2019 Reading Challenge List

#1 A book becoming a movie in 2019 : Pet Semetary
#2 A book that makes you nostalgic : David Bowie
#3 A book written by a musician (fiction or nonfiction) : Burning Up
#4 A book you think should be turned into a movie : Vintage Murder (5-9-20)
#5 A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads : Fellowship of the Ring
#6 A book with a plant in the title or on the cover : Tales of Accidental Genius
#7 A reread of a favorite book : Lost Souls
#8 A book about a hobby : Fangirl
#9 A book you meant to read in 2018 : Blood Communion
#10 A book with "pop," "sugar," or "challenge" in the title : Pop: The Genius of Andy Warhol
#11 A book with an item of clothing or accessory on the cover : Tweaked
#12 A book inspired by mythology, legend, or folklore : Fairy Tales
#13 A book published posthumously : The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
#14 A book you see someone reading on TV or in a movie : Waiting for Godot
#15 A retelling of a classic : Sense & Sensibility (graphic novel)
#16 A book with a question in the title : Are You There God, It's Me Margaret
#17 A book set on a college or university campus : The Rules of Attraction
#18 A book about someone with a superpower : Library of Souls (10-20-20)
#19 A book told from multiple character POVs : The Informers
#20 A book set in space : Feed
#21 A book by two female authors : Marked
#22 A book with a title that contains "salty," "sweet," "bitter," or "spicy" : Sweetbitter
#23 A book set in Scandinavia : The Girl in the Spider's Web
#24 A book that takes place in a single day : The Dinner
#25 A debut novel : Wuthering Heights
#26 A book that's published in 2019 : Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered
#27 A book featuring an extinct or imaginary creature : Dead Boy
#28 A book recommended by a celebrity you admire : Faust
#29 A book with "love" in the title : Obsessive Love
#30 A book featuring an amateur detective : I Hunt Killers
#31 A book about a family : King Lear
#32 A book written by an author from Asia, Africa, or South America : The Joy Luck Club
#33 A book with a zodiac sign or astrology term in the title : Escape from the Island of Aquarius
#34 A book that includes a wedding : A Storm of Swords
#35 A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter : The History of Punishment
#36 A ghost story : Thirteen Chairs
#37 A book with a two-word title : Beautiful Boy
#38 A novel based on a true story : The Shining
#39 A book revolving around a puzzle or game : Jumanji (5-15-20)
#40 Your favorite prompt from a past POPSUGAR Reading Challenge : Bloodlust
#41 A "cli-fi" (climate fiction) book : New York 2140
#42 A "choose-your-own-adventure" book : Romeo and/or Juliet
#43 An "own voices" book : To All the Boys I've Loved Before
#44 Read a book during the season it is set in :
#45 A LitRPG book : The Eye of Minds
#46 A book with no chapters / unusual chapter headings / unconventionally numbered chapters : We Need to Talk About Kevin
#47 Two books that share the same title (1) : The Lost World
#48 Two books that share the same title (2) : The Lost World
#49 A book that has inspired a common phrase of idiom : Othello
#50 A book set in an abbey, cloister, monastery, vicarage, or convent : The Murder at the Vicarage

Date Started: January 1, 2019
Date completed: December 31, 2019
Books finished in challenge:  8 of 50
Books finished in total for year: 51

2019 Reading: The Shining

#38 A novel based on a true story

I finally finished it! I think I really want to read more Stephen King this coming year. There is just something I like about it. His stuff is coming back into popularity with a vengeance lately and I recently realized that I have not read as much of his stuff as I would have liked and I would like to change that.

I enjoyed the book version of this (because of COURSE I've seen the Stanley Kubrick movie version) and now that I know how this one ends, I am very anxious to read Doctor Sleep to see how the story continues with Danny as a grown up.

I also like to discuss this story with my friend Tara sometimes (well, the movie, anyway). We talk about all the theories that fly around, especially from the Room 237 documentary and all of the different ideas that people have about the hotel and the reasons why Jack went insane and what or how the "shining" effects Danny and his parents and it was good to get to the source material so that I could have the original perspective to then about for the future.

This is the last book for the year, I didn't do too well for the PopSugar Reading Challenge, but I hop that I'll be able to catch up and do better next year.

