2024...Reading Challenges, First Book of the Year, and my One Little Word

Another new year! My, but how time flies. Time for a new year of plans and reading. I fell only five books shy of my goal of 50 books last year so I have set this year's goal for 50 again. Hopefully, I will reach it, or perhaps even surpass it. You can read about my 2023 reading year here.

First Book of the Year - They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

If you know me, then you will know that Malfi is one of my favorite horror authors. I'm already over halfway finished with it (I started on January 2) and it is a 'cannot put down' for sure.

My word for the year and my vision board

Last year, my word was Brave and let me tell you, I had to be just that. I experienced empty nest syndrome in a major way. I know many parents can relate. I had a very hard time and it still hits home even now. I wrote an essay as a kind of catharsis (read it here), but still struggled. I'm a dweller and an overthinker. I tend to grab hold of things I can't change, and mull them over again and again. Therapy helps, but I want to learn to work things through myself too. I decided my word for 2024 is Release. Learning to let go of things I can't change and move on. It will be hard, but I know I can do it.

My main goal for 2024, and for my life in general, is to make writing my top priority. With my boys no longer at home, and no significant other to deal with (😂), I have a lot of time to devote to doing just that (besides working, that is). 

The new year for me always comes with a fresh start at reading challenges. This year I'll once again be doing Book Challenge by Erin (which is twice a year), in addition to the four challenges I host. 

Challenges listed below:
Book Challenge by Erin 20.0
2024 I Read Horror Year-Round
1000 Books Project 2024: Collins/Dickens
2024 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge
2024 Read Your Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 20.0 (Facebook group)
First round of the year runs Jan - April.

Freebie - The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward

Book that was made into a movie - I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Book by a favorite author (not a reread) - They Lurk by Ronald Malfi

Book originally published over 100 years ago - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Book with winter in the title - A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons

Book of short stories - Out There Screaming - Jordan Peele, Editor

Animal on the cover - Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Picture of a Building (House) - The Lost Village by Camilla Sten

Name of a character in its title - The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Set in your state (Michigan) - Inspection by Josh Malerman

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. You can join in at any time during the four months. Second challenge of the year starts July 1st. Categories announced in June.

Now on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre. This is year four!

I have some ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I didn't quite complete the level last year...only three books shy...so I'm going to try again.

Here are the prompts and levels...

• Witch, dark, blood, bone, or body in title
• Nature gone wild (when plants or animals attack)
• Creepy character/object (House, doll, child, etc.)
• Holiday horror (Christmas, yule, etc.)
• Short story anthology or collection
  Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele, editor
• Takes place during Halloween season
• Winter theme, or winter on cover
  A Winter Haunting, Dan Simmons
• A book that is also a movie
• By BIPOC author
  Lone Women, Victor LaValle
• Classic horror novel
• Dark Academia novel (here's a list on Goodreads)
  Ninth House, Leigh Bardugo
• Gothic novel

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Full details and sign up here.

The next three challenges are hosted by me at Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

Wilkie Collins' The Moonstone - January through April 

In honor of his birthday on January 8.

We have already started reading. The reading schedule is posted here.

Charles Dickens' The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby - June through September

In honor of his friendship with Collins.

Full details and sign-up here.

My main level...

The Enthusiast: read 1-3 books

Also, additional levels...
Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2023
Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

The Watchers, A.M. Shine

Wicked, Gregory Maguire

Uglies, Scott Westerfeld

The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (reread)

The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard

The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann

Fire & Blood: 300 Years Before A Game of Thrones, George R.R. Martin

Full details and sign up here.

Pretend your house is a library: A strategy for actually reading the books you own. 

My "holds shelf" (which has grown exponentially since last year)...

My full list of books on my holds shelf will be listed on my 2024 Reading Challenges page located in the blog menu above.

Full details on how this challenge works (you can adapt it to fit your needs too!) and sign up here.

Finally, last year I started sort of an independent project called Backlist Challenge. I'm keeping track on a separate page which you can see up in the blog menu. As always, there are also links in the menu to my long term challenges like the Classics Club, etc.

