2017 Reading Challenge Update from @AuthorKristina Knight

I was going to check in quarterly with this whole reading challenge, and I just realized we're almost halfway through the 4th quarter without an update, and I'm also pretty sure I skipped right over the 3rd quarter update, too. Whoopsie!

I am reading, though, that's the big thing, right?

Okay, to recap, Liz announced she was doing a 50-books-in-2017 challenge. I thought, hey, I can read 50 books this year...so I glommed on. And Roni Loren is doing a monthly themed, read/watch challenge and that sounded fun so...glommed on.

So, where am I in this whole reading 50+ books, some themed and some not, challenge? Hint: I'm only still actively participating in one...and I'm nowhere near the 50 books needed to actually make it to the end.

Yeah, I dropped out of the read/watch challenge in April. It wasn't a completely conscious decision - I was behind on a deadline, the book I'd chosen for that month's theme (and the TV show, too) weren't engaging me...so I didn't finish that month (I did meet my deadline, yay!). And although I've looked at my themes listing, I haven't started it back up. And as we now have about 2 months left in the year, I think it's safe to say I won't finish the read/watch challenge. Although, the months that I did do it, I really enjoyed it. Maybe I'll attempt it next year.

The 50 book challenge? I'm at about 30 books (once I finish the book I picked up at the library yesterday). Can I read 20 books between now and December 31? Yeah. Will I? Probably not, because I have deadlines and a family and there are only 24 hours in a day and I like to sleep at least 8 of them away. I've read romances and thrillers, true crime and cozies, several middle grade (with bebe), and memoirs. Lots of memoirs.

I've recovered my love of the memoir! I finished Shonda Rhimes' 'Year of Yes' a couple of weeks ago,

I'm reading Dani Shapiro's 'Still Writing' now, and there have been a few more in the mix. Although I love autobiographies and biographies, I've been skipping over memoirs for the last few years. Before this year, in fact, I think the last one I picked up was 'Eat Pray Love', and it was a DNF for me. Maybe that's why? In any case, I've really enjoyed by Shonda and Dani's books, and I have several more on my list that I can't wait to dive into.

A few other titles I want to pass along (fiction, no particular order, but they all had me flipping pages as quickly as I could): Jules Bennett's 'Montgomery' series, Susan Wiggs' Family Tree, La Nora's Come Sundown, Shannon Stacey's Kowalski series (I'm on book 5 and I can NOT get enough), John Grisham's Rooster Bar, Hidden Figures (I also watched the movie - both are amazeballs), Black Dahlia/Red Rose...and my favorite, If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins (quickly followed by On Second Thought).

What have you been reading lately? I've got 20 books to go, having a few more on my list is never a bad thing!                                                               ~Kristina