New Year's Resolution: Reading

You know, I'm usually not very fond of New Year's resolutions. Up until last year, I had never kept my resolution, giving up about three months in. I finally realized the reason I was giving up my resolution was because I wasn't setting concrete goals. For example, for three years in a row, my resolution was "Stop procrastinating." How was I measuring that? I wasn't. And that's the problem. So this year, my resolution was the concrete goal to read 50 books. Reading is what I love doing most and a pastime that puts me at ease when I'm most stressed, but I rarely give myself time to engage in it. I decided my happiness was most important and I should give set aside time to do what I actually love to do. 

It's June, making it a half-point in this year. I'm glad to be able to say that I've actually been keeping up with my reading! According to my goodreads.com app, I have read 25 of the 50 books I set out to read. "Great work," it tells me. "You're 2 books (4%) ahead." I am so excited that I'm actually keeping this goal. At the end of the year, not only will I be proud due to a sense of accomplishment, but I'll have the happiness of knowing that I gave myself time away from work and school to do something I enjoy.

This is the list of the books I've read thus far:

1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins 
2. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (I highly recommend this book!)
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
4. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
5. El Mesquite: A Story of the Early Spanish Settlements Between the Nueces and Rio Grande by Elena Zamora O'Shea
6. George Washington Gómez by Americo Paredes
7. The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
8. The Cay by Theodore Taylor
9. Little House in the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
10. ...and the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomás Rivera
11. The Story of Babar: The Little Elephant by Jean de Brunhoff
12. Curious George by H.A. Rey
13. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett 
14. Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes
15. Brownsville: Stories by Oscar Casares
16. The Moths and Other Stories by Helena Maria Viramontes
17. Under the Feet of Jesus by Helena Maria Viramontes
18. The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin 
19. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (It's not like the movie, I might mention!)
20. Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
21. Bossypants by Tina Fey
22. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
23. Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs
24. Seriously...I'm Kidding by Ellen DeGeneres
25. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (It's been my favorite book for years!)

I'm currently reading Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann as well as The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. After I finish these books I'm planning to read Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón, Running with Scissors and This Is How: Proven Aid in Overcoming Shyness, Molestation, Fatness, Spinsterhood, Grief, Disease, Lushery, Decrepitude, & More. For Young and Old Alike (long name, I know) both by Augusten Burroughs.

What are your resolutions? And if you like to read, what are your favorite books?