That's it! What is (was) your first book of the year? Do you have One Little Word this year? What are your reading plans? Doing any challenges, or perhaps thinking of joining one (or more) of mine?
Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Happy New Year of peace and prosperity, and great reading of course!

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2023...Reading Challenges, First Book of the Year, and my One Little Word

Boy, I thought I was running late this year, only to discover I didn't do this post last year until January 18! This is going to be the same as last year. No best of lists or anything like that. However, this year I am including my One Little Word, along with my vision board, which pretty much illustrates what I want to focus on the most this year. 

First Book of the Year - My Heart is A Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones (Modeled here with Merida)

I read The Only Good Indians last year, and it was one of my favorites in 2022. Jones writes really good, subtle horror with Native American characters. He has definitely jumped into my top ten horror authors list. Chainsaw started off with a bang for sure!

My word for the year and my vision board

My sister bought me a necklace set for Christmas. It has a large pendant that says "Still I Rise" and a small, charm pendant that says "Brave." That's when it hit me. Brave. I want to be Brave to overcome the social anxiety I've developed since the pandemic, and I want to be Brave to overcome the Imposter Syndrome that is stalling my novel writing. My life word is Onward so I think Brave fits perfectly with that. 

It wouldn't be a new year without a fresh start at reading challenges. This year I'll be doing Book Challenge by Erin (which is twice a year) and The TBR Pile Challenge (10th year!), in addition to the four challenges I host. 

Challenges listed below:
Book Challenge by Erin 18.0
2023 TBR Pile Challenge
2023 I Read Horror Year-Round
1000 Books Project: Banned Books 2023
2023 Book to Movie (and TV) Challenge
2023 Read Your Shelf Challenge

First up...the twice a year challenge - Book Challenge by Erin 18.0 (Facebook group)

First round of the year runs Jan - April.

Freebie - The Princes in the Tower by Alison Weir

Book by an Australian author -

Wildwood Dancing by Juliet Marillier

Book whose author goes by three names -

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

Book with "black" or "white" in the title -

Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

GoodReads award winner from any year -

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (2015, Best Goodreads Debut Author)

Book set in a small town or rural area -

The Green Man by Kingsley Amis

Book with "heart" or "love" in the title -

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

Book that starts with the first letter of your first name -

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Book with an unusual narrator -

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle

Book with a prime number under 1000 in the title -

Five Mile House by Karen Novak

This is a private Facebook group. You can check it out and join here. You can join in at any time during the four months. Second challenge of the year starts July 1st. Categories announced in June.

Read 12 books (2 alternates allowed) which have been on your shelves for at least one year.

1. The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley (2015)
   
   
2. The Maidens, Alex Michaelides (2021)
   
   
3. The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson (2004)
   
   
4. Murder in the Cathedral, T.S. Eliot (1964)
   
   
5. Red Queen, Victoria Aveyard (2015)
   
   
6. The Orphan Witch, Paige Crutcher (2021)
   
   
7. Dracul, Dacre Stoker and J.D. Barker (2018)
   
   
8. The Penguin Book of Witches, Katherine Howe, Editor (2014)
   
   
9. Subhuman, Michael McBride (2005)
   
   
10. The Green Man, Kingsley Amis (1969)
    
    
11. The Princes in the Tower, Alison Weir (1994)
    
    
12. The Last Duel, Eric Jager (2004)

Alternates:

1. The North Water, Ian McGuire (2016)
   
   
2. I’m Thinking of Ending Things, Iain Reid (2016)
   
   

Full details and sign-up here (Deadline: January 15)

Now on to the challenges I'm hosting...

I host this challenge at my sister (horror) blog, Castle Macabre. Year Three!
Here are the prompts and levels.
I have a couple of ideas on what I'll be reading, but not sure on all of them yet. I'm going for the Chilling level again this year. I didn't quite complete the level last year (3 or 4 books shy), but I'm going to try again.

