A Year of Reading Ambitiously

I'm several months into my maternity leave and I thought I'd have a stack of finished books piled beside the nursery rocking chair by now!  While I've found some time to read, I've spent more time watching Netflix, playing games on my iPhone and continually refreshing Facebook.  My goal for 2015 is to turn some of that screentime into "pagetime" and get back to the focused, productive beauty of reading good ol'fashioned books.

With that in mind, I'm challenging myself with a 2015 Reading Challenge I found online.  (My time on Facebook is not totally wasted; it was thanks to a friend posting it on Facebook that I found out about the challenge in the first place!)

It's 50 books.  That's almost a book a week.  And we're almost a week in to the year already.  So I'd better get to reading.  Here's the list and my plan so far...

Yellow highlights mean I've read it already!  (I've been a bit late in posting this list.)

1.  A book with more than 500 pages

2.  A classic romance

3.  A book that become a movie

4.  A book published this year

5.  A book with a number in the title

6.  A book written by someone under 30

(I am Malala?  When Everything Feels Like The Movies? - is it?)

7.  A book with nonhuman characters - Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo

8.  A funny book

9.  A book by a female author

10. A mystery or thriller

11. A book with a one-word title

12. A book of short stories

13. A book set in a different country

14. A non-fiction book

(Charlotte Grey's book of letters?)

15. A popular author's first book

16. A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet

(All My Puny Sorrows)

17. A book a friend recommended

18.  A Pulitzer Prize-winning book.

19.  A book based on a true story.

20.  A book at the bottom of your to-read list.

21.  A book your mom loves

22.  A book that scares you

23.  A book more than 100 years old

24.  A book based on its cover

25.  A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't.

26.  A memoir

27.  A book you can finish in a day

28.  A book with antonyms in the title

29.  A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit

30.  A book that came out the year you were born

31.  A book with bad reviews

32.  A trilogy

33.  A book from your childhood

34.  A book with a love triangle

35.  A book set in the future

36.  A book set in high school

37.  A book with a colour in the title

38.  A book that made you cry

(I don't think I can pre-plan this one.)

39.  A book with magic

40.  A graphic novel

41.  A book by an author you've never read before - A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

42.  A book you own but have never read

(Rules of Civility)

43.  A book that takes place in your hometown - The Trail of The Conestoga by Mabel Dunham

44.  A book that was originally written in a different language

45.  A book set during Christmas

46.  A book written by an author with your same initials

47.  A play - Harold Pinter's The Birthday Party

(Goodnight Desdemona, Good morning, Juliet)

48.  A banned book

49.  A book based on or turned into a TV show

50.  A book you started but never finished

(The Dovekeepers)