So… It’s been a while.

The second half of junior year kind of did me in a little bit, which is why I feel off the wagon in respect to blogging in the past three months. I have returned, and do not anticipate such a hiatus occurring again in the near future, though I have no way of knowing to what extent college applications are going to do me in.

Without further ado, let’s get on to the rest of the post!

How are my bookish goals progressing?

I originally posted my bookish goals for the year in this blog post. I haven’t really thought about them much since creating that post, so it’ll be interesting to see how this goes.

Goal 1: Read 150 books this year

As you can see, this goal, at least, is going quite well! This is the only one that I’m definitely not concerned about finishing, both because 150 books in a year is pretty doable for me, but also because I’m already 15 books ahead, and expect to become even more so by the time school starts again.

Goal 2: Read/reread all of the completed Jane Austen books

Well… I’ve at least reread Pride and Prejudice, and I’m a little ways into reading Northanger Abbey, so that’s a solid 1.5/6. Despite a slow start, I still feel pretty confident that this goal is doable for me. These books will likely become my bedtime reading, but I think I’ll probably be able to get through them.

Goal 3: Finish War and Peace and read Anna Karenina

I did finish War and Peace in May (after starting it last July), and I’m halfway through Anna Karenina, so I’m definitely winning at this goal!

Goal 4: Read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

I don’t know what I was thinking when I set this goal. Yes, I do eventually want to read these, but I don’t anticipate it happening this year, especially since I’ll likely be extremely busy in the fall with college apps. Thus, I’m officially letting myself off of the hook for this; maybe I’ll try again next year.

Goal 5: Read at least 5 books in translation

With War and Peace and Anna Karenina, I’m sitting at 1.5/5 on this. I’m still hopeful, but this goal is looking increasingly further away.

Goal 6: Read at least 3 Shakespeare plays

I was originally supposed to take a Shakespeare course this summer that would have knocked this goal out really easily, but that unfortunately got cancelled. However, I’m still taking a Shakespeare class for English next year, so I’m very confident that this will get done.

Goal 7: Read at least 2 1 books in French

I originally wanted to read 2 books in French to retain some semblance of literacy in the language (since I switch foreign languages from it to German in school), but I’m dropping that goal to just one to make it a little easier on myself, especially since these would take several times as long as English books for me. This way if I read 2 I’ll be very proud of myself, but I won’t feel super pressured to do so.

Goal 8: Read more poetry

Okay, so this hasn’t happened yet, but I still have hope. Maybe I’ll get into one of those Spotify poetry podcasts or something. It probably won’t happen, but it’s possible?

Goal 9: Review all books read

Oh, January 2021 me, you sweet summer child.

Yeah, that didn’t happen. I kept it up for maaaaybe 2 weeks. I’ll try to get back on the bandwagon, but I’m not overly optimistic.

Goal 10: Maintain blog schedule (at least most of the time)

Hahahaha…. ha… ha.

Okay, I really am going to try. However, I can’t guarantee anything, so we’ll see how that goes.

Bonus goal: Post consistently on bookstagram

This one lasted a lot longer than the reviewing goal did, but still crashed and burned in March. At least in this case I have the excuse that it’s really hard to take Bookstagram photos in a dorm room with a very limited book selection. Hoping to get back on this this summer as well though.

So what books have I been reading?

Here are my top fifteen books I’ve read so far this year, in no particular order:

What’s been happening to me outside of the literary realm?

I finished junior year at boarding school, where we were able to have a relatively normal school year in spite of the pandemic. I played Flute in A Midsummer Night’s Dream this spring, which was really fun. College applications are starting to loom over me, so that’s thrilling. Really looking forward to all of those applications this fall, although I’ll probably try to start on essays in August before school goes back. That’s basically all that’s up with me.

How has the first half of your year gone?