Happy New Year!

2014 was pretty good for me in a lot of ways.

1.) I accomplished all of my reading challenges and goals.

2.) I had a fabulous party at the end of the summer celebrating the completion of my LOST Book Club challenge.
3.) All of my loved ones are still on this earth.
4.) In July my family hosted three children from Uganda and we all fell in love. It has ruined me, even more so, my daughter.

A few things didn’t go as planned:
1.) In September, my daughter was in a car accident…..while she was in KENTUCKY….visiting the Ugandans. That’s about 12 hours from home. I am so grateful she was ok. We are all still sharing cars.
2.) My eyesight suddenly became poorer, right after an eye appointment. What’s that all about?? It’s gotta be the reading….too much reading and not enough TV.
3.) The mysterious disappearance of my pumpkin plates a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

For the love of all things festive, what happened to my plates???  That same evening my son could have sworn he saw a UFO. This was confirmed by neighbors. The two just have to be connected.

Clearly, I don’t have much to complain about but have you ever been robbed by aliens?

For the new year I have a few goals. Nothing too structured. I quit making “resolutions” a couple of years ago but I enjoy evaluating my life and my goals at the beginning of the year. It’s inspiring, at least for twenty-something days. My favorite recent status from a facebook friend read, “I’m going to join the y for a couple of months on Tuesday. Anyone want to be my workout buddy?” Baa-Haaa!!!!!!

Anyways, my goals. If you are still reading you must be interested so here goes.

1.) This is a hard one. I will not sign up for any reading challenges for the whole year. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I said it.  After being tied down to other challenges for the past few years, I am ready to read freely.  I want to pick up a book because I am drawn to it right then. I don’t want an obligation. I don’t regret any challenges I’ve done, I just need a break for a while.
2.) I will still read what my book club chooses.
3.) I will still do Austen in August because I have an ongoing goal to read all of Jane Austen’s novels.
4.) I plan to read the 25 books on my shelf that I haven’t read. If I feel like it.

This brings me to the TBR Pile Challenge. I think this is the smartest challenge out there because it is so do-able and doesn’t cost much, if anything. I completed it for 2014, and I am sure that if it’s out there in 2016, I will do it again. This challenge tempts me the most. I guess we’ll know for sure if I kept my word if I make it to the sign-up deadline and don’t take the plunge.

5) Maybe, possibly, read Moby Dick. Right now I’m not motivated, but I should be able to work my way through it in 12 months, don’t you think? But only if I feel like it.

6.) Finish reading The Hunger Games Trilogy. I know!!!! It’s so old!!!! But it will make my son happy and I do like talking books with him.

Here’s how I’m kicking off my new year of reading freely:

**The Last Trail by Zane Gray. This is for book club. It’s a western. It’s ok.

**The Dinner Party by Howard Fast. I’ve looked forward to this one for a while. Scored it for free. or at most $1, at a library sell.

**A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
Ya’ll, I’ve been chomping at the bit to get to this one for the last year. But I gotta tell ya, I haven’t finished the first chapter and I’m bored  to death. All you Irving fans and Owen Meany fans, I’m trusting I should hang on here but I’m disappointed I didn’t fall in love right away.

So tell me readers and bloggers, are you participating in any reading or writing challenges for 2015? Tell me all about it and I shall live vicariously through you!