Top 5 Tuesday - Top 5 Bookish Resolutions

 

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that explores different topics. Originally created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, it is now hosted by Meeghan at Meeghan Reads. For a list of January topics you can click here. To participate, link your post back to the weekly post.

Well, this week's Top 5 Tuesday will certainly make next week's Top Ten Tuesday a bit easier. :) Both are about resolutions. We make them. We break them. But, we can't beat ourselves up too much. Every step in the right direction means progress. Here are my...

Top 5 Bookish Resolutions

Complete this year's Goodreads Reading Challenge - Considering what I anticipate as an even crazier work schedule than last year, I stuck to 40 books for 2021. I surpassed my goal in 2020, so I want to at least meet it this year.

Reduce the number of virtual book tours I participate in - I love VBTs, you know I do. There are so many authors looking for reviews of books I know I would enjoy, but I can't fit you all in and still feel like reading is a pleasure. I have two in January and two in March. That should be it for the first quarter.

Write two First Chapter Reviews a month - I usually like to focus on Kindle freebies or books that have been in my TBR pile for a long time. I review the first chapter of the book and say whether or not I would continue and why. I love doing these and want to get back to them.

Purge my TBR pile - Here is the hard truth: even if I stopped working right now and just focused on reading, it would take me years to go through the boxes of unread books I've accumulated over the last ten years. There are few I would even keep once I read them. This is the year to make the tough choices--which ones stay and which ones get donated. 

Read more nonfiction this year - I've really gotten away from nonfiction since I started blogging. Part of that is because I am so busy these days, I don't want to think too hard when I sit down to read. The reality is, however, that you can't grow if you don't constantly inspire and motivate yourself to do better. One way I do that is by reading. I can see at least half a dozen books on my shelf that are waiting for me. I want to pick them up.

Hope you've enjoyed reading my bookish resolutions. What are some of yours? 

Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Tropes

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Feeling a bit embarrassed because I had no idea what a trope was until I looked it up. Sigh! I guess I can't know everything. This sounds like such a fun one.

Top Ten Favorite Tropes

1. Treasure hunting - Often this involves historical fiction, but Karen White's The House on Tradd Street was a contemporary southern fiction novel with a ghost and the infamous Confederate treasure. 
2. Fun occupations - Duffy Brown has two series which feature amateur sleuths with fun occupations. One runs a consignment shop and the other a bicycle shop. I've also read a cozy mystery where the main character was a real estate agent. 
3. Small town romance - Those set during Christmas are my favorites, but often you find someone who has left home and returns after the death of a loved one and ends up falling in love and settling back into the hometown they had been so eager to leave.
4. Opposites attract - Romances where the two main characters are polar opposites, but fall in love.
5. Good versus evil - The Stand by Stephen King is the ultimate good versus evil story, but even if it is as simple as an awkward teenager facing a mean girl, it's fun to see how it turns out.
6. Sympathetic villains - I don't believe people are born evil. Something happens to them. Stories where you get a glimpse into what happened in a villain's life to make them who they are now fascinate me.
7. Coming of age - I've always loved stories where the character is coming into his own, making up his own mind, and deciding what to believe. 
8. Family secrets - All families have them. Exploring them with book characters is great.
9. Strong faith or rediscovering faith - I'm drawn to Amish fiction because of the strong faith displayed by the people in these communities. I also enjoy stories where a character might have come away from her faith, but through circumstances rediscovers that faith.
10. Family drama - Maybe it is because I grew up around drama, but family drama--especially when the drama winds up with a reconciliation--makes for a great read. 

What are some of your favorite tropes? 

Summer 2019 Beach Reads

We are hanging out at the Outer Banks of North Carolina this week. I definitely brought a bunch of books with me Here are some beach reads for you to take with you this summer.

Vacation Time Reading 2019

It is that time of year again--vacation time. Whether vacation is hanging out at home and not running the daily work rat race or going somewhere special, we all need the time to get away. We are leaving for the Outer Banks on Saturday after dance recital, so the week is going to be hectic. Not sure what I will get done before I leave, but my books are already packed. I went through them today and took a few out to lighten the load and added a couple I had just bought.

Here is what is making the trip:

What are some books you're looking forward to taking on vacation?