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:
- Blue: My Heart May Be Broken, but My Hair Still Looks Great (Domestic Equalizers #2)
- Red: The Marriage Pact
- Yellow: Hag-Seed
- Green: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Brown: A Name Unknown (Shadows Over England #1)
- Black: Here and Gone
- White: The Missing
- Any color not listed above (purple): Autumn Falls (Autumn Falls #1)
- 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!
- First row
- Female author: Hag-Seed
- In TBR pile 1+ year: My Heart May Be Broken, but My Hair Still Looks Great
- New author: n/a
- Non-fiction: The Story Cure
- Set in a foreign country: The Missing
- Second row
- Inspired by a review: The Bible, Christianity, & Homosexuality
- Published this year: A Name Unknown
- Horror: The Never List
- Animal on the cover: The 12 Cats of Christmas
- Romance: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
- Third row
- Author under 30: Autumn Falls
- Science fiction: The Possessions
- FREE: The Proving
- A classic: Anne of Green Gables
- Novella or short story: She Marched
- Fourth row
- Fantasy: The Day the Angels Fell
- Non-human main character: If You Give a Cat a Cupcake
- Historical fiction: All She Left Behind
- 500+ pages: Ninth City Burning
- Banned/challenged: N/A
- Fifth row:
- Color in the title: N/A
- Dystopia: The 100: Day 21
- Part of a series: A Plain Leaving
- Inspired a movie: The Marriage Pact
- Male author: Here and Gone
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:
- The 365 Commenting Challenge (signed up, because visiting 365 blogs and commenting on them seems interesting)
- Book Blog Discussion Challenge (because why not)
- Dread & Read Challenge (signed up; includes reading rewards)
- Historical Fiction Challenge (effortless)
- New Release Challenge (since review program books will be published in 2018)
- POPSUGAR Reading Challenge (downloaded the list, but IDK)
- Reading Challenge Addicts (since I’m doing reading challenges anyway??)
- Strictly Print Reading Challenge (since I mostly read print books)
- What’s In A Name 2018 (maybe)
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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Comments on this post
Evelina
I always end up reading less scifi than I hope to as well. It’s just.. It’s not easy to find something that you want to read from that genre based on the blub xD although you might really enjoy the book. Many blurbs for Scifi are just so generic. May I recommend some amazing one for this year for you though? The Punch Escrow, maybe more speculative than scifi, but is so very worth it. Also, have you read A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? I bet everyone has, but on the off chance you haven’t 🙂 and have you read Three Body Problem? And Seveneves? 🙂
I also didn’t sign up for almost any challenges this year, cause I just wanted a rest. I gave myself a low bar with the Goodreads and now I’m just slaying it xD I guess removing the stress factor is really cool, huh?
Jane
I don’t know if I’ll get to those recs this year, but I will definitely keep them in mind! I haven’t read any of them. I’m really finding that I have to rely on book reviews sometimes to gauge whether I’ll like a book, because the blurbs are so unhelpful to me these days. I seldom decide to read a book based on its blurb alone, and then I’m usually disappointed. :/
I start to think it’d be so nice and save everyone’s time if they just put “You’ll love this book if…” and “You’ll hate this book if…” I mean, some do, but it’s in the form of 1-2 lines from greater reviews by people and purely for promotional purposes. It’s how they trap me and get me to read the book, all to find it’s actually nothing like The Hunger Games. UGH.
Evelina
Lol yes I know what you mean. I always try to build my reviews around that, to be honest. As for blurbs, I still fall for them a lot – you kind of have to when you’re reading a lot of ARCs, cause there are just no reviews yet xD but I agree… we book bloggers actually have the accessibility of way more reviews than most folks because we’re always surrounded by them. I’m surprised, frankly, that I don’t add ten books every month based solely on people’s reviews xD
Jane
I don’t get a lot of ARCs (’cause no reliable ebooks ability), but the when review programs I’m part of are releasing a completely new book and haven’t gotten prior feedback, I’m going in blind. D; I don’t know what to expect, but then sometimes reviews aren’t helpful, either. I’m a little pickier, I’ve noticed, and my reading tastes are not totally noticeable at a glance. So reviews aren’t always reliable for me. 😅
Nicole
I think that reading fiction can help everyone expand their perspectives, and I would imagine that it would be especially helpful for someone with autism to see the world through the eyes of someone it’s hard to understand. Glad that you’ve discovered this for yourself!
Jane
It is good for autistics, although it’s more like allistic (non-autistic) apologetics, for lack of a better word. It’s to help understand them and how they work, because they’re a completely different culture.
Thanks for your comment, Nicole!
P.S. I use “autistic” and “autistic people”, which is identity-first language, because within the community of autistic people, identity-first language is often the default. We believe person-first language, “person with autism”, separates the autism from the person when it’s not something that could ever be removed. It’s hard-coded in our cores; take away the autism, and you take away the very being of who the person is. 💖
Joy
Wow, the book challenges you did last year seem so awesome. I didn’t have much time to read last year but this year I’ve hit the ground running. This post is definitely an inspirational post on that front, thank you so much!
I wish you luck with all of your reading this year. Hopefully, I’ll be able to say I read as much as I could as well =)
Jane
Ah! Thank you so much for your kind words, Joy! 💖 Good luck on your reading, too. 😊
Hiro
Ohh. A book bingo! That’s such a cool idea. :O Thanks for the link to the list of Autistic authors. I’m all in for more diversity in writing… 🙂 I’ve also tried reading a lot of different genres last year, and I really enjoyed the breath of fresh air when diving into a completely new genre…
Jane
Ah, same! I used to stick to three genres tops, but like with movies, I enjoy expanding my horizons and trying something new. Various genres offer things other genres don’t have available.
As for the bingo, I enjoyed and “played” Jamie’s bingo, but looking for other bingo games for 2018…I didn’t see anything I liked that was broad, yet varied, enough that it wouldn’t be too far a stretch for me to attempt. But I did start the bingo late last year, so it’s not set in stone.
Gayathri
We have had three books in common last year. Here and gone, The marriage pact and Hag seed (am still reading that one though). I will have to check out if we also had similar thoughts on the books right away.
Tara
I never thought about doing those reading challenges before, but that’s a good idea and a good way to read new and different books. You did well with those challenges. Hope you will be able to do more of these challenges in 2018. Good luck!
Erica
Hey there! I’m visiting through the Bloggers’ Commenting Junction 🙂 What fun reading challenges! Congrats on a great year of reading!
Jamie
You completely owned the bingo card I made and I’m so happy someone actually did it. 🙂 You had a crazy good reading year and read so much!! Also thank you for listing new challenges, I might pick a few up as well. 🙂
Carolyn
Hello Jane! I see you are joining J.G. like I am. I love her. I also see you have read colours. Few know I have hosted something similar for five years. You are the third person I have encountered today, who likes the thought of reading groups but wants them to be flexible. I created some challenges because I felt the same way! The spiritual, mystery, Celtic, and broad topics for fun…. mine are about sharing what you read; not being asked to read, the other way around.
Edel
I knew myself too well and my goal was to read 50 books in 2017. I barely made it and kinda cheated with some graphic novels but hey, it’s still a book, right? The discussion challenge seems interesting maybe I’ll take a look at it!
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