2019 Reading: Fellowship of the Ring

#5 A book with at least one million ratings on Goodreads

Despite my better judgement, I decided to give this one a try. I really don't enjoy his writing style and am not the biggest fan of fantasy to begin with, but I stuck with it. IT TOOK ME FOREVER BECAUSE I JUST DON'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF IT!

Dear God, just shut up!!!! You throw out all of these names of people and places that have no context and instead of creating an epic fantasy world that I want to live in, you just confuse me more and make me want to shoot everyone with one of Legolas's arrows and then throw myself into Mount Doom because this is boring as SHIT!!!

Why am I still reading this, you may ask? Because I hate myself. And I am a completion-ist. I started it. Must finish. But I really don't want to read the other ones and I don't think I will. It's just too much. There are a million other things I would rather read and I just don't have the patience to sit through two more of these abominations of "classic literature."

I started it in May...

It is now December...

BUTTONS!

I have literally spent the last few days lounging around and doing exactly NOTHING because some part of me felt like I deserved it for finishing a bunch of major school stuff without killing anyone outright. That's an accomplishment, right? Well, it's time to get back to it.

I got my first draft back with the notes and apparently, it was a good draft and I won't have much to alter for the final draft! WOOOO!!!!!!! I was so nervous about that. I think that was what was causing a lot of the stress. That and the two very similar group projects that are happening at the exact same time that I keep mixing up. I need to work on those next. Those are the things that I am going to be doing this coming week for 605 and 645.

So close. SO CLOOOOOSSSSEEEEE.....

The 2020 PopSugar Reading Challenge was posted the other day. I am so bummed that I have been too busy with grad school work to read much of anything this year. I have literally only finished 6 of the 50 from this year's list and probably won't finish much more my the end of the year. I think what I'm going to do it try to finish is along with the 2020 and add along the 2015 as well because I never did that one... Because apparently I hate myself... and I love reading.

BTW, if anyone ever asks why I never want to wear my name tag... this is why.

The Weight Is Lifted But Not Gone...

The weekend was spent in the midst of journal articles and research papers and my head is full of information about the extent of visually impaired materials offered at public libraries in other countries... But my first draft of the Capstone proposal for Research Methods (668) has been submitted and I aim to do nothing for the next two days but reflect...

...most likely on everything I know I did wrong. But, that's just how I roll.

Thinking about the statistics of materials and services for the visually impaired available at public libraries in Mississippi was never something that interested me before, but I find that I look for it now at every different library website I visit. It may not be something that affects me personally, but it certainly fascinates me. Which is a good thing, considering that is what I will be spending the majority of my final semester working on researching.

I've found a wonderful resource in the Mississippi Library Association website, who has graciously, whether they know it or not, done the hard part of my research for me by compiling all of the MS counties and their libraries into a comprehensive list along with main branch websites. It's like a one stop shop for my webometric research needs! They even went so far as to put them all into this handy-dandy regional chart for me! Isn't that nice of them?

Getting Close to Finals...

Things are starting to ramp up as it gets closer and closer to finals time. Perhaps taking on a full 12 hours in my first to last semester of grad school was a little ambitious of me. But, I shall persevere.

Began discussing ePortfolios in Information Technology and Libraries (557). As of now, I only have a paper resume with no online presence like on Linked In or anything like that. I seem to get emails from Linked In despite never actually using that site... Interesting.  I did, however, find an interesting article on the site that hosts my online classes about creating an ePortfolio here. It might come in handy when completing my final assignment for this class.

For my class in Research Methods in LIS (668), I'm working on my potential Capstone for the final semester. I'm quite proud of the subject I've chosen, especially considering my absolute hatred of making decisions on my own. I've chosen to evaluate the extent to which public libraries in MS cater to the visually impaired by providing appropriate materials. Exciting, no? I know that the final product is supposed to be conducted and written during the final semester of the program, but I can't help but feel that the more I do now, the less I will have to do in the Spring. I just know that the literature review is going to be my eventual downfall, yet I just can't make myself open EBSCOHost and find articles! My brain will not let me!

Yet I must.

2019 Reading: Snow, Glass, Apples

I absolutely love this take on the story!