Monday, January 5, 2015

Musing Mondays (16)

 
     Musing Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading, that asks you to muse about something book related each week.

My Musings for the week...

     This is the first Musing Mondays post of 2015, hooray! As you can see above I changed the old banner during my vacation so that it matched with the header of Our Thoughts Precisely—and it was missing a dash of blue. So, for this Musing Monday’s I'm going to briefly discuss the Goodreads Reading Challenge. So what is it? Basically, you can set a goal on Goodreads pertaining to the amount of books you want to read in a year, as a sort of challenge for yourself.

     Will I participate in the Goodreads Reading Challenge? 

     No, I won’t be participating in the Reading Challenge this year. I’ve never done so, and I don’t think I ever will.

     Why not?

     I think the simple reason is that I read a random number of books each year—and setting a goal won’t help with that. When I read, it solely depends on what I feel like doing at the time.  For me, I almost feel like I would get through books considerably slower if I set a goal with a specific number, because my enthusiasm wouldn't be there.  As you can see with my 2015: Blogger Resolutions post, all of my goals for the year are pretty open ended.  There's no specific amount for any of them.  They are relatively flexible goals.

     Any final thoughts on the Goodreads Reading Challenge?

     I think the challenge is good for some people and not for others. For me, well, I’m on the not-so-much side.

     Question: What are your thoughts on the Goodreads Reading Challenge? Does setting a goal help you read more or less?

*Check back next Monday for my list of Most Anticipated 2015 New Releases. (Hint: It's going to be short.)

Friday, January 2, 2015

2015: Blogger Resolutions

     Well, hello 2015! Its hard to believe 2014 is already over, but it is. Anyway, I'm going to get to the main point of this post--my 2015 blogger resolutions. I have a few for this year and thought that I would share them here on the blog.
  1. Continue to have fun with the blog (I think this is the most important one)
  2. Read more classics
  3. Find more reasons to use the 2015 banner (pictured above). I have no clue what I'm going to do yet, but I will find a way...somehow.
  4. Read more nonfiction--I really enjoyed the art books I read last year, which ultimately made me want to read more nonfiction.  
     I really don't have many resolutions besides those four, but I hope to have another great year of blogging!
     
     

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Our Thoughts Precisely!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day.


Monday, December 22, 2014

2014: End of the Year Wrap Up & Favorite Reads

     2014 is nearly over.  Seriously, Christmas is practically around the corner so I figured it was time to do a wrap up for the year. This is probably one of the last posts on Our Thoughts Precisely before the new year.

     I have to say that 2014 was a much better year that 2013.  I didn't read as much, but most of the books I read were pretty good.  I think where the blog activity sort of dropped off for a while was during the move.  And with all the books in boxes and lack of internet connection for a while, I got no reading or blogging done. But after the move was over and everything was unpacked, things picked up again. The blog also got a new look this year, and I have to say that I'm relatively happy with it. I might add a few things here and there, but mostly it'll probably stay the same.

     What I learned this year...

     Balancing life with blogging/reading is more important than the number of books I read, and its perfectly fine that way.  Although--despite the lack of quantity--I read a bunch of good books, which makes me happy. Last year I, as a reader, still tried to finish every book.  But this past year I did something a little different.  I gave books the first 100 or so pages to grab my interest.  And if I really wasn't feeling it then I DNF'd it. That method saved a lot of time, and I got to read the books that I truly enjoyed.

     Some things from 2014...

     Through October and November I did a series of post called Falling into Fall.  It was just a fun way to share some of the things I wanted to do during fall. All links can be found on the Features Page.  I also got involved in a couple of weekly memes: The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice & Musing Mondays hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading.

     Favorite reads of 2014...

     So, since its almost the end of the year I figured that I would share some of my favorite books that I read in 2014!  Some of the books on the list were released some time ago so the year they came out doesn't matter much to me.  It's in no particular order, and placement has nothing to do with how much I enjoyed the book.

*I will be taking a break from blogging to enjoy my holiday. Any posts that show up after this one were already scheduled (There's only 2 of them). Happy Holidays!
     
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