My 2017 Reading Challenge Recap

Every year, I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, and sometimes in more specific challenges, in addition to my personal reading goals. Last year was the first time I wrote up a recap of how well I met my goals. The end of 2016 was a triumphant time for me: it was the first time I had met my Goodreads Reading Challenge since starting college. This year, I got a little too ambitious and fell somewhat short of my goal. But overall, I would still count 2017 as a success.

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My 2016 Reading Challenge Recap

Good news—I just completed my 2016 Goodreads Reaching Challenge! This year, I set myself what I thought was a rather moderate goal: to read 50 books over the course of the year. Though in my high school years I think I could have easily surpassed that number, I’d been repeatedly falling short the last two or three years of doing the challenge because college really cut into my reading time. Ironically, I read far fewer books while studying to be an English major, but that’s what happens when you spend an entire semester reading War and Peace… Now, for my first full year after graduating, I’ve been truly taking advantage of the opportunity to read whatever I want again. And of course, having a book blog to write for weekly has certainly spurred me on.

A peek at the books I've read this year for the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge
A peek at the books I’ve read this year for the 2016 Goodreads Reading Challenge

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Boston Teen Author Festival 2016

Last weekend, I ventured up to Boston to attend the Boston Teen Author Festival for the very first time. Young Adult literature is one of my passions, so I was excited to attend an entire book event dedicated to these authors. But what really motivated me to make the four-and-a-half hour trek was the opportunity to meet the author of the first vampire novel I ever read (and thus the author responsible for changing the course of my literary life)—Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I was also excited to see a couple of authors that I met last summer at the Brooklyn Book Festival and to discover new authors whose books I might like.

"Create-Your-Own-Family Adventure" panel, with Amelia Atwater-Rhodes on the far left.
“Create-Your-Own-Family Adventure” panel, with Amelia Atwater-Rhodes on the far left.

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