Friday, February 1, 2013

January Wrap Up

What does a blogger do when trying to avoid house work? ...This apparently.


My first month of blogging is coming to a close and I am happy to report that most is well on deck here at Reading Robyn. I've read a lot of great novels and am enjoying the challenge of reading based on a monthly theme.

This month, the theme was Death and Dying. Always a fun topic! Despite being a major downer I feel like it's a suitable theme to ring in a new year. This is the time when it feels best to give yourself a good ol' reality check and damn nothing beats not having cancer.

I started this new year of reading off with The Fault In Our Stars by John Green, which had me worried that the rest of the month wouldn't be able to live up to such a high note. However, I was pleasantly surprised by My Life In Black and White by Natasha Friend, even though I do spend most of my review complaining about it. After that I tackled If I Stay by Gayle Forman. Now, I don't remember who I promised, but somewhere along the line I promised a fellow Goodreads user that I would finally buck up and read the damn thing in January 2013. At the time, I'm pretty sure I said it just to not seem like a coward for being scared to approach this one, but as time rolled around I stuck to my promise. Thankfully, If I Stay did not disappoint, although I didn't cry like I expected to. To finish the month off I was planning on reviewing Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver for last week's final theme based book. It's another heavy YA novel that I've been terrified of reading. I'm actually still in the middle of it right now, but I did end up finishing  Agatha Christie's The Body in the Library. It's about death, so I guess it counts... It totally counts.

The only big let down I experienced in January was my poor planning when it came to writing the discussion posts I wanted to do. I was going to post one a week, but chickened out when my first attempted topic ended up overwhelming me completely. (I won't tell you what it was because I'm saving it for some time later this year.) The silver-lining of the whole ordeal is that I've had some time to plan things out, making some much needed lists, as well as a few really cute graphics to help differentiate discussion posts from my normal reviews.

IN FEBRUARY

The theme for February is going to be LOVE, of course. The fourteenth is Valentines Day and there's nothing better then some romantic happenings to get my single self into the festive spirit.

The first review will be up later today for Between You & Me by Marisa Calin, followed up with some Lips Touch: Three Times, some Boy Meets Boy, and hopefully some Sarah Dessen. Also, I may try to squeeze in The Princess Bride by William Goldman. (Yes, that Princess Bride. The most awesome romantic movie possibly ever was adapted from a book.) But we'll have to wait and see how things go! Love is such a broad theme that I may get a little grab happy at the library.

As for Jane Austen, my first novel of her's will be Emma and my first Shakespeare of the year will be Antony and Cleopatra.

If you have any suggestions for what Austen novel I should be reading next I would love to know! I'm putting off Pride and Prejudice till later in the year (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries adaptation may have something to do with that), but now I'm having trouble picking which books to read first and which books to wait on.
     
LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE

So, what are you reading next?

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