List in April, but I hope to get at least one read in May.

Personal Goals

• I'm still struggling with with a schedule and finding balance. I continued working at my exercising goal. But as always, there's still room for improvement there. I'm *still* dealing with snow y'all...can you believe it? Keep your fingers crossed that my daughter's graduation day is dry. Seriously! Eventually the snow will melt (and the mud will dry) and I'll get back to exercising outdoors. :) As far as writing, I've put a lot of thought into it, and got some feedback from some friends, and made more changes to my schedule so I can fit more writing time in. Y'all may notice some of the changes but I'll be talking about them more soon. Getting my book completed is an important goal for me so bear with me as I work at finding a way to make writing a priority and balancing that with my family and blogging. <3

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ March

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Lucca
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in March

Blogging Goals

• I've done a fairly good job at keeping up with commenting back this month. :)
• I've yet to link any of my challenge reviews this month but plan to get my New Release Challenge reviews linked today.
• I've *still* learned NOTHING towards my goal but I did register with Code Academy and I'm hoping to get started this week.

Reading Goals

• I didn't post any reviews to Netgalley this month. :(
• I *still* didn't read any books off my Kids' Recs List in March, but have one planned for early April.

Personal Goals

• My schedule is something I'm still working on. I did do better with exercising this month. Yay! But there's still room for improvement there. Once the snow has all melted (and the mud has dried) I'll get back to exercising outdoors. :) As far as writing, I've made some changes in my schedule so I can fit more writing time in. My book is *NOT* going to write itself, y'all. So I'll work within my new schedule and tweak it as necessary. Man, figuring out the right balance for everything is quite a challenge! 

Middle Grade Review ~ Listening for Lucca ~ Suzanne LaFleur

Listening for Lucca by Suzanne LaFleur
Release Date: August 6, 2013
Genre: Middle Grade, Realistic Fiction, Paranormal
Source: Purchased hardcover (for my younger daughter)
Rating: 3.5 Bookworms
Challenges: Bookish Resolutions, #ShelfLove
Goodreads

Synopsis
"I'm obsessed with abandoned things." Siena's obsession began a year and a half ago, around the time her two-year-old brother Lucca stopped talking. Now Mom and Dad are moving the family from Brooklyn to Maine hoping that it will mean a whole new start for Lucca and Siena. She soon realizes that their wonderful old house on the beach holds secrets. When Siena writes in her diary with an old pen she found in her closet, the pen writes its own story, of Sarah and Joshua, a brother and sister who lived in the same house during World War II. As the two stories unfold, amazing parallels begin to appear, and Siena senses that Sarah and Joshua's story might contain the key to unlocking Lucca's voice.

Listening for Lucca was a sweet story. There were many elements I really liked but as I sat down to write my review, I found it hard to say exactly what the story was trying to convey - its message, if you will. Still, I liked it and am happy to have read one of my younger daughter's favorite books.

Siena and her little brother, Lucca, and their family, have moved from Brooklyn to Maine in an attempt to ease tension - live a more relaxed lifestyle - in hopes Lucca will speak again. Siena has a special gift - she sees things from the past - in fact, the house her family has moved to is one she's been dreaming about for years. Once they begin getting settled, Siena, and Lucca as well, experience some odd things which have Siena wondering how it is they really ended up here.

The story alternates between the present - Siena making friends, playing with Lucca - and the past - Siena getting the story of a brother and sister who once lived in their house, through trance-like states and/or dreams. There are similarities between Siena and Lucca and Sarah and Joshua, and Siena ends up setting out to help Sarah and Joshua in the past in order to repair things with Lucca in the present.

I liked the story overall. I enjoyed getting to know Siena and her family. I also enjoyed the historical element of Sarah and Joshua's life during WWII. The paranormal element was also well done even thought it's not exactly explained. That Siena is such a compassionate you girl (14 yo) and is willing to do anything she can to help her brother made her very likable. And I, of course, felt for Sarah and Joshua as the dealt with the repercussions of war. The story flowed well and I can understand why this is on my daughter's list of favorites.

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge Update ~ February

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in February

Blogging Goals

• I struggled a bit this month with keeping up with commenting back, and I'll refocus and do better in March. :)
• I've linked my COYER and New Release challenges YAY!
• I've learned NOTHING towards my goal but I did register with Code Academy and I'm hoping to get started this week.

Reading Goals

• I've posted 4 reviews to Netgalley. Woohoo!
• I didn't read any books off my Kids' Recs List in February.

Personal Goals

• I'm still struggling to get everything done in the scheduled time slot but I'm still doing relatively well with sticking to my daily schedule. There were a few weeks in February where I didn't get my I exercise in every day and that upset me. But I'll keep striving to do better. I've *still* not spent as much time with my writing as I'd like, and this is something I have to figure out if I'm going to accomplish the goals I've set for myself where writing is concerned. So, it's *still* a work in progress but I'm taking it a day at a time. 

2016 Bookish Resolutions Challenge ~ January Update

Laura @Trips Down Imagination Road and Michelle @Because Reading are once again hosting the Bookish Resolutions Challenge in 2016. I participated in this challenge last year and it was a good way to keep me motivated in certain areas, so I decided to do it again this year.

My Goals for 2016

• Blogging Goals
• Keep up with commenting back weekly
• Link up my challenge posts bi-weekly
• Learn some HTML to change up format of posts
• Reading Goals
• Raise my Netgalley rating to 50%
• Read books my kids *need* me to read
• Alice in Wonderland
• Death with Interruptions 
• Everything is Illuminated
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Listening for Luka
• School of Good and Evil
• The Things They Carried
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
• Wonderstruck
• Personal Goals
• Stick to my daily schedule

Progress made in January

Blogging Goals

• I've been good at keeping up with commenting back, and I've been enjoying the chats. :)
• I've linked ____ for my challenges
• I've learned NOTHING towards my goal

Reading Goals

• I've posted 2 reviews to Netgalley. Woohoo!
• I read Listening for Luka off my Kids' Recs List. :D

Personal Goals

• So far, I've done fairly well with sticking to my daily schedule. It's tough some days because I don't get everything done in the allotted time slot, but if I have time, I go back to that task later in the day. I have made the time for exercise every day and that makes a big difference for my mental health. ;) I've not spent as much time with my writing as I'd like though. So, it's still a work in progress but I'm working on it. :D