2018 Reading Challenge

Last year, I sat down to make some goals for 2017, and came across Modern Mrs. Darcy's blog. She had a really fun looking reading challenge and I felt excited to try it! But then... morning sickness. Reading, unfortunately, makes my first trimester nausea markedly worse. Boo. I could have picked up the challenge halfway through the year when I was feeling better, but life happened and I didn't. I did read more last year than I had the previous couple years, but not a ton, and not many books worth remembering.

This year though! This year, top of my goals list is to read more and read better quality books. Top of my daily habits I want to maintain for 2018 is reading daily. So I am super excited to really dive into Modern Mrs. Darcy's 2018 Reading Challenge! I've already chosen most of my books, but still have some empty spaces, so please feel free to chime in with appropriate recommendations friends! Here is the challenge from the blog:

And here are my selections so far:

A classic I've been meaning to read: Catcher in the Rye by: J.D. Salinger

Recommended by someone with great taste:

A book in translation: Shadow of the Wind by: Carlos Ruiz Zafon

A book nominated for a 2018 award:

A book of poetry: The Sun and Her Flowers by: Rupi Kaur

A book you can read in 1 day:

A book over 500 pages: Gone With the Wind by: Margaret Mitchell

A book by your favorite author: Open House by: Elizabeth Berg

A book by an author of a different race than me: The Bluest Eye by: Toni Morrison

A memoir: Night by: Elie Weisel

A book recommended by a librarian or indie bookseller: 

A banned book: The Handmaid's Tale by: Margaret Atwood

I would like to (roughly) read one of these each month, hopefully making reading enough of a habit that I can sprinkle in plenty of other books in between! I decided to start strong with my pick for a book over 500 pages and I'm on track to finish that before the end of the month!

Because tracking things on paper keeps me motivated and I love my bullet journal so much, I've made some pages in there to keep track of my progress. One is to keep track of all the books I read this year, one as a reference to remember the books I've chosen, and one (so far) to track my progress on a specific book (I most likely won't do this for every book, but for a particularly long book like Gone With the Wind, it has been motivating!)

I am so excited for this challenge and I will be sharing my progress as I go! Please let me know if any of you decide to take on this challenge yourself! I would love to hear what everybody is planning on reading this year!