Let’s Talk: Reading Challenges and Competitive Reading

Happy Friday everyone! So, we’re coming to that time of the year when everyone is setting New Year’s Resolutions, deciding their reading goals and getting ready for new reading challenges.

Which means it’s time for another session of RYANN MAKES A BAD BOOKWORM CONFESSION!! studio audience cheers I didn’t reach my 2017 Goodreads goal. I was close, but close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. And, given the year I’ve had, I’m definitely okay with that.

Over the summer, I tried to participate in a few reading challenges to try to help me meet my 2017 reading goal. And it made me realize, while I can definitely appreciate having a reading goal, I have some mixed feelings about reading challenges, and this sort of idea of competitive reading.

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Top 5 Top 5 Tuesdays!

Happy Tuesday, everyone! I hope you had an awesome Christmas! Or that you’re having an awesome winter break if you don’t celebrate Christmas!

So Shanah, the incredible Bionic Bookworm herself, is on hiatus for the holidays, so there wasn’t supposed to be a Top 5 Tuesday topic for this week. But then one of her followers got in touch with a whole bunch of us, and suggested we do something nice for Shanah to show her how much we appreciate her and the work she puts into hosting T5T! (Shoutout to JW Martin for this awesome idea!)

So, without an further ado, here are my Top 5 Top 5 Tuesdays!

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Let’s Talk: Navigating YA Gender Geography

Just an FYI- for this post, I’m mostly talking about YA Fantasy. That’s the main genre I read, and it’s the one I think most of my non-reader friends could really get into.

The whole idea for this post came about a loooong time ago, when my little brother and I went to the movies, and (no exaggeration) every preview we saw except for one was a YA novel being turned into a film. After about the fourth one, I head my brother kind of mutter under his breath “Yay, another movie about a girl saving the world.”

And, at first, I wanted to fight him, because, hey, I did my time. I have read book after book, “classic” after “classic,” and seen movie after movie where I had to try to identify with a male protagonist and his male mentor and his male villain and his only-there-for-eye-candy love interest.

At first, I was angry. I wanted to say, “Yeah, another girl-saves-the-world movie. And it’s about damn time!” But then it got me thinking.

Top 5 Books I’d Give for Christmas!

Happy Tuesday everyone!! It’s time for another Top 5 Tuesday, hosted by Shanah, the brilliant Bionic Bookworm herself! This week’s Top 5 Tuesday is extra special, because it’s the last one of the year!

But, I have a bit of a confession to make. The actual topic this week is “Books I Want for Christmas,” but, like the terrible book lover I am, I actually don’t really enjoy getting books as gifts. It’s crazy, I know, but I’m always so picky about my books, and sometimes even if I’ve wanted a book for ages, it ends up sitting on my shelf because I just don’t feel like reading it. And then I feel bad because someone bought me a book they thought I’d love, and 8 months down the road, I still haven’t read it.

So, I’m gonna change it up just a little bit, and instead of listing five books I’d like to get for Christmas, I’m gonna share five books I’d buy other people for Christmas, even if they’re as picky as me!

So, without any further ado, here are the Top 5 books I’d want give for Christmas!

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