2019 Reading Challenge

52 books in one year

This year I made a lofty reading goal for myself: 52 books in one year. Honestly that’s a huge jump since I probably read like 10 last year, but I know that I can make the time to do it. The amount of unwinding with Netflix can definitely be replaced by reading real books, and I’m loving it so far. 52 books a year is about 1 book a week, but I’m not being too strict about it. I don’t care if I read one book in a month and 10 books the next month, as long as I get to 52 by the end of the year!

I’ve gotten more active on goodreads and I’m going to report on the books I’m reading here too! There aren’t any rules to what I read – I could read 52 fluffy chick books if I wanted, the goal is just to get reading! (Although I do hope widen my horizons, try some new genres, and improve myself along the way 🙂 )

Books I read: January 2019


The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society﻿

I promised myself I would read this book before I watched the Netflix move, and I’m so glad I did. It’s a quick read, a great love story, and provides some great history. I LOVED the way it was written – I am all about telling stories in a creative way. All of the letters back and forth really captured the era and allowed you to really get to know the characters. She is a great character, especially for her time. The movie was pretty close to the book too, so it was a great combo. 5 stars from me. (You can click on the title to get the back cover summary to get intrigued.)


After Dark

I read this on the plane before we went to Tokyo. I wanted to get a taste of Japanese culture through fiction. Honestly, I didn’t love it. Maybe because I was jet lagged and half asleep when I read it, but it did not stick with me and I definitely didn’t feel like I got the best taste of Japanese culture. However, it was definitely an intriguing story that kept me reading. If you like a little bit of a metaphysical element / mystery, this book may be for you. I probably should just re-read it, I may understand it a little bit better as well. I think I definitely went into it with very different expectations which didn’t work for me.


That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family

If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you NEED to read this book. There were aspects that I loved and aspects that I think could be misconstrued, but I did love how he focused on the doctrine on every page and brought every aspect back to Christ. The examples of how his family treated him and loved him during every decision that he made were so good. He is not preachy or judgmental of the LGBTQ individuals and the decisions that they decide to make within the church. I do feel that that could have been more clear, because each person has such an individual journey and decisions to make. I feel that this is written for straight members of the church to be more understanding, loving, and accepting. This needs to be more normalized, and we need to be more open and accepting in our culture. For that reason, I feel like it is a book that can help members become more like the Savior in loving everyone, not judging, and being ok with not understanding everything. He gives such specific advice that it is completely useless to shun, disown, refuse to go to gay weddings, etc., because the individual knows what we believe! When we do that, we are being homophobic and not accepting. Anyways, I could go on and on. Just read it 🙂

Recommendations, please!

I have already read a few books in February and am well on my way to read and keep up with my goal! Please give me all the recommendations! I love a good story, good characters, and something that makes me think. I’m pretty much open to anything at this point, and I have a lot more books to read this year!

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