Returning to Reading: 25 Books This Year

Sooooooo I realized recently that as a college senior, I haven't read a book for pure joy and gotten through to the end since my senior year of high school. Intensifying coursework and mental health issues got in my way, and I'd like to get back to reading just for fun. Therefore, I'd like to read two books a month that aren't for class this year. My plans are as follows:

January: Finish books I started and put down! Right now I'm thinking Raising Rabbits, which was a gift from my roommate, and Choosing a Jewish Life
February: Two books by black authors-- ideally one queer romance for Valentine's Day and one memoir. I will need to research to decide what these will be.
March: One horror/thriller novel for Friday the 13th and one novel recommended by my mom-- she reads a ton and it's her birthday month.
April: One book by an autistic author and one fun fluffy fun novel-- it'll be close to my last finals of college and I'm going to be. Ready to lose my mind
May: Two graphic novels/manga volumes! I'll treat myself to this for my birthday month
June: Pride month, baby! One queer fiction novel, one memoir by a trans author, and one book about queer history
July: Two books of US history based on what I didn't learn in high school-- maybe People's History and something about the War of 1812, which was literally never discussed in any history class I took?
August: Two more finishes from the pile-- I think Raven Boys and something else
September: Two DIY books-- I think one on gardens and one on something I don't yet do but would like to learn, maybe quilting??
October: Two horror/thriller novels-- one 'horror classic', maybe a Steven King, and one newer.
November: Two books by indigenous authors.
December: Cozy books! Stuff that's warm and fun for the cold end of the year, re-reads are fine for this specifically

Lots of luck! I'll look forward to seeing which books you choose and how you enjoy them. Cheers!

Thank you very much! I have my first finished book to report, as I sat down today and finished Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits-- I might try and give it a full review at some point, tldr the author is obviously quite knowledgeable but also clearly hasn't kept rabbits as anything other than profit animals and made statements about rabbit social behavior were totally contradictory to my own experiences raising them as companions

2. Choosing a Jewish Life finished!

>1 TheoChick: Regarding February, possibly Once Ghosted, Twice Shy? I fell off that series earlier, but Alyssa Cole is a good writer. I think it's only a novella, though, so there might be better suggestions for full-length books.

On the memoir front, I really enjoyed How to Sit, although it takes the form of disconnected personal essays. Again, it's on the short side.

Also I'm super impressed that you have such an ambitious project your senior year of college. I definitely didn't get back into reading for fun until a few years after college.

(Edited to correct touchstone.)

I'll check them out, thank you for the recommendations! I have a pretty chill and laid-back final semester here so I'm hoping I can keep things relatively together.

Between classes today I ripped through my third book of 2020! All Systems Red, by Martha Wells. It's a short little novella, but I'm really looking forward to finding and reading the other three!

>That's reassuring. My book club picked All Systems Red for our next read precisely because it is so short. It being good is a bonus!

Over this weekend, I borrowed and successfully finished When They Call You A Terrorist! It was extremely good, I'm still processing it and would like to, at some point in the future, get it from a library that lets me have it for more than 24 hours and re-read it at a slower pace.

I also have Claire Kann's Let's Talk About Love coming in soon! It should be here today if all goes well

Update I tore through Ash (book number 5 of 2020) today! I'm attending a science fiction and fantasy book swap at the end of this week and figured I should try to get through it by Friday but accidentally got through it. Today

Hopefully grabbing Let's Talk About Love from the mailroom tomorrow, though!

WOW March got hectic! Nothing to report from the past month, unfortunately, but I have something fun to read lined up and I'm gonna try to get back on track to meet my goals for the year

WELL
Quarantine sure is a thing that happened. I've been too stressed out to do just one thing at once, a thing which reading requires me to do, but a friend whose library has downloadable materials graciously lent me their credentials and as of yesterday I've gotten into audiobooks! My slump-breaker was Sharp Objects, which was fine. I was at a 3-star throughout-- there's a lot I don't like here, but I was invested enough in the investigation that I'll definitely be giving Gillian Flynn another shot-- but the ending brought me up to a 4. This brings us to 6 finishes for 2020, with more audiobooks in my future!