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Bookish Hollow

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Bookish Things: Annotating Text (#3)

Do you annotate your books by writing directly into the book?

I can see the merit of annotating books as a way of studying a piece of literature for figurative language, foreshadowing, and structure but why do people write directly into the book? Wouldn't it be easier to keep a journal or some other type of dialogue?

I personally cannot bring myself to write in my books. I will post it flag certain pages and I do keep a journal of favorite quotes and thoughts while reading books, but I just can't fathom the idea of writing in my books. In college I would write in some of my text books but I would get mad at myself if I messed it up or if it didn't look good. I would also feel bad for writing in a book when I might not always keep it.

I have a friend that reads books to pieces and she says she doesn't care what the book looks like (cracked spine, water stains, etc.) because it gives it character. A book with a broken spine and wrinkled cover is well-loved in her eyes. Which is all fine and good but I, on the other hand, think that even though my books look almost like new, they too are well loved.

I did try out annotating an ARC (advanced reader copy) of a book last year and I did like the freedom of being able to mark the pages, underline witty lines, and write in my comments and guesses as to where the plot was going to go. It was a fun experiment but I still don't feel right with doing it with finished copies of books. I will stick with my post it flags and quote journal.

What do you think? Do you annotate your books? If so, do you only annotate for specific things? If not, would you ever try?

Want to read more commentary from me about different bookish things? Leave a suggestion below!

100+ Books I want to read in 2016

Year End Wrap Up & Reflection | 2015

Another reading year has come and gone! It is crazy to think that another year and 98 books have passed by. I read some pretty fantastic books this year and have had some amazing bookish experiences.

I met some amazing authors, went to BookCon, visited some New York book shops. I met Scott Westerfeld one of my ALL TIME favorite authors and got him to sign my 10 year old copy of Uglies. I got to meet Maggie Stiefvater, Sarah J. Maas, and Rainbow Rowell. I got to go to The Strand to walk among the stacks and Books of Wonder for an event. I got to meet Adam Silvera on a whim and he holds the current record for best signature in a book for all the fun doodles he did in my copy. I had a fantastic year doing so many bookish things and meeting so many wonderfully bookish people.

I got two new bookshelves to hold all of my new books that I have purchased and collected! I've gone a bit book crazy and have bought a lot of books that are sitting on my TBR pile but I have also gone through and donated a lot of books to my local Little Free Library so that many more people can enjoy the books that I have enjoyed or come to love books that I just lost interest in.

The Books of 2015

Stats:

• books read: 98
• number of pages: 29.326
• number of graphic novels: 16
• number of novellas/short stories: 12
• number of novels: 70
• Publication years: 1967-2015

Top 15 of 2015:

2016 Reading Challenges/Goals

Each year I do some kind of reading challenge to make me think about the books I want to read in the up coming year. I do not keep a TBR shelf separate from my read shelves they all intermingle on my three bookshelves and because of this it is sometimes necessary for me to make a list of books that I want to read/need to read because I haven't read them yet.

This year's challenges that I have signed up for are:

The A-Z reading challenge hosted by the Young Adult Book Club
The Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge - my plans can be found here.


Some of my personal reading goals are:

• read at least 5 classics
• read 5 debut author books
• read 2 books by local authors 
• read at least 1 kindle book a month
• listen to at least 1 audio book a month
• finish 5 different series (2 or more books)
• Meet my goodreads challenge of 52 books read

Another one of my personal goals is to cut back on my book buying. I am currently subscribed to Uppercase box and Owlcrate which will give me my monthly fix of new releases so the only other books I really need to purchase is any books in a series I am currently keeping up on. I am working on coming up with a system for book buying and making sure that I am not buying more books than I will ever actually read.

Now, though I have all of these lofty reading goals and challenges that I would love to complete I also need to remember to not to stress about these goals. If I don't meet them, oh well. I want a challenge but I also can't forfeit my career or my health just to meet these goals. I still want reading to be fun and enjoyable for me and a way for me to relieve stress after a long day at work. 

I am really excited to get started on these challenges and I think that these challenges will help me read more diversely as well as help me cut down my TBR pile.

I would love to hear about what challenges or goals you have set for yourself and we can cheer each other on throughout the year!

My 2015 A-Z Challenge Wrap Up!

I started off this challenge with a list of books that fit each letter of the alphabet and that were on my TBR. As you probably know reading a certain book doesn't always fit your mood so I had to take a step away from the reading the books I specified and just read what I was in the mood for. So, I ended up meeting the challenge with a few more technicalities than I wanted but I completed it and I am so proud!

Here is my final list of books from A to Z:

A. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol

B. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

C: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

D: Dime by E. R. Frank

E: Everyday by David Levithan

F: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

G: Golden Son by Pierce Brown

H: How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff (re-read)

I: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

J.  Joyride by Anna Banks

K. Kagawa, Julie - Talon

L. The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg (re-read)

M. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

N. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

O. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

P. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (re-read)

Q. The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

R. Rogue by Julie Kagawa

S. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

T. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

U. Uglies: Cutters by Scott Westerfeld

V. Very Good Lives by J. K. Rowling

W. The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

X. AleXie, Sherman - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Y. Yoon, Nicola - Everything, Everything 

Z. Zevin, Gabrielle - The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry

In 2016 I plan on participating in this challenge as well as the Around the Year in 52 Books challenge! You can check out these challenges by going to the Young Adult Book Club group for the A-Z challenge and the Around the Year in 52 Books group both of which are on Goodreads! I am also participating with the A Very Shadowhunter Read Along group in their year long (re)read of all of the Shadowhunter novels.

Christmas Questions from Epic Reads

Margot at EpicReads posted a holiday tag on the EpicReads youtube and I thought I would answer the questions on here!

1. What is your favorite book to gift during the holidays?
I don't really have a singular book that I gift because I have friends with very different tastes in books. A lot of times I just get them a gift card so they can pick out their own books but if I were to pick one book that I would gift to literally anyone this year it would have to be I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson!

2. What is the best book you have ever received as a gift?
I've been buying my own books for a while now but the best book I remember receiving as a gift was my UK boxed set of the Signature Harry Potter hardcovers that I got for Christmas last year. I received all of the HP books as gifts as they came out and being they have affected my life so much they obviously had to get the mention.

3. What book do you hope to get this year?
I got a handful of signed books on Black Friday as a gift from my Aunt, but I obviously had to be there to pick them out so I have already received those. I hope that if anyone was to buy me a book that it would be a pre-order for Passenger by Alexandra Bracken or Front Lines by Michael Grant!

4. What is your favorite holiday movie?
ELF! All the way! I quote it so much and just adore it! Oh and the Polar Express! I can watch both of these on repeat for the whole month of December and not tire of them.

5. What holiday song is always on repeat?
I am actually not that into Christmas music (don't kill me) but if I were to play any song on repeat it would probably be Baby It's Cold Outside (Idina Menzel and Michael Buble version). I also love All I Want For Christmas! A not so Christmassy winter song would be Mittens by Carly Rae Jepsen. I think I just need to find the right albums and songs to get myself more into Christmas music, I guess that is my task for the coming year so I can be prepared for next Christmas season! Recommend awesome Christmas albums/songs and artists versions that you like below?!

6. What is your favorite holiday food to either make or eat?
COOKIES! I love making chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, the peanut butter ones with the hershey kiss in the center, basically all the cookies. I also really enjoy oreo truffles, 'poor man's' peanut butter candy, and fudge.

Merry Christmas everyone!
- Amanda