Quick update here, re: my plan for reading 12 (fiction) books in 12 months. March ended early with C.J. Tudor’s book, “The Hiding Place” which was a very decent read indeed! Tudor really is a fantastic author in my opinion. April, with typical end-of-semester shenanigans, saw me hit a hard pause on my reading adventures as my day-by-day work adventures were crazy long and by the end of each day, the second my head hit pillow, with heavy eyelids I quickly was swept off into a spacey dreamscape.

Well, long story short, here I am back at it trying to get back on track with “A Pho Love Story” by Loan Le.

With that, off I go to flip the first few pages/chapters! Not to start off making excuses but in full transparency, I’m teaching two compressed software engineering courses this Spring term (May-June) so things continue to be on the edge of crazy for me but I am really going to try my level-headed best to get back to reading. Getting back into reading (fiction) has been really great for my soul and general well-being!

Having finished Helen Hoang’s book, “The Kiss Quotient” early I am able to continue my goal of 12 books in 12 months in 2021 early!

First, Hoang’s “The Kiss Quotient” was a great read. The characters were lovely and the story very heartwarming. This said, I do feel the need to mention that this book was also the “steamiest” rom-com-ish book I have ever read! Sweet sassy mollassy…whew! …and I mean whew!! I do highly recommend giving it a read if you like rom-com type books though. It had all of the things you look for in such a read. And again #juicy …hahaha

Next up is C.J. Tudor’s book, “The Hiding Place.” I’m looking forward to diving in here as I’ve read and loved Tudor’s other books, “The Chalk Man” and “The Other People.”

Having finished Kevin Kwan’s “Sex & Vanity” slightly early (what a great read! Check it out if you like his work. You won’t be disappointed! I now want to go to Capri, in the off-season that is…ha!), I was able to start early on my next book. With that, here’s my February read: Helen Hoang’s “The Kiss Quotient.”

I’m getting into it and so far, so good! Being a huge nerd, I can definitely relate to some, but for surely not all of Stella’s awkwardness…ha #nospoilers

At the start of 2020, before what I like to call “the slide into the weird” I began the year off with a goal: To read one fiction/non-fiction book per month throughout the year (with preference to fiction). Why? Primarily for my mental well-being. To escape the normal rigamarole of my daily life and drift away into an alternate world, with different characters and perspectives of it all. I never really was a book reader in my youth but as I age like a fine cheese (ha), I’m really taking a liking to the activity.

I started 2020 off great. Even when COVID hit and things got “weird” …and then things were just “new” …and then things simply became “normal,” I kept it up as best I could. As best I could that is until the end of the Spring term. Enter July 2020. The whirlwind that was my March 2020 to July 2020. It can only be described as a slap in the face, a blur. As I entered a well-needed break, getting up to speed on neglected house chores, reflection on the past several months began. With this, I let my reading book reading quest slide as chores took priority (as did Netflix evidently). Enter August, and knowing the Fall at work was also going to be remote due to COVID as well (after all it is now what I consider “normal” which actually I’m fine with) I had to begin prepping for the whirlwind to recommence! When the dust of the year settled, my goal of 12 books in 12 months came up short. All-in-all, only 8 & 1/8 of a book was completed. I say “1/8” as my December pick was started, but nowhere near finished.

Enter a new year. 2021. And a new goal of 12 books in 12 months. I think I’ll be able to do it this time, starting first with my “1/8” December 2020 pick, Kevin Kwan’s 2020 book “Sex & Vanity.”

Having read Kwan’s “Crazy Rich Asians” series, which was super great! I highly recommend reading the 3-book series (not to mention I’m a big fan of the first movie), I’m really excited to be (re)diving into his new book. Reading is well underway! As a quick note, it’s shaping up to be a great story (I’m now about 1/3 the way through it ). In February I’ll give a short review and, so I hope, will debut my February book!

Here’s to a good start to 2021…at least with my 12 books in 12 months goal..ha! Now back to prepping for the Winter term which starts up on January 11!!