Luggage and Literature

The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - St. Augustine

2017 Reading Challenge Wrap-Up

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I just completed the 2017 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading for Growth and Reading for Fun Challenges. This was the second year that I’ve done a reading challenge. In 2016, I completed the PopSugar Reading Challenge.

Reading for Fun:

Reading for Growth:

May 2017 Reading List

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Every month I try to read at least one book from the following categories: nonfiction, devotional, and fiction. And this year I’m participating in the 2017 Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenges, so I’m also going to be listing which category my books fulfill. If you want to join in on the fun, you can check out the list of categories here! This is my May 2017 Reading List, my brief reviews and book recommendations for May 2017. Hopefully I’ll provide you with some inspiration for your future reading as well!

Holy cow, I read a ton of books in May! Let’s dive right into them.

Books Finished:

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

2017 MMD Reading for Growth Challenge: a Pulitzer Prize or National Book Award winner

I LOVED this book, truly loved it. I think it’s probably my new favorite book that I’ve read in quite some time. The language and descriptions were lovely to read, even when the subject matter was difficult. This one will stand up to re-reading, and I’m not typically a ‘re-reader.’ The book follows two primary characters, a German orphan boy and a blind French girl during the years leading up to, through, and following World War II. The timeline jumps around a bit, but was never difficult to follow, and this is because the timelines begin to move closer together and ultimately intersect. Simply astounding how good this book was. The Pulitzer was definitely well deserved.

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

I subscribe to Ramit Sethi through Feedly, so that I don’t miss any of his posts. I really enjoy his writing style, and that his tips and advice are so practical and geared toward folks in their 20s-30s. If you’re not sure what you should be doing financially, read this book. It’s great and entertaining.

Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer

This book was SO intense! It followed Krakauer’s journey to and up Mt. Everest in 1996, one of the most deadly climbing seasons in the history of Everest. It was informative, but also fast-paced and exciting. At times it was also extremely sad, and I wished that the outcome might change. I also really liked the short chapters, making it really easy to pick up and read when I had a few minutes.

The Bumps Are What You Climb On: Encouragement for Difficult Days by Warren W. Wiersbe

I’ve been having some work struggles lately, and have been praying for guidance for the right course of action. I thought that this book would be good in helping me to process through the situations and make the decisions that God wants me to make, rather than the decisions that I want to make.

The Fantastic Fable of Peter Able by Natalie Grigson

I really enjoyed this book, that is probably best categorized as Young Adult fiction. It was just downright fun. Essentially the book follows the story of a boy wizard named Peter Able who lives in the land of Fiction, and whose series has been cancelled. He is finally able to make his own decisions, when he starts to become worried that he’s not truly in control of his life.

In the Woods by Tana French

I’ve heard of Tana French before (I mean, how could I not?! Her name is Tana!), but had never read anything that she’d written before. The first entry in the Dublin Murder Squad series, it was a solid murder mystery that also had some personal elements to it. I struggled a bit with the inaccuracies of the law, at least from an American legal system perspective. But I also don’t know details of the Irish legal system, and therefore, don’t have a good understanding of whether the law might be correct for Ireland.

The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

2017 MMD Reading for Growth Challenge: a book by an #ownvoices or #diversebooks author

This book is told primarily from the perspective of two teenagers, one of whom is Jamaican born and about to be deported, the other who is Korean-American. There are also periodic entries from others that they come into contact with, as well as topical entries. The structure of the book felt fresh, and the story-telling and perspectives felt authentic. I really, really liked this book, and read through it very quickly, as I wanted to see where things were going.

The Girls by Emma Cline

This book has gotten quite a lot of buzz, so I was excited to see that there was no waiting list to check it out on Overdrive. It is a fictional story of a fourteen year old girl in the 60s who gets wrapped up in a Manson-like cult. The story appeared to borrow heavily from the history of Manson and his followers. I found it to be an engaging story, but also quite depressing. And fair warning (if it’s even needed in a book about a Manson-like group) the subject matter is adult.

Division of the Marked, Elevation of the Marked, and Maturation of the Marked by March McCarron

2017 MMD Reading for Growth Challenge: three books by the same author



I purchased Division of the Marked quite some time ago, probably through a BookBub deal, but I honestly don’t know. I’d rediscovered it when scrolling through my Kindle Fire and bumped this one (causing it to pop up to the top of my list), and I’m so glad. I found Division of the Marked to be so intense and engaging, that I purchased Elevation of the Marked, and then also Maturation of the Marked (which is a novella that falls between the other two books). I can’t wait for the next book in the series to come out, so hopefully March is writing quickly!

