Happy New Year! Today I will be sending out the first 2014 issue of the Growing Bookworms email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's and young adult books and raising readers. I usually send out the newsletter once every two weeks, but I skipped last week because of Christmas, so this issue has a bit of extra content. I'm also sharing my goals for 2014 in this post, so read on if you are interested.
Newsletter Update: In this issue I have seven book reviews, ranging from picture book through young adult. I also have a new literacy milestone post regarding my daughter, and a post with my reactions to the just-announced Cybils shortlists. I have two posts with links that I shared on Twitter recently. Not included in the newsletter this time around I published:
- Some reflections on 8 years on blogging (on my blog anniversary);
- A post about reading How the Grinch Stole Christmas to my daughter; and
- A teaser post about the Cybils.
Reading Update: In the last three weeks I read one middle grade, three young adult, and two adult titles. I read:
- Ellen Airgood: Prairie Evers. Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin). Middle Grade. Completed December 21, 2013. Review to come.
- Annabel Monaghan: Double Digit (A Girl Named Digit series). HMH Books for Young Readers. Young Adult. Completed December 18, 2013. My review.
- Matt De La Peña: The Living. Delacorte Press. Young Adult. Completed December 21, 2013. Review to come.
- Chris Morphew: The Arrival (Phoenix Files, book 1). Kane/Miller. Young Adult. Completed December 24, 2013.
- Maeve Binchy: Minding Frankie. Anchor Books. Adult Fiction. Completed December 21, 2013, on MP3.
- Barry Maitland: The Raven's Eye: A Brock and Kolla Mystery. Minotaur Books. Adulty Mystery. Completed December 30, 2013.
For the entire year my total was 143 books read (not counting picture books): 42 early reader to middle grade, 54 young adult, and 47 adult titles. You can view the full list here. Seems like going for 50, 50, 50 for 2014 would be a good goal, doesn't it? One book a week in each of my 3 categories, with a couple of weeks of slack. I doubt it will work out quite that way, though. I read more adult books than usual in 2013 because I was sick a lot, and I hope that situation will not be repeated.
I'm not making formal resolutions, but I do have 3 goals for 2014:
- Get more/better sleep
- Read more
- Exercise more
I have these goals for my daughter, too. Regarding #2, it's not that I want reading to be a contest, or that I'm really going to pay attention to exactly how many books either of us reads. It's more that when I'm deciding how to spend my time (and my daughter's time), and I have a choice, I'm going to try to steer us towards sleeping, reading, or getting exercise. This morning, for example, before starting work I spent 40 minutes reading on my Kindle while riding my exercise bike, thus working on 2 of my goals at the same time.
Wishing you all a happy and book-filled 2014! Thanks for reading, and for growing bookworms.
© 2013 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved. You can also follow me @JensBookPage or at my Growing Bookworms page on Facebook.
