Hello! I hope you have all had a great start to the summer so far! We just spent the weekend camping and I will be honest, I didn’t want to ever come back to real life! But here I am, back at work. (not the blog, that’s fun, but the actual day job.)
Anyways, I was just sitting here updating my Goodreads challenges, and I was wondering… Do you participate in challenges on Goodreads? I just discovered Goodreads challenges in November and I am so happy I did.
Reading is something I really love. I used to spend a TON of time reading, but then all of a sudden I had 3 kids, a husband, and a full-time job and I just didn’t have the time to read much anymore.
There were a few years when I wasn’t reading at all.
It was so depressing, but I just couldn’t find the time. Then I discovered audiobooks and was finally “reading” again. I know it’s not the same, but at least that way I could use my daily drive time to listen to some books. And this worked for me for a while, but it still wasn’t enough.
So at the end of last year, I decided that enough was enough. I enjoy reading. Reading makes me happy. I would no longer put my happiness aside for everyone else. (at least in this regard anyway, I’m still working on not people-pleasing so much.) I decided that starting this year, I was going to make time for myself to read more.
So I started setting aside bits of time for just me and it is working out beautifully. I never realized how much extra time I could make for myself if I really wanted to!
Also, I thought that the best way to force myself to make time for reading was to find a way to be held accountable.
In my online search for book clubs and such, I found Goodreads. I joined a couple of groups on Goodreads and I am loving the community of readers I have found! My favorite part of being in these groups is all of the challenges.
Because I am slightly competitive, the challenges have been the best reading motivation I could ever ask for! I love doing my monthly word hunt challenges. Since starting I have gone from hardly taking time to read, to reading 22 books just in May!!
The challenge I’m currently working the hardest on is the A-Z challenge. The idea is to read a book that has a title beginning with every letter of the alphabet. There is one year to finish this challenge and I am already halfway there! So if anyone else is doing, or interested in doing this challenge and you need some book title ideas, this is what I have done so far!
Goodreads A-Z challenge
25/26 Read (*Updated 12/21/22*)
A- All Stirred Up– June 2022
B- Beard in Mind– March 2022
C- Christmas By Accident– January 2022
D- Duke Of Manhattan– January2022
E- Eddie: Grime Doesn’t Pay– January 2022
F- Friends Without Benefits– January 2022
G- Grin and Beard It– February 2022
H- Husband Material– August 2022
I- It Ends With Us– March2022
J- Jack: Grime and Punishment– January 2022
K- King of Wall Street– January 2022
L- Love Hacked– January 2022
M-Maybe Someday– May 2022
N- Now, Please– May 2022
O- Out of Nowhere– February 2022
P- Pink and Country– August 2022
Q-
R- The Recovery Agent – April 2022
S- Shadow of Night– May 2022
T- Truth or Beard– February 2022
U-Ugly Love – April 2022
V- Verity– March2022
W- The Wife In The Attic– May 2022
X-Mistle Text– December 2022
Y-Yes, Please– May 2022
Z- Sizzle– June 2022 (DNF. I might go back to this one, but at the time I just could not get into it.)
(If you want to know what else I plan to read, here is my A-Z challenge journal tracker. I have the whole year of books planned and am just checking them off as I go!)
If you need more ideas, keep checking back here! I’m going to try to update as I finish each book. I love these challenges because they give me even more reason to read. I feel like I would be letting the whole group down if I don’t finish them. In reality, I’m sure it’s not that dramatic, but whatever keeps me reading is fine with me!
Do you participate in any Goodreads challenges? What is your favorite reading challenge? Let me know in the comments! I read mostly romance, if you do too and would like to join the Goodreads group I am a part of, here is the link to join!
I hope you have a fantastic day!
**Update: December 2022**
I started writing this in June. It feels like not that long ago, and now December is so close to over! It’s insane!
I didn’t think I would be able to get through this A-Z challenge this year, and I can’t believe I did it! (Well, almost, I couldn’t get that pesky Q.) I’m super proud of myself. After letting reading go for so long, it feels great to know that I started again and I am so happy to continue. I have already started planning for 2023!
I hope you have all had an amazing year! Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is even better!
Hunted⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
(This post was originally created on June 7, 2022, on liveloveread87.wixsite.com/website)