Digital Landscape Photography by Kim Rormark

I’m trying to improve my photography for the blog. It’s definitely a work in progress! This book had some great tips for setting up your camera to improve your photos, as well as composition tips. There was also explanation for the composition guides, which a lot of books on photography don’t include. I found this relatively short book to be helpful.

 

Books In Progress:

A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meisner

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

 

Books I’ve Abandoned:

The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George

April Goal Check-In

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Luggage and Literature
My niece Callie and I at Easter.

I wrote a New Year’s Resolutions post at the beginning of January 2017 and was so thankful for the positive response that I received from everyone. I plan to come back every month with a goal check-in, so that I have even more incentive/accountability to continue working on my goals. Here is my April goal check-in.

Goal #1: Publish at least one blog post per week on Luggage and Literature.

I missed a week of publishing in April. Considering everything that I had going on in April with work, that’s not too bad. I do need to get some posts drafted ahead of time to remedy this for May, especially some travel posts. They’re more time-intensive to write, which is why I procrastinate more with them.

Goal #2: Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenges.

You can check out my previous post outlining my 2017 reading plans here. So far, I’m a bit ahead of schedule for completing both the Reading for Fun and Reading for Growth challenges. My April Reading List post lists the single category that I fulfilled this month.

Goal #3: Play cello at least twice (preferably more) per month. 

I played cello three times in April. We had a really fun Hastings Symphony concert, which made the playing really enjoyable. We ended up with a blizzard on concert day (crazy to have one so late in the spring!), so I played all of the rehearsals, but wasn’t able to play the concert.

Goal #4: Pay down debt.

 We continued making progress toward this goal. We have no credit card debt. Our vehicles will both be paid off in 2017, as we’ve been focusing our extra debt payments here. We haven’t been paying extra on our student loans or mortgage, as we’ve been focusing on our vehicles and my business/building debt first.

Action Steps:

  • Prepare lunches on the weekend. I did this for probably half of the month. And when I didn’t I regretted it, as it meant more eating out, and eating less healthy. I’m back on track now, though.
  • Pack lunch or eat at home every weekday for lunch, unless meeting colleagues. Met about half of the month. I had a couple of lunches with friends/colleagues, but also ate out a few other times, as my lunches weren’t ready to go in my lunch bag from being prepared ahead.
  • Eat dinner at home five nights per week. I’d say on average we prepared and ate dinner at home about 4 nights per week. April was busy, and we didn’t plan ahead super well. So there were definitely several nights where we picked up take-out.
  • Prepare/freeze dessert items (I have a major sweet tooth, and if we don’t have dessert items in the house at all, I’m much more likely to go get ice cream or run to the store and purchase snack items). I prepared some whole-wheat chocolate chip cookies and froze the dough into balls for quick desserts. We also have tons of Easter candy left over and in the freezer/pantry for desserts too.
  • Curb spending on books by utilizing the library. I’ve been reading a ton from Overdrive this month. The only book that I purchased was The Help, and it only cost $1.99. The rest of the books were loaned from Overdrive, loaned from friends, Prime books, or already in my Kindle from previous free book deals. Overdrive really is going to save me a small fortune on books!
  • Curb spending on clothing and accessories, especially by utilizing Pinterest for remixing my existing wardrobe. In April, I purchased 3 shirts on clearance from Target (total was just under $16.00). I purchased a pair of sandals for $10.00, and a workout top and leggings (because I forgot clothes to sleep in while in Rapid City) for about $14.00. I think that’s all I spent on clothes/accessories in April.
  • Use up back stock of MaryKay and hair products before purchasing more. I didn’t purchase any MaryKay or hair products in April. But May will be a different story, as I’m due to place another MaryKay order.
  • Clean out refrigerator/freezers/pantry and use up existing food rather than just purchasing more. In April, we purchased things sort of as needed from the store, and didn’t do a big shopping trip like we normally do. We didn’t do a great job of cleaning out the freezers and pantry, as we didn’t cook as much as we should have. But we definitely did go through foods that could be cooked in our awesome new toaster oven that we got with Easter gift cards!
  • Curb unnecessary trips to Kearney (this is about half an hour from our town, so the gas can get pricey when we run there for no reason other than we’re bored/want to go shopping/etc.). We went to Kearney a couple of times to run errands and for a meal out. Perhaps we could cut back on this again, I guess, but I’m not certain that I want to cut back on it further than we have.
  • Take on additional cases and work more hours to increase income. I’m down one attorney in my office currently, and unless I add another soon, I’ll be down two attorneys in May. *sigh* So my active income is up pretty significantly right now, but I’d like for my passive income to be up so that my workload is back where I want it to be.

Goal #5: Be healthier.

