Spring 2013 Reading Goals: Achieved!

Two months ago, I decided to set reading goals for myself in lieu of a Spring reading list, figuring that more generalized goals would be less restricting than a list with specific titles on it.

You see, for the past year, I overzealously created reading lists, some 20+ titles deep. Obviously, I was only setting myself up for failure, but I am a diehard list maker. I'm not sure which is more fun for me-- forming the lists or crossing things off them.

Anyway, as it turns out, I was right in that I respond very well to reading goals; I ended up reading every genre that I intended to.
 

My overarching mission was (and still is) to read eclectically and often, and I did indeed accomplish just that by setting out to read the following:

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

Here are the titles I ended up reading:

1. J.D. Salinger's Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1 Classic)
2. Paula McLain's The Paris Wife (1 Contemporary)
3. Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races (1 Young Adult)
4. Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot (1 Drama)
5. Emily Dickinson's Selected Poems (1 Poetry)
6. Aline Kominsky Crumb's Need More Love (1 of 5 Graphic Novels)
7. Jen Van Meter and Christine Norrie's Hopeless Savages (1 of 5 Graphic Novels)
8. Sara Varon's Sweaterweather (1 of 5 Graphic Novels)
9. Charles Burns' Black Hole (1 of 5 Graphic Novels)
10. Put the Book Back on the Shelf: a Belle and Sebastian Anthology (1 of 5 Graphic Novels)

Some books were fantastic, and others, not so much (but that's another post for a different day). I am sooper happy with what I've accomplished by sticking to the goals I set, so much so that I've decided to up the ante and set more for the next three summer months of June, July, and August. Observe:

• 2 Classics
• 2 Contemporary
• 3 Young Adult
• 2 Poetry
• 1 Drama
• 10 Graphic Novels

This would mean I need to average about 7 books per month... definitely ambitious, but, hopefully, not fatally so. Wish me luck, ya'll.