Challenge Update, November 2017

This has been a surprisingly good month for reading! With school wrapping up and Thanksgiving stuck at the end, I wasn’t anticipating finishing so many books. You can look at my progress at any time on my challenge page.

Books finished in November:

The Bluest Eye // Toni Morrison (3/5)
My Jesus Year // Benyamin Cohen (4/5)
Our Souls at Night // Ken Haruf (3/5)
The Book of Fate // Brad Meltzer (3/5)

I still owe you reviews for those last two but I’m expecting those to come later this week. I’m excited that I finished four books, I thought I was going to be slowing down toward the end of the year but I’m picking up steam!

When Are You Reading? Challenge

12/12
DONE! Look for more information soon on the 2018 Challenge.

Goodreads Challenge

50/50
DONE! Done done done! I finished this on Thanksgiving when I wrapped up The Book of Fate during a pre-dinner run. It was a great way to enjoy the holiday in a book-ish way.

Book of the Month

I have to say Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. I’m thinking of changing my initial rating, the first time I’ve ever thought of doing that! I went to the book club meeting last week and I was speaking so highly of the book I began questioning why I rated it Three instead of Four stars. This was a great quick read and I really recommend it.

Added to my TBR

I’m now at 106, no progress toward 100. Four came off but I added another five to the list. Yikes!

• Origin by Dan Brown. I’m already four books into the Robert Langdon series, I might as well keep going!
• It’s All Relative by A.J. Jacobs. Jacobs is one of my favorite non-fiction writers and I knew he was working on this project a few years ago. I’m excited the book is finally out!
• Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin. This is a book club selection for January that I’ll try to start soon.
• The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Another book club pick and I think this will be my next book.
• Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. I saw that a movie of this one is coming out soon and I’ve seen so many positive reviews that I want to read it before I see the film.

Personal Challenge

I mentioned in my challenge announcement post that I had some non-reading goals set for myself in 2017. I figured this would be a good place to keep myself accountable to those as well. Here goes!

• Keep my 4.0 GPA: My midterm came back with a good score so yay! Most of my remaining assignments are due Thursday this week so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I’ll know more soon.
• Knit blankets:  I sent a purple blanket off to my friends who are expecting a little girl early next year. I started a new project to keep the stockpile in check because another friend announced her pregnancy! I’ll be sending another off soon enough so I best keep knitting.
• One race per month: I did one race in November, a 10K. My goal was to finish in under one hour and I clocked in at 59:35 so that’s a win!
• Get my novel out to beta readers: I haven’t sent it out any more but I think December is going to finally give me some time to edit! That’s way more exciting to me. Get ready for some writing-related posts next month.

How were your challenges? I hope you made it. If you love historical fiction, give some thought to my challenge for 2018, it’s fun!

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

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