• Fairy Tale Retelling
• Zombies, Witches, Vampires, or Werewolves
  Dracul, Dacre Stoker
• Book by BIPOC author
  My Heart is a Chainsaw, Stephen Graham Jones
• Title with Dead, Blood, or Bone
• Something by Poe
• Set in the past
• Horrific cover
• Folk horror (Ideas: https://tinyurl.com/yy8jj56a or https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/folk-horror?page=1
  The Loney, Andrew Michael Hurley
• Winter theme or cover
  Snow, Ronald Malfi
• Black, red, or white cover
• Written by a woman
  The Twisted Ones, T. Kingfisher
• Debut horror
  The Collector, John Fowles

Levels:

Spooky: Read 6 books from 6 categories
Chilling: Read 12 Books from all 12 categories
Frightful: Read 2 books from each category for a total of 24 books
Horrifying: Read 3 books from each category for a total of 36 books

Full details and sign-up here.

The next three challenges are hosted by me on Gather Together and Read, my reading community site.

January, February, March - in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27

The Night Trilogy: Night, Dawn, The Accident (The Night Trilogy #1-3)
by Elie Wiesel, Marion Wiesel (Translator)

April, May, June - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

July, August, September - in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month in September

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

October, November, December
Beloved by Toni Morrison

Full details and sign-up here

Reading schedule for The Night Trilogy here

My main level...
First One to the Theater - Read 4+ books (2023 releases only)
Also, additional levels...
Not Ready to Let Go: read at least one (1) book made into a movie or series in 2022

Living in the Past: read at least one (1) book made into a movie in previous years
The Movie Was Better (What?!): watch the movie(s) for the book(s) you read.

Potential books:

(Reread) The Witching Hour, Anne Rice (series, Mayfair Witches, currently streaming on AMC/AMC+)
The Pale Blue Eye, Louis Bayard (movie currently streaming on Netflix)

The Cabin at the End of the World, Paul Tremblay (Knock at the Cabin, Feb 3)

(Maybe I'll actually finish it this time) Dune, Frank Herbert (Dune: Part 2, Nov 3)

The Fall of the House of Usher, Edgar Allan Poe (tbd, 2023)

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann (estimated May 2023)

Uglies, Scott Westerfeld (Netflix 2023 - expected)

2022

Death on the Nile, Agatha Christie 
Kindred, Octavia E. Butler

2021
The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton
The Last Duel, Eric Jager 

The Woman in the Window, A. J. Finn 
The Eye of the World, Robert Jordan 

Full details and sign-up here.

Pretend your house is a library: A strategy for actually reading the books you own. 

I know you're intrigued! Click here to read all about the new version of the Read Your Shelf Reading Challenge. 

My "holds shelf"...

Full details and sign-up here.

That's it! What is (was) your first book of the year? Do you have One Little Word this year? What are your reading plans? Doing any challenges, or perhaps thinking of joining one (or more) of mine? 

Whatever your plans are, I wish you a Happy New Year!

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Hello #2021 - First Book of the year, #OneWord, one resolution, and best #books of 2020

My friend, Sheila at Book Journey does this wonderful new year thing every year....First Book of the Year. She gets pictures from all of us with our first book and creates some great collages. Check it out here. Mine is above...Ronald Malfi's The Ascent (if you haven't read his books, you simply must. One of my favorite horror authors). My cats always do the honors. This year, it's Merida. 

One Word

I haven't done a One Word (or word for the year) since 2019. That year, I chose Onward and actually adopted the word as my Life Word. I have a slender cuff bracelet with the word engraved on it and I wear it all the time. I didn't think I needed a one word each year after that, but after 2020, I've changed my mind. We all have been through a lot with the pandemic, but I also had a lot of life changes in 2020. We moved house from Tennessee back to my home state of Michigan. It was a very stressful move, notwithstanding the thousands of books my mother and I have, combined. I only just recently started feeling settled and I still have a lot of decor placement/settling to do after the Christmas decor comes down (plus, getting my writing space ready in my HUGE walk-in closet). My older son graduated high school, and was supposed to move with us to attend college here in Michigan, only to change his mind the last minute (he has since changed his mind again and will be attending college here starting next week). On top of all that, my grandfather passed in September. Yeah, quite a year. So, the word I have chosen is ADAPT. Because I simply must focus on adapting to the changes happening around me. This is mainly focused on having a 19 year old son and another son who will be 18 in nine days. They have been my entire life, but I know I have to learn to let go. It's not easy. Anyone who is a parent will understand this. I also need to learn to adapt to things not going quite as planned which seems to be the flavor these days. 

