A woman who reads is a woman who has been prepared to accept the truth that beauty tells, to embrace the good news that imagination brings, the promise of joy that greets us in the happy endings or poignant insights of the novels we love. She has learned to glimpse eternity as it shimmers in story or song, to receive the satisfaction of a happy ending as a promise. She has come to recognize the voice of love speaking in the language of image and imagination and to trust what it speaks as true.
(Sarah Clarkson)
Good Monday morning, dear readers!
June is gracing us with rainy days and grey skies, for which we, and our plants, are grateful. The gentle rain falling brings peacefulness to our days and home. And the gentleness of rainfall invites a slower pace and atmosphere which makes everyday tasks and chores and even relaxation even more delightful. There's nothing quite like curling up in my cozy chair in the evenings with a good novel whilst listening to rain pitter-pattering against the window. The calming scent of lime and vanilla floats through the air as my diffuser works endlessly and iced raspberry leaf tea is being drunk liberally as summertime approaches.
With summertime nearly here, I've embarked on a reading challenge that I gave myself...well, technically, I've been crawling along with this challenge since the new year began in January. At the end of last year, my sister proposed the idea that she wanted to create a personalized reading challenge for the year for herself. She had seen numerous challenges online, but only a few of the prompts in each challenge suited her tastes and preferences. I loved the idea and so we sat down together and created a personalized challenge for each of us. Just for fun...and it's been such fun these past few months as we've both ticked off different prompts as we finish books. Her list and mine aren't the exact same; some of the prompts are the same, but others are different. We have some similar tastes and then some are vastly different. For example, she enjoys more fantasy books than me and I enjoy more contemporary romance than she does.
My summertime bookish dreams are simply to continue on with my reading challenge. I have selected a handful (or two) of prompts that I wish to tick off these summer months. June, July, August, and the first half of September are what I'm setting as the time frame for my specified "summer reading". These are books that have a summery feel to them or ones that I just wish to read during this time of year. After that, I'll move onto my autumnal reading list. There are some books that just simply must be read at certain times of the year or during specific seasons, and my choices reflect that greatly. My reading list and bookish dreams always show just how much of a seasonal person I am...in case I ever need the reminder.
Below I'm sharing the list of prompts that I came up with for my personalized reading challenge for 2021. The goal is "21 in 2021", but I did write down more than 21 prompts to allow for some flexibility. If I'm in the mood for one prompt and not the other, that's fine, and if I complete more than 21, that's wonderful as well. But the goal is 21 in 2021. I have to admit this was incredibly fun to ponder and create! My sister had so much fun researching different ideas, but many of them we just came up with ourselves because the online challenges really did not suit us that much.
21 in 2021 Reading Challenge Prompts
♥ My List ♥
~ Read a book with strong family elements.
~ Read a children's book.
~ Read a mystery.
~ Read a biography or memoir.
~ Read an Amish novel.
~ Read a novel based on true events.
~ Read a book you've already read before.
~ Read at least half the books in a series of at least 5 books.
~ Read a Christmas novel.
~ Read at least one Harry Potter novel.
~ Read a book inspired or based on a TV show.
~ Read a homemaking book.
~ Finish a book you've started but have yet to complete.
~ Read a seasonal book. (takes place in the season you read it)
~ Read at least one Mitford novel.
~ Read a book published in my birth year. (1994 for me)
~ Read a historical fiction novel.
~ Read a contemporary romance novel.
~ Read a book everyone has read but me.
~ Read a book set somewhere I've never been but would love to go.
~ Read a book published in my birth decade. (the 1990s for me)
~ Read a debut novel.
~ Read a classic.
~ Read a book set in the prairie.
~ Read a book published this year. (2021)
~ Read a book set at the beach.
~ Read a split-time novel.
~ Read a book at least 50 years old.
~ Read a children's series.
~ Read a book with magical realism.
~ Read a book by Tolkien. (finally?!?!)
As you can see, this challenge is completely random and all over the place. There are many themes and types of books. Some of the prompts are in my "comfort zone" with reading and others are a bit adventurous and new for me. And the catch is that all of the books have to be first-time reads for me, with the exception of the "reading a book I've already read" prompt, obviously. For summer, I've chosen about a dozen to focus on. Obviously, some of the prompts are for certain times of the year...for example, reading a Christmas novel would be for December...and others are more flexible. I've already ticked off a few of the prompts so far and am currently working on finishing off two novels, hopefully, this week.
This challenge has brought a lot of fun back into reading for me. I had gotten out of reading last year except for a few books just because my mind was full of other things. But I really, really missed it and this challenge has brought a lot of fun to my reading life. This is just for fun and I've put no pressure on myself. This isn't something I have to do, it's something I want to do. Reading isn't something that MUST be a part of life as a requirement, but it's something that GETS to be in our lives to bring delight and magic and wonder and happiness and adventure and fun, among many other things. And this is just a part of my reading journey.
I hope you enjoyed this post, my fellow bibliophiles, and maybe perhaps you may want to create a reading challenge personalized just for you, too!
Until my next post, lovely friends...
Have the loveliest week!
♥