Books in 2017

I participated in some reading challenges this year. 🙂 One was a color challenge, requiring the title or cover to have that color, and the other was a Bingo challenge created by Jamie. I had papers with it all, but then I lost them because I cleaned off my desk and don’t remember where they are. I started partaking in them late, anyway, and then I didn’t mention anything because I didn’t want to say I was going to participate and life be like, “Nah, girl, you’re not.” Life likes to do that to me.

Anyway, I thought it’d be cool to reflect on my year in books. If nothing else, I feel like I accomplished a lot in terms of reading. I read more books than I ever expected myself capable this year, and many of them challenged me to think differently. I think I’m a better person than I was before I read many of these books, simply because I read them. It’s an odd feeling, so I don’t know how to explain it better, so I’ll get on with it.

Reading challenges

Color challenge (Reader’s Block)

Contain colors (or shades of) on cover/in title:

  1. Blue: My Heart May Be Broken, but My Hair Still Looks Great (Domestic Equalizers #2)
  2. Red: The Marriage Pact
  3. Yellow: Hag-Seed
  4. Green: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
  5. Brown: A Name Unknown (Shadows Over England #1)
  6. Black: Here and Gone
  7. White: The Missing
  8. Any color not listed above (purple): Autumn Falls (Autumn Falls #1)
  9. Word that implies color (e.g. stripes, paisley, plaid, polka dots, etc.): Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1)

2017 Book Bingo (The Last Page)

I tried coding this into a table, but it was really overwhelming, so I’m going to do my best of making this a list. I got multiple bingo instances, but am gonna list out one book per square I marked off, because listing each bingo is tedious, but I like looking at finished challenges like these for #inspo of my own!

2017 Book Bingo image (list below includes squares' content and the books that correspond to them)

  1. First row
  2. Second row
  3. Third row
  4. Fourth row
  5. Fifth row:

Reading reflections

Some things about my reading habits this year I noticed:

  • I liked the diversity. Used to, I’d stick to specific genres only, but having read beyond them this year, I feel like I went outside my bubble and explored other things. I understand some people in my life, and it’s helped me to love them better.
  • I didn’t read as much science fiction as I’d have liked. I did read a lot of historical fiction, though, which I like for reasons I will probz explain in a post later (but don’t count on it).~
  • I think partaking in challenges, even if I did so low-key, was good for me.
  • One of the reasons I got into and do book reviews is because they help with my reading comprehension. My reading comprehension has improved, but I’m noticing reading fiction has helped me with theory of mind, something medicine says autistics lack and I have noticed I lack myself. Alas, many of the things I struggled to learn in my youth are finally making sense, because I’m in the minds of allistic people! (I mayn’t agree with them, of course, but that’s beside the point.)

Reading in 2018

I have books lined up, which is overwhelming and exciting all at once.

As far as challenges go, I’m not going to hold to myself any specific criteria (mostly since I don’t know what my future holds). I do want to try to partake in the Book Blog Discussion Challenge, because it seems mostly post-based, and I’m hoping it’ll help me expand my bubble and go a little more outside my comfort zone. I’m not shy, but I’m introverted…and I’m apprehensive (there’s a difference).

There are challenges semi-related to each other and/or that would be easily convenient for me to partake in, such as these:

I made a specific page for this, too.

If you’re up for a small challenge, how about challenging yourself to read at least one book by an #actuallyautistic author? 😀

This post is part of #LetsDiscuss2018.

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