ADAPT I will! No fancy jewelry this year. I will make something to hang over my desk in my writing space (or maybe print the image below). I'm ready!

My One Resolution...

Best Books Read in 2020

I usually do that long end-of-year survey, but as you can see in the image below, I only read 19 books (see my rough year story above). I'm just going to list my top six this year. Since I hardly write reviews anymore, I'll link to my rating/short review on Goodreads.

1. The Outsider, Stephen King

2. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

3. The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead

4. The Bone People, Keri Hulme

5. The Descent, Jeff Long

6. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

I'll post about 2021 reading challenges in a few days. Still haven't decided which, if any, I will join besides the few I host myself. More later...

How was your (reading) 2020?

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#FirstBook and #OneWord for 2019...and 2018 End of Year #Book Survey

Sending out a big thanks to Sheila at Book Journey for hosting First Book of the Year and sharing My One Word once again this year. This has become a tradition for many of us and I truly appreciate it.

My first book of the year is our non-fiction selection for my True Book Talk book group on Goodreads. January is one of our three yearly non-fiction months and our January selection each year must be a biography or history title. I chose six historical biographies from the non-fiction shelf of my home library and we voted (via poll) for which title we wanted to read. This has been on my shelf for years and Eleanor is one of my historical heroines. So excited to finally read it!

Arya looks quite perturbed with my first book of the year. lol

***********

This year, I want to keep moving forward. I feel like in 2018 I was kind of at a standstill. Not that my life wasn't way busy and hectic. It was. Just basically at a standstill with my goals....reading more, writing, blogging, getting healthy. This year I chose "Onward" as my one word. Onward with all my goals, but particularly with writing my novel. Onward, knocking aside the fear and the doubt. I found this poem online (here) and it is quite fitting...

Onward

Words drip out of the pen
A realization begins to take shape
Onward
With the pace of a shark that has picked up the scent of blood in the water
With the face of a broken clock attempting to measure the time passing
Onward
Through the letters, pain and pleasure
Burdens lifted
Inner peace is gifted
Ink addicted
Especially whilst conflicted
Onward
A journey towards the center
Or a journey towards what lies outside
A trek on top of clouds ‘till Heaven
Or a tunnel built with zero degree tilt, straight down towards where Hell must lie
Onward
The core scorches with the heat of an impassioned love
Space is empty, vast, and freezing cold
But until I find the answers to my questions
The ink will flow and the pen I’ll hold

Every year, I purchase a necklace or pendant with my one word, but this year I chose to go with a bracelet. This is the one. Of course, it will have Onward engraved on it. I hope it arrives soon!

9th Annual End Of Year Book Survey

Our host each year is Jamie at The Perpetual Page Turner.

I'm going to pick and choose which questions to answer on this one, as I feel some do not apply.

**2018 READING STATS**

Number Of Books You Read:  31

Very shabby turn out on my goal of 75...2018 was not a great year for my reading.

Number of Re-Reads: 3

Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling

Howard's End, E.M. Forster

A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

Genre You Read The Most From: Horror

In previous years, this would have been historical fiction.

1. Best Book You Read In 2018?
I'll go with my top five favorites (excluding re-reads):

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

The Terror, Dan Simmons

The Anomaly, Michael Rutger

Sharp Objects, Gillian Flynn

Bird Box, Josh Malerman

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t?

I won't say I was terribly excited about it. I saw it and when I read the description, I thought it sounded in similar vein to The Anomaly. It wasn't. 

Ararat, Christopher Golden

3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? 

I discovered The Confessions of Dorian Gray series by Tim Leng quite by accident when searching for Christmas audio books on Hoopla. I had never heard of the series. The Confessions of Dorian Gray: The Spirits of Christmas was surprisingly good. Very entertaining...acted out like a television show or movie. I will have to listen to the entire series eventually.

4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)?

