"Spring" into Reading!...

...Tell me that post title doesn't remind you of the glorious elementary school bulletin boards of yore.

Winter ended some time ago, so I suppose it's way past time to retire the Winter 2013 Reading List.

Let's see how I fared this time around...

• John Green's The Fault in Our Stars [finished 12/7/12]
  
• David Sedaris' Naked
• John Irving's The World According to Garp
• Sharon Creech's Replay [finished 2/5/13]
  
• George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion [finished 2/20/13]
  
• John Steinbeck's East of Eden
• D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers
• Marjane Satrapi's Chicken With Plums [finished 12/9/12]
  
• Raina Telgemeier's Drama [finished 4/1/13]
  
• Stefan Petrucha's Nancy Drew #15-21
• Martin Rowson's The Wasteland [finished 2/14/13]
  
• Miss Lasko-Gross' A Mess of Everything [finished 2/16/13]

Eh, not too bad. I read 7/12 books, so 58%-- better than the 54% I accomplished for my Autumn 2012 Reading List, and it's way better than the 38% I read of my Summer 2012 Reading List.

I thought that by narrowing down the number of books on a given list, I would read more or stick closer to the list itself, but my reading habits seem to confound all logic and reason.

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself considering I read 9 other books this season as well:

•  John Green's Paper Towns [read 3/14/13]
• Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys [read 2/13/13]
• Steve Martin's Shopgirl  [read 1/19/13]
• Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's Dash and Lily's Book of Dares [read 1/22/13]
• Cynthia Hand's Boundless [read 1/27/13]
• Kristin Cashore's Graceling [read 2/24/13]
• Sharon Creech's Love that Dog  [read 1/29/13]
• Scott Mills' Big Clay Pot [read 1/31/13]
• Tom Beland's True Story, Swear to God: Chances Are [read 2/9/13]

Therefor, I read 16 books in three(ish) months, averaging five(ish) books per month. Could be worse!

Now to formulate what I shall read for Spring 2013. So many delicious options to choose from my library... so little time.

I've been toying with the idea of setting more generalized reading goals for myself as opposed to another list of specific titles. I respond very well to goals, and I flourish with structure. The funny thing is I keep on rebelling against myself when I make these reading lists by straying to other books. I think reading goals will feel less restricting, and it will allow me to go satisfy whatever reading appetites I may have at any given time.

So, for the months of April and May 2013, I will attempt to read:

• 1 Classic
• 1 Contemporary
• 1 Young Adult
• 1 Drama
• 1 Poetry
• 5 Graphic Novels 

These goals factor into my 5 books/month average as well as my desire to read eclectically. I think it'll be less demanding to achieve while also helping me stick to some kind of reading regimen (so I don't scarf down 5 YA Paranormal books back to back).