On this day last year, I answered the question “What are you currently reading?” and honestly I see no reason to mess with perfection.

I just started reading: Okay, this is a tricky one to answer because Oathbound, the third book in Tracy Deonn’s Legendborn series. However, I feel like maybe I should reread the first two books because, you know, a lot has happened and while I can remember some things, I can’t remember everything. And, yes, the beginning is a little bit of a recap, but I already am like, “Oh, right, that did happen, but I can’t quite remember the context.” Also, I think I should probably listen to the audiobooks so it really is a different kind of reading experience.

Hello, yes, I can overthink anything.

The real answer is the audiobook of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, narrated by Barton Welch, which isn’t really a started reading for the book itself but it is for the audiobook since I switched formats. Also, switching to the audiobook was a good idea/bad idea because the narration is fantastic (and not just because the author is Australian so there’s, you know, the accent), but that kind of puts a crimp in my plan to listen to Legendborn (not really). No, the real tragedy is that someone bought me the paper copy for Christmas and now it feels like a waste.

Okay that’s not entirely true either. I just got to the part where the narrator talks about form making meaning, which I’m going to use in my lit classes forever, and I do need to type it up, so.

I just finished reading: Sharice’s Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman by Congresswoman Sharice Davids with Nancy K. Mays, illustrated by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley. Hot tip: The best part about working at the library is doing Pomodoros and using the breaks to read picture books. I actually forgot the book I was actively reading when I went to the library to do work the other day so grabbed a bunch of picture books from the display and read this one while I was taking a break. Pomodoros + picture books = brilliant.

My favorite books so far this year: Okay, I’ve really liked almost all of the books I read this year, so I guess I will say the fiction book that I think is the best written so far is a tie between Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See (srs bzns) and Seven Days in June by Tia Williams (made me laugh out loud several times). The best written nonfiction so far is Letter to My Daughter by Maya Angelou. Historically Black Phrases: From “I Ain’t One of Your Lil’ Friends” to “Who All Gon’ Be There?” by Jarrett Hill and Tre’vell Anderson is the most fun nonfiction so far. Sweetest picture book is The Most Beautiful Thing by Kao Kalia Yang, illustrated by Khoa Le. Best (only) thriller is Fake ID by Lamar Giles, narrated by William Harper.

Something that I’ve learned about myself as a reader this past year is: I love romance novels that stress me out, apparently. Also, I keep learning that classics are classics for a reason. I cannot believe I waited so long to read Audre Lorde’s Sister Outsider and Dawn by Octavia Butler was freaking brilliant. I’ve actually made it a bit of a goal to read more classics this year.

Some titles on deck are: Oathbound and/or the entire Legendborn series as noted in my first answer. I’m also going to be riding public transport this week so I may (will) need to find some other books for eyeball reading.

My reading goal for this year is: Okay, last year I read 83 books, so my goal should technically be 85 since I usually set my Goodreads reading goal +2 of the books I read the year before. However, like last year, I figured I should aim a little lower since I’m actually be back at work so may have less time to read. Oh and also, I will not be as deep in the picture book biographies this year. All of that just to say my goal is 75 books as well as more classics as noted before.