The Anomaly and Bird Box
5. Best series you started in 2018? Best Sequel of 2018? Best Series Ender of 2018?

I did not start or end a series, nor did I read a series ender. Amend that. Just discovered that The Anomaly is the first book in a planned series. The second book is out July of this year. Woot!

6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2018?

Michael Rutger (author of question 5 above), which is a pseudonym for Michael Marshall.

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone?

While I might possibly read more poetry than most (???), it's still not a genre I typically read. Best book of poetry I read was How to Love the Empty Air by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz.

8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year?

The Anomaly, hands down. I read it in less than a day!

9. Book You Read In 2018 That You Would Be MOST Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

Why A Christmas Carol, of course! I read it every year.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2018?

11. Most memorable character of 2018?
I have to name two...Ruby Lennox from Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Captain Francis Crozier from Dan Simmons' The Terror.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2018?

To Kill a Mockingbird
13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2018?

Again, To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't believe I waited so long to read it!

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2018 to finally read? 

See above

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2018?

“Sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse than a whisky bottle in the hand of (another)... There are just some kind of men who - who're so busy worrying about the next world they've never learned to live in this one, and you can look down the street and see the results.” 

--from To Kill a Mockingbird

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2018?
Tales of Christmas anthology, 46 pages

The Terror, 769 pages

17. Book That Shocked You The Most
I would have to say the subject matter of The Treatment by Mo Hayder. Great book, but very disturbing what goes on in that book.

(Skipped 18 and 19)

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2018 From An Author You’ve Read Previously
The Narrows, Ronald Malfi

(Skipped 21 and 22)

23. Best 2018 debut you read?
Although it's technically not a debut since the author is a pseudonym of a previously published author, it is a debut for this author, and so The Anomaly...again. lol

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year?
Ombria in Shadow, Patricia McKillip

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read?
I'm Not Sorry: Poems by Cats, Rosa Silva

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2018?
How to Love the Empty Air by Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz

(Skipped 27 - 30)

I've decided to just freestyle the remainder of this survey with some reading goals and one (or two) blogging goals.

• Of course, my main goal is to read more books. I want to go with my original plan from earlier in 2018. I was going to track my daily reading progress to hold myself more accountable to read more every day. I have a tab in the blog menu. I'm hoping to keep up with it this year. 
• I want to read more Anne Rice, and at least one or two Stephen King books this year. I also want to read the next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, A Storm of Swords.
• I'm working on deciding which reading challenges I'll participate in this year (post coming soon). I failed miserably in 2018 on all but two reading challenges...my Book to Movie challenge and my 13 Ways yearly challenge. I'm going to try to limit myself to five or less full year challenges, not including the ones I host.
• The only goals I have for blogging are 1) to perhaps write more reviews, or maybe not reviews (unless it's a review book), but rather write ups of the books I enjoyed. Perhaps mini-reviews...
• and 2) to start writing my A Reading Life posts again, but changing from weekly to monthly. I think that will be more manageable for me.

So, wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2019. If you happen to read this post, please feel free to share your first book of the year, your one word, and/or your reading goals and plans.

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2018 - First Book of the Year plus my One Word...A Quest to find me

First Book of the Year is a tradition started by Sheila at Book Journey...and this is the fifth year!

The premise:

Here is what First Book is. The first book of the New Year should be:

A. A coveted book that you have wanted to read but have just not found the time.

B. A delicious favorite… one you have read before, but crave to read again.

C. Really whatever you want it to – it is after all YOUR First Book Of the year.

Make it AWESOME.

Head over to Sheila's blog to see what everyone else has chosen as their first book.

Now, drum roll please....

Alice, posed with my first book, 

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms by George R.R. Martin.

This book was in my Bookish Secret Santa gift

from my good friend, Lucy at Fictional 100. ❤

The concept behind My One Word is to come up with a word that is all encompassing of that long list of resolutions. Let's face it...that daunting list seldom works. Sheila at Book Journey has also made this a yearly tradition so you can join her and check out her One Word. You can also read all about the phenomenon and share your One Word with the world at the official website here. (Note: When you share your word on their site, this is what it says: Choose just one word that represents what you most hope God will do in you, and focus on it for an entire year. I am not religious so I chose not to share on their site, as their philosophy does not fit with my beliefs).

