My January reading was great—I read some great books, both in English and French, and didn’t spend a dime. So, how did the 2014 reading challenge in February go?
Well, not as great. I am a little behind on some things! I’ll need to pick up the pace in March…
Goal 1: Read 100 Books
Here’s what happened in February to put me behind on this: I read my first five-star book of the year, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. It was a beautiful reading experience, and after I finished it, I froze. I turned on my Kobo, saw screen after screen of Grisham and other filler stuff, and worried that it wouldn’t measure up, that reading it would somehow ‘spoil’ the book I had just read. Irrational, I know. But I felt like I could not read again until I found something as fabulous. I finally broke the spell with the release of the newest JD Robb book, [easyazon-link asin=”0515154148″ locale=”us”]Concealed in Death[/easyazon-link]—I devoutly follow the series and was looking forward to this latest release. It started out a little rough—maybe I was still waiting out the end of the five-star high, or maybe the main character in my beloved series is becoming a bit too Mary Sueish for my taste. But I finished the book yesterday and found it had a satisfying ending. Back to normal reading for me!
Goal 2: Do a Thematic Reading Project
Check! The Golem and the Jinni was a Jewish-themed book, so I’ve met my goal on that one. I’ve got several other Jewish-themed books in the queue; I am going strong on this one.
Goal 3: Read a Book of Daily Essays
Well, I am still reading Telushkin’s [easyazon-link asin=”0609603302″ locale=”us”]The Book of Jewish Values[/easyazon-link], and enjoying it. But I think I am a week or so behind now. The book, unlike the daily essay book I read last year, is not organized by Calendar date—there is no numbered entry for each day of the year. Rather, there are 52 weeks and each week has a Monday entry, a Tuesday entry and so on. I recall missing a few days, and then opening up one Wednesday to find it coincidentally waiting on a Wednesday read; I read it, then carried on.
Goal 4: Read More French
Fail, Fail, Fail. Didn’t read a thing. Bad Joanna! I do still have some of the freebies from the French series I reviewed, but they work a lot better on my iPad’s bigger screen and that’s not usually the device I prefer to read on. So I lost track of these a little. I am going to double down on this in March. I have plenty of material ready to go!
Goal 5: Spend Less Money
Done! I still have yet to buy an ebook. All of my reads this month were library books.
Up next for March: I need to catch up on my 100-book goal, read more French and polish off another Jewish-themed book. I am loving having a focus for my reading this year and am excited to have a ton of great books to read.
