Summer 2017: Challenges, Book Club, and a little Bingo

Happy Summer Solstice, everyone! Today officially marks the end of a temperamental, busy Spring, and the onset of a jam-packed, beautiful Summer (aka, one of the best reasons to live in the PNW!).

This means that for the time being, my younger siblings are out of school, our daily schedules are clear for fun, and unless I find some way to occupy my time, I'm going to totally lose it.

So, like I do every summer, I'm giving myself a bit of a challenge - or three, or four - to make sure that I'm spending this downtime in the most productive manner. From library challenges to Goodreads Challenges, to even some other challenges you might not expect, I've got a plan to help make this summer one for the books... literally!

goodreads challenge 2017

First of all, I'm still on track for this year's Goodreads goal. As you might remember, I altered my Challenge a little bit for 2017 to give myself more room to read the kinds of books I actually want to read, which don't always find their place in a speed-reading stack of 75 books a year. So, while I'm making my steady way towards 50 great titles, I'm still trying to be a little more conscious of what I'm consuming, and how. 

For instance, I've been going to the library quite a bit in the first half of this year, and while that's a great way of getting new titles that I like, it's not doing a lot to help alleviate the number of books still sitting on my TBR bookshelves (yeah, bookshelves). 

I'd also like to do a better job switching up the kinds of books I'm reading. So far, there's been a fair amount of YA and Memoirs - like there always is with me -  but I'd still like to try swinging for a few more hefty tomes this year, which will be perfect for these drowsy summer afternoons. I've got everything from Edith Wharton to medical nonfiction sitting in my TBR, so it's only fair that I give those kinds of reads as much of a chance as I do the easier stuff. 

library book bingo challenges

But speaking of libraries, you won't be surprised to find that I'm taking part in the Seattle Libraries Summer Book Bingo again this year. What you might be surprised by, is that I'm taking part in the Tacoma Public Libraries Book Bingo, as well! 

I know, I hear you: it sounds like a lot. 

However, both library branches have their own systems for completion that make taking part in both doable: for instance, whereas Seattle's Bingo has each square representing a book, Tacoma's has other options, like "attending a library event," or "reading for 60 minutes straight." The kinds of books each promotes are also different, because while there are some overlaps - like science fiction novels, or novels by a person of color - there are others that get pretty specific, like Seattle's "a book from the year one of your parents was born," or Tacoma's "a book set in the Middle East." Taking part in both is primarily an exercise in pushing my bookish boundaries, and I know that while I won't be making a blackout on either card, it will help me get to more interesting reads this summer. 

For instance, take a peek at some of the books I have lined up to fill those spots so far: the Ariel poetry collection from Sylvia Plath, Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the first installment of the Saga comic book series, Helen Oyeyemi's Boy Snow Bird, and even an old favorite, Annie Dillard's An American Childhood, which I'm actually reading right now! 

And, of course, I'm rereading Twilight. 

Wait, what!? 

the twilight family book club

Find the podcast on Soundcloud HERE!

So, funny story: back during my time at UW in Seattle, in classes required for completion of the English major, I met this really cool girl, named Ally. While Ally went on to move to Portland,  we still follow each other on social media... which is how I found out late last year, that she had started a podcast with one of her friends, Cody, called Into the Twilight. 

Every week, these two hilarious co-hosts read and recap a two-chapter segment of - you guessed it - the Twilight series. While Cody hasn't ever read the books before, and is only tangentially aware of what goes on in the series, Ally is a super-fan with a significant awareness of some of its fictional foibles, with an academic background perfect for picking them apart on air.

Because I have such a bad track record with keeping up with podcasts - and, um, Twilight? - I put off actually listening to it... that is, until earlier this month, when a short family trip to Portland gave me more than enough time in a car to commit to the series. After only a few episodes, I was completely hooked, and quickly pissing off the other inhabitants of the van with how much I was giggling.

In an attempt to actually persuade myself to get my butt to the gym, I'm only listening while I'm on the treadmill, which is why, despite their hilarity, I'm only in the mid-teens of the episodes already produced. However, in the midst of losing my breath partially from cardio and partially because I can't stop laughing, I made a surprising decision: I wanted to go back and reread those books, too! 

I proposed the idea to my 21-year-old sister, as to whether she wanted to casually book-club some of the series with me this summer, and she immediately accepted, without follow-up questions (to clarify: Rainier is Delaney's favorite type of beer specifically because Charlie Swan drinks it, and on a thrift store trip a year or two ago, purchased a "Bella + Edward Forever" shirt that she still wears in public). When I mentioned it to my other two younger siblings - my 17-year-old sister and 15-turning-16-in-August-year-old brother - they surprised me by wanting in, as well.

So, thanks to Ally, I now have a new incentive to die laughing at the gym, as well as a family book club for the summer!

and, of course, other stuff

So, even though I've got three separate bookish focuses for my time this summer, they're not the only parts of my life worth focusing on. Of course, we've got plenty of family vacations to look forward to - kicked off by our first-out-of-three camping trip this weekend, while some family membs take a break on Saturday to go up to Seattle Pride! - and August is bisected by vacations in Disneyland and Sun River, OR.

While some of my siblings are occupied by their own summer courses - from college classes, to driving school - I'm trying to take a class or two of my own from what's offered online (And if you have any recommendations for courses you enjoyed, please let me know!). 

There's plenty else, too, from revitalizing my resume and LinkedIn in a continuation of my efforts to get a real-person job instead of freelancing, ticking off a few activities in a bucket list full of summer favorites, and maybe even taking part in Camp NaNo for the month of July. Plus, let's not forget that later this Summer, I get to celebrate my 7th (!!!) blog birthday with Playing in the Pages! 

So, for right now, I think I'm okay. There's plenty to get started on, of course... but all I really want to do, is curl up in our hammock with a glass of lemonade, and a really good book! 

What are some of your most anticipated reads for Summer 2017? Are you taking part in any fun reading challenges? Let me know, in the comments below!