So last year I didn't really set myself any New Year resolutions . Instead I set myself goals, as I felt re-branding them as goals made them less threatening. These Goals included get a new job, move out of the flat share, live a healthier lifestyle, start a Blog and complete the 50 Books in a Year Challenge.
Well this blog now exists so I completed that one, and I did move out I also did go to the gym for a while and even went running a few times, and I am thinking when it warms up here I would like to start running on the beach, and I also feel my choices when it comes to food are healthier. I try to consume as little caffeine as possible, I have swapped sugar for sweetener, little changes that help me feel better about myself.
Now that leaves two goals that I have sort of missed the mark on. In terms of a new job I have been looking and had a good few interviews, but I am yet to leave retail but that won't stop me trying, and I am hoping that this year might offer me some new opportunities.
And the Reading Challenge, 50 books in a year. It seemed so do-able. That's roughly one book a week, I am pretty fast reader and I own a lot of books and my To-Read list is out of control, so I wasn't short for options. I started off strong as well. I read the collection of books by Jennifer Worth, her memoirs which have also been turned into the BBC show Call The Midwife, and these books were fantastic and in particular In the Midst of Life had a real impact on me and I would urge all of you to go pick up a copy.
I then went on to read another fantastic book The Help Kathryn Stockett, I have written about this book in a previous post if you want to find out more about it, but once again I urge you all to go read this book. After this I decided to try a genre I don't normally read by picking up Horns by Joe Hill. I picked this book because it was going to get turned into a film staring Daniel Radclife I wasn't expecting to enjoy it but I really really did. However I am still not too sure if the Horror genre is for me.
After that I decided to try a genre that I use to love but don't read as often as I use too, YA, Once again I picked a book that was getting turned into a film Maze Runner and I was totally disappointed. Characters were one dimensional the protagonist was pretty much a Manic Pixie style of character. I found it to be very weak. Though I did like the idea of the story I just wish is had been executed better. It is safe to say I did not pick up the rest of that trilogy. I had a very similar experience with another YA trilogy Matched by Ally Condie. Again I felt character were very flat,and the story was very slow and in many parts very predictable,
I then moved on to author Rainbow Rowell. I had heard great things about her work, so I picked up Fangirl. First of all I loved the cover for this book, and I also loved it was about an 18 year old just starting college in America, and I feel this is an age range that is often skipped. I tend to find books are either about teens ages 15-17 or then are about mid twenties plus. I loved this book. Her Characters are well fleshed out, they are flawed and they are believable. She is very in touch with this generation that has grown up on line. It was very relate-able and a down right fun read.
So I then went a picked up her other book Eleanor and Park, I didn't enjoy this as much as Fangirl but her writing style is so good it kept me engaged. I would say this book is for people who are a fan of John Greens Paper Towns as I often thought back to that as I was reading it.
I then moved onto Insurgent by Veronica Roth. I am still not too sure how I feel about this book. It started out very strong, but towards the end I feel the writing slipped and I found it hard to work out which character was speaking and would have to flip back to the start of the chapter to find out which chrather it was about.
So by this type it is April and I have a good few books under my belt. And I was out in town looking for some books to take on Holiday with me as that May I was going on my first ever proper Holiday aboard. Sun Sea and all that, and of course I wasn't going to part take in that with out a book to keep me company. I was in The Works, because who doesn't love a good bargain and I have come across some great deals in there. Little did I know I was going to come across a deal that would ruin my 50 Books Challenge.
They were selling all of the current Song of Ice and Fire books, also known as Game of Thrones, for £29.99! 6 books for £29.99! Who can say no to that ? I had never seen the show, but I had wanted to start watching it but I hate watching anything that I know is an adaptation of a book with out having a stab at the book first. Because I enjoy the process of reading far more then watching something, so if something has a great storyline I would rather read it and know what's going to happen on screen rather then starting a book knowing how it is going to go down.
So I see this offer and think GREAT its a bargain and that's an easy way to fit in 6 books into the Challenge.Oh how wrong I was. So It's the day before the holiday and I start reading the first book in the series. I was nervous that I might not like it and I had no time to go get anything else and I really didn't want to take a book I had read before, and it starts off pretty good and I finished a good few chapters and I quite confidently pack it in my carry on and the second one in my case. I thought I could plough through them both during my weeks holiday to Tenerife.
I loved book one. It was a lot to take in with all the new characters and the relationships between them. There were about a million people with the name Rob, Robert, Robb Robett, Robbie ect but I had never read a fantasy book like this before. The idea of a book with Knights and Kings and Jousting and Feasts had never appealed to me because I thought they would either be silly romances or just blood baths and battles that just didn't interest me, but this as so much more exciting. I liked all the secrets between characters. The rivalry, and love and tensions between families. I loved that women and girls were interesting people rather then just pretty faces and I torn through the pages. It took almost the full week to read it but on the plane home I was already on book two.
And this is where it all started to go wrong. This book introduced more families and more history and a main character from the first book was dead but I trudged through but this book took me weeks to read, the longest it has taken me to read a book in a long time. I as tempted to give up on the series by this point but felt I should at least give book three a chance, plus I wanted to know how some of the story lines were going to play out.
Book three was fantastic ! I was pulled right back in, People were killed off the you didn't expect and stories turned in unexpected directions, yeah it was still taking me a few weeks to get through the book but reading one chapter of George R R Martins work can be really tiring. He can first more description into a paragraph then you ever though possible. It can be a read joy to read and some times a total chore.
I am sure you can see how the nest book went, I wasn't so keen on but by that point I was in too deep, and here I am the first month of 2015 and I am still working my way through what was suppose to be my Holiday reading. I am on the second to last book with 120 pages to go. But I am enjoying this one, it's just with every page you are worried about your favourite character dying, and the next chapter could be someone who you have been reading about since book one or it could be a whole new person you have to quickly learn about and why they are important, and I never felt I could take a break from the books because I was worried if I did I would be lost as to what was happening because I would forget what everyone was up to.
I have definitely stepped out of my comfort zone with these books and for the most part I am really enjoying them. Plus I quite like the TV show as well as I have allowed myself to watch episodes as I finish the books they are based on.
Though when I finish the final book in the series so far I know it will be a relief but at the same time I will be counting down the days till the next book it released. I have definitely got myself into something pretty deep with these books.
This year there is anew Reading Challenge I have seen floating around Blogs which looks pretty good and i wouldn't mind having a stab at. I don't feel like I have totally failed at this challenge because I feel the point of reading 50 books in a year was to force readers out of their comfort zones and I definitely did that.
Rella
Xx
