Bout of Books 18: Wrap Up

And...just like that Bout of Books 18 has come to an end. Read-a-thon weeks always seem to go too fast. I didn't do as much reading as I would have liked to, but that's my own fault. For some reason, motivating myself to read was difficult. I think I'm still slowly trying to pull myself out of last year's reading slump. But...I am still pretty pleased with how much I actually did get done. I will say that having a tracker with little checkboxes is a darned good way to make myself feel better about what I accomplish.

Since the last time I posted an update, I finished a book, started a new one, and participated in the second Twitter chat. I'm calling that a success. The chat was fun, as always, and the ever present book recommendation question resulted in me adding a new pile of books to the TBR. This may be to my detriment, but I don't care. I like finding new authors and books. Variety is the spice of life, right?

Books I Finished:

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert

I am so pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I will admit...I was skeptical at first. But...my sister-in-law praised it, so I figured I had to take it on. I'm so glad I did. It was just the jump start I needed. My creativity has been lingering and I haven't written or made anything in far too long. I just wasn't feeling the spark. But this book has reminded me of why I do the creative things I do. It's for the joy I find in them for myself. They don't need to be anything magnificent or astounding to anyone else in the world as long as they make me happy. It's freeing to come back to that realization. It makes me find joy in the idea of jumping back in. I'm very thankful for that.

What I'm Reading Now:

The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver

I got this book from a friend of a friend in a Facebook book exchange. Best. Idea. Ever. I love getting random books, especially from another avid reader. Even better? Not only did this friend of a friend rave about this book...it was already in my TBR pile. Perfection. I'm breezing through it and so far I'm pretty pleased. I'm even happier to know that this is my third book of 2017 and it's not even half way through January. I'm already doing so much better than I did for most of last year. If I can kick this reading slump, I will be a very happy camper. I've missed it.

Look at all of those pretty checkmarks!! Obviously I didn't fill them all, but I am so pleased by how many I did get to paste in. Each one of them brightened the smile on my face. It's so nice to know that I did something I can account for in a visual way. I may not be back to the levels of reading I was doing a few years ago, but it's such an amazing improvement over last year. Thank goodness!

Read-a-thons always seem to make me happy. I'm not typically a very social person, but enjoying something like this with other readers just makes me giddy. I am so very thankful for those who take the time and effort to put these event on. So...thank you Amanda and Kelly!!

And now that the read-a-thon is over, what will I do? Ah...the blogging will continue! Next up? The 2016 Book of the Year. Yep. Even though my reading was minuscule last year, I'm still going to put the books through the bracket. And there is another read-a-thon coming up shortly! The 24 in 48 happens later this month, so I'll be joining in on that one. There are things other than reading that will be getting written about, but the rest...well...you'll have to wait and see.