My One Word for 2018 is QUEST.

I'm on a quest to find ME, to make ME happy.

• My quest is a focus on my health and getting healthy (which does involve losing weight, but the focus will be on health via healthier eating and plenty of exercise). 
• My quest is wasting less time watching TV and online. I'm cutting the cord (which means getting rid of satellite TV) and going all streaming. The TV will be on less so less temptation to watch. The internet is going to take a bit more willpower. Baby steps.
• My quest is getting back to my love of reading. I only read 35 books last year! That's almost 20 books less than I've read in previous years. I have pretty much completely stopped doing book tours and I will only review books for a select group of authors I know and love. This quest is to finally reach that 75 books goal, and read books from my own shelves. To bring the enjoyment back to reading, not obligation.
• My quest is a focus on writing my novel. It's time to get serious. 
• Finally, my quest is to stand up for myself, speak my mind (I know you're probably saying, "She already does!").  It may seem like I already do, but there are instances in my life when I quash my voice, where I'm a doormat. No more!

That's it! I know it still seems like a long list, but the point is to focus on that One Word. I will keep QUEST the center of my attention and it will feel more like a journey than a chore. 

So, what about you? Do you have your First Book and One Word picked out? If you do, please share!

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First Book of the Year and My One Word

Each year Sheila at Book Journey hosts First Book of the Year and One Word (your word for the year). This is my second year doing both and it's the perfect thing to kick off the new year! Thanks, Sheila!

I officially do not start my first book of the year until January 7th, as I continue reading Christmas books until January 6th (Twelfth Night). So, this selection is not technically my first book since I will be finishing others by January 6th, but I did start said Christmas books before the end of the year, but Goodreads counts when you finish a book in your yearly count. Anyway, enough about the technicalities. 😄 Without further ado...

This was one of the books my mom bought me for Christmas. I love Stephenie Meyer. I'm not afraid to admit that I liked the Twilight series, and her book, The Host, remains one of my favorites. The author comes up with some pretty great ideas, in my opinion. We shall see how this one is. It sounds amazing.

In this gripping page-turner, an ex-agent on the run from her former employers must take one more case to clear her name and save her life.

She used to work for the U.S. government, but very few people ever knew that. An expert in her field, she was one of the darkest secrets of an agency so clandestine it doesn’t even have a name. And when they decided she was a liability, they came for her without warning.

Now, she rarely stays in the same place or uses the same name for long. They’ve killed the only other person she trusted, but something she knows still poses a threat. They want her dead, and soon.

When her former handler offers her a way out, she realizes it’s her only chance to erase the giant target on her back. But it means taking one last job for her ex-employers. To her horror, the information she acquires only makes her situation more dangerous.

Resolving to meet the threat head-on, she prepares for the toughest fight of her life but finds herself falling for a man who can only complicate her likelihood of survival. As she sees her choices being rapidly whittled down, she must apply her unique talents in ways she never dreamed of.

In this tautly plotted novel, Stephenie Meyer creates a fierce and fascinating new heroine with a very specialized skill set. And she shows once again why she’s one of the world’s bestselling authors.

The quote above is my motto for 2017, and ongoing in life. It's SO true. I'm taking a part of this line, "...you forgot to have a big juicy creative life of imagination and radical silliness and staring off into space like when you were a kid" and creating my word. So, my word is...

IMAGINE

...but not just for the creativity aspect. I keep thinking of the current situation in our world (Syria, mass killings, terrorism), and in our country (I don't think I have to specifically mention why here...everyone knows), and I think of the words of John Lennon's famous song, Imagine.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be as one

And that's it...two reasons for IMAGINE being my one word for 2017. For the creativity and living a life of childlike wonder, and for imagining the world as a better place by taking action, whether it be donating time or money for human rights causes, or taking action in other ways, and just a general good-will-toward-all-mankind attitude. I'm working on getting a pendant made on Etsy that I can wear. When I get it, I'll post an image.

What's in your first book of the year? Are you going to choose a word?

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