Posted on by Holly

How Did I Do? | Bookish Goals for Summer 2016

 

How Did I Do?

It’s that bittersweet time of August once again: the end of summer. This weekend I move into my college dorm room to begin my sophomore year at Wheaton College (MA), and I couldn’t be more excited. However, that also means that I have to say goodbye to an incredible summer filled with friends, family, and fantastic books.

At the beginning of the season I shared my Bookish Goals for Summer 2016, and I thought it would be fun to take a look at the again and see how many I actually accomplished. Let’s see how I did!

Untitled design1. Read 15 books. Success! This is an easy one to check off because I’ve read a total of 26 books since last semester ended. I never expected to read so many books this summer, especially considering that I read some pretty chunky ones (I’m looking at you, Alexander Hamilton and Gone with the Wind!)

Untitled design2. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo in July. This is one of goals I’m most proud to have completed. As I celebrated in my Camp NaNoWrimo Wrap-Up, I reached my word count goal of 25,000 words on July 15th. It’s certainly not a full draft of my novel, but I’m just happy to have written so much in such a short amount of time.

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Untitled design-23. Stay up to date with writing book reviews. Okay, so I sort of completed this goal. In the beginning of the summer I was really good about writing reviews immediately after I finished reading something. Then July came around with Camp NaNo and the BookTubeAThon and I got so behind with writing reviews. Since then I’ve managed to do a fair amount of catching up, but not completely. This is still definitely something that I have to work on!

819699Untitled design4. Read Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. It has finally happened: I read all 1037 pages of Gone with the Wind!! Let me tell you, I did not expect it to be the wild, emotional rollercoaster ride that it was. This is such a brilliant novel, not only for its story but for its views on gender equality, the Civil War and Reconstruction, poverty, love, loss, and life. A full review is on its way, but for now you can read my immediate thoughts about it here. 

Untitled design5. Participate in more readathons. Although I didn’t participate in multiple readathons this summer, I’m calling this a success because I did participate in the BookTubeAThon in July. I read so much more than I thought I would and I even managed to complete the majority of the reading challenges. I love this event and I can’t wait to participate again next year!

Untitled design6. Read more books that I own. Just about half of the books I read this summer were from my physical TBR. I’m pretty happy with this amount, especially since I’ve been meaning to read many of them for ages. 

Untitled design7. Regularly update my new bookstagram account. Definitely a success! I’ve had so much fun taking bookish photos and admiring the gorgeous ones that you all post.

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Untitled designIMG_43288. Read at least one book in Spanish. In July I read a Spanish translation of Animal Farm by George Orwell, and I absolutely loved it! The story was gripping and unsettling but brilliant nevertheless. Initially I was afraid that this would be too challenging for me to read in Spanish, but I ended up being able to understand the majority of it without a problem. Full review to come!

Untitled design9. Have fun! SUCCESS! I had oodles of fun this summer, bookish and otherwise! I read some amazing books, chatted with some lovely bloggers, and have had a blast discussing all sorts of topics with you all in the comments. Thank you all so much for taking the time to read this blog of mine. I truly appreciate each and every one of you! ❤

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All in all, I’m really pleased with how much I was able to accomplish this summer. To be honest, when I first made this list of goals I was doubtful that I would actually be able to achieve them. This summer was the most fun and productive one I’ve had in a long time. Part of me is sad to see summer end, but I’m also really excited to see what autumn will bring!

Until next time, summer!

What were your bookish goals for this summer? Were you able to achieve them? What do you think of my progress this summer? Let me know in the comments section below!

Yours,

HOLLY

21 Replies to “How Did I Do? | Bookish Goals for Summer 2016”

  1. Pingback: How Did I Do? | Bookish Goals for Summer 2016 — Nut Free Nerd | Education: Essays and Articles

  4. It’s super cool that you attend Wheaton. I love their Anglo-American Literary REview, “Seven,” and a few books of poetry they published by Madeleine L’Engle. Good job meeting so many goals! Hope you have a great semester!

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  6. You did great! The most important being you had FUN!!! 🙂 I had not set goals for the summer, I only wanted to cut back on ARCs (failed!!) and manage to review books faster after I finish them (work in progress, but improvement was witnessed!)

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    1. Thank you!! 🙂 Any improvement is better than none haha. Writing reviews in a timely fashion is always something that I get behind with, too. All I want to do is move onto the next book! 🙂

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    1. Camp NaNo happens in both April and July, and regular NaNo is in November. It’s super easy to sign up (you just make an account on their website to track your word count) and then you start writing!! It’s so fun! 🙂

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  8. Wow! Those are some amazing goals you’ve achieved. I feel like I haven’t read as many books as I wish I could. I have to congratulate you on reading Gone With The Wing! That’s a HUGE classic. And BRAVO on reading Animal Farm in Spanish. That’s something (my Spanish is pretty basic though, so seeing this does make quite an impression). Have you read it in English before or did you really go into it for the first time, in SPANISH? :O Hope the coming months will be filled with more reading achievements! 😉

    – Lashaan

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    1. Thanks so much!! I had never read Animal Farm before at all, so I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I read it in Spanish. I ended up loving it, though, so it worked out for the best! 🙂

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  12. Pingback: AUGUST 2016 | Wrap-Up | Nut Free Nerd

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