I haven’t weighed-in since Easter…hopefully it’s not up with my lack of consistency in April. I’ll weigh in the first weekend in May, so that I can back on track.

Action Steps:

  • Drink no more than 3 pops per day, preferably no more than 2 (but I’m realistic about my job). I stuck with 2-3 pops per day consistently this month. The last few days of the month, I got back on track with reducing it further.
  • Drink at least 8 cups of water per day. Met, except for 2 days (which I regretted immensely when I had leg cramps in the middle of the night because of dehydration).
  • Eat/drink at least 2 servings of dairy per day (when I did Weight Watchers, the studies showed that this contributed to weight loss, plus I know that it makes for healthier bones and teeth). Mostly met. I slacked a few days on this, but always had one serving per day of dairy.
  • Eat at least one fruit or vegetable per day, preferably more. Mostly met. I don’t think I always hit it, especially when we were in Rapid City for Easter. But I’ve been doing two servings per day lately. Hopefully I can keep it up.
  • Drink 1 cup of water before each meal. I did better at this in April. Packing my water bottle at lunch helped.
  • Take my water bottle with me during the day. Better in April, which I’m glad for. Hoping to keep it up in May.
  • Pack lunches or eat lunch at home during the week. Met about half of the month. I had a couple of lunches with friends/colleagues, but also ate out a few other times, as my lunches weren’t ready to go in my lunch bag from being prepared ahead.
  • Eat dinner at home five nights per week. I’d say on average we prepared and ate dinner at home about 4 nights per week. April was busy, and we didn’t plan ahead super well. So there were definitely several nights where we picked up take-out.
  • Do 10 sit-ups and 10 push-ups 3 times per week (in law school, I had a professor who expected all students to do 10 push-ups at the start of each of his classes, and was surprised how doing this 3 times per week actually made me feel stronger by the end of the semester). I still didn’t do this…aargh!
  • Exercise (walk/swim/yoga/YMCA class) 3 times per week. I’ve exercised about 1 time per week in April. Still need to improve on this.
  • Walk at least 6,000 steps per day, preferably more. Met about 50% of the time.
  • Sleep 8 hours per night. Met 75% of the time.
  • Continue taking a daily multivitamin. Met.
  • Track food daily in My Fitness Pal. Inconsistent lately, which needs to change, as I don’t want to gain weight.
  • Continue utilizing my Fit Bit to monitor activity, steps, food, sleep. Met.

Goal #6: Take one trip or visit one local area attraction per month.

I get stir crazy if I stay home for too long. To combat that, I think that this goal will help. Although monthly travels to exotic locations aren’t realistic in my stage of life and with my career, a monthly trip somewhere is realistic. So it can be international, domestic, or just a local area attraction, just some reason to leave my house and my town. Plus there are several museums in my area that I’ve been meaning to visit, but just haven’t gotten around to. So I’m actually really looking forward to this goal. This goal is in progress.

Action Steps:

  • January: The Museum of Nebraska Art (MONA), and The Great Platte River Road Archway, Kearney, NE (I’ve wanted to visit the archway since we moved to the area, but haven’t gotten around to it yet…probably because Mike is absolutely not excited about visiting it). We visited MONA in January. After looking at the admission price for the Archway, we opted to skip it for now.
  • February: Roatan! What a great time! I’ll be posting about this in the future, so stay tuned!
  • March: Scuba diving at Bonne Terre again, perhaps The Roatan trip was February into March and was glorious. Bonne Terre ended up not working out in March, but I did go to Sioux Falls, SD. I met up with my parents for a day, then also spent a day with my friend Tara. It was really fun!
  • April: Black Hills for Easter with family, I hope. Met. We spent 4 days in the Black Hills with family. We also spent some time wandering through downtown Rapid City, went for a drive in the Northern Hills, and stopped at Homestake Mine.
  • May: Topeka, Kansas to watch NHRA drag racing, and Witchita, KS to see family
  • June: Stuhr Museum, Grand Island, NE
  • July: Michigan again and Canada, perhaps
  • August: Total Solar Eclipse on August 21 right in my area
  • September: Kaaboo in Del Mar, California, if I can find a partner in crime to go with me.
  • October: Pioneer Village, Minden, NE
  • November: Florida perhaps (Mike wants to get his full cave diving certification, and I’d like to go back to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal)
  • December: ??
  • I also need to plan a get together with my dear friend Tara. She and I have talked about several different options, but need to nail down the date and location of our visit. Met! We got together in March in Sioux Falls, where she lives.
  • In 2016, I also had a super fun girls weekend with some of my closest friends from college. We talked about making it an annual occurrence, so I need to check in with those gals as well, then nail down the date and location of girls weekend 2017!

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