Friday, February 13, 2015

2015 Book Goals Update #1

Goal 1: Read 150 books I have not read before.
So far no re-reading, but I've "fallen behind" the schedule, according to Goodreads. I've also decided to qualify the rereading part of this goal. I'm planning on reading the more recent volumes of Bill Willingham's Fables, but it' been a while since I've read any of the issues, so I am going to spend quite a bit of time rereading to refresh my memory. Thus, rereading for a purpose will count toward the 150.

Goal 2: Complete Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge.
I've completed 3 out of the 24 tasks and here's my take on the books I've completed.

  • Task 8: Read a book by an African author. I chose Helen Oyeyemi's Mr. Fox. My take: "I enjoyed the interspersing of St. John's stories with the main characters' lives, but I wish there was a little more resolution."
  • Task 20: Read a graphic novel or comic book. I chose Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson and Adrian Alphona. My take: "I enjoyed the it. The addition of the culture clash between Kamala and her immigrant parents to the superhero origin story gave a new twist to the secret identity trope of superheroes. I do think the rejection of the blonde alter ego was handled a little abruptly and that villain still needs to be flushed out a whole lot."
  • Task 16: Listen to an audio book. I chose Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy. My take: "An intimate look into the "Monster" of homicide rates among young black men in South Central Los Angeles. Leovy centers her book around the death of a L.A. homicide detective's son and the 77th Division's homicide detectives. The book shows the failings of the policing system, not focusing blame on the victims or the detectives working the cases, instead showcasing the entrenched indifference and ignorance of the system and society as a whole. On another note, I typically listen to comedic celebrity memoirs as audio books, so this was a bit of a change. I had the listen harder to follow the story and I found I really couldn't do anything else that engaged my thinking brain while doing it (the TVs at the gym were very distracting)."
Goals 3 and 4: Read books from my To Read list and books that I own.
Of the 9 books that I've read, 5 have been specifically on my To Read list and 3 I own. I am also currently reading two books that fit both goals.