2017 Book Challenge, July Update!

I confess, despite how easy it was for me to keep up with this challenge in the beginning of the year, now I'm finding it to be a little bit of a struggle. I think I'll be fortunate to reach 42 books this year. The last several months have been busy with my nephews, moving, taking care of my cats, and both work and writing. Hopefully I'll be able to read more in September (I think August is going to look similar to July).



1. Better than Before, by Gretchen Rubin

Rating: *****

This book explores habits, how we develop them, the different habit-forming personality types, and different ways to strengthen your habit-building skills.

Like the other two books by Rubin that I've read, I really enjoyed this book. If you've never read a book by her, I suggest picking one up. This book helped me understand some things about my own personality (like how a stuffed fridge stresses me out, I'm a simplicity lover) as well as the people around me (like my mom's desire to have a full fridge, she's an abundance lover). I'm still not sure about my habit-forming type (when I was younger I was definitely an Upholder, but I'm not sure I still fit that mold). But even if you don't figure it out on first read, you can still pick up several good tips (such as her chart to track progress, I love that!).

2. Emma, by Jane Austen

Rating: *****

Emma Woodhouse has fortune and good position, and no intention of marrying. But when she sees the success of "her matchmaking" between her governess and Mr. Weston, she decides to try her hand at finding young Harriet Smith a husband.

This has long been my favorite of Austen's books (and Mr. Knightly, Emma's longtime friend, one of my favorite characters). I love the gentle, not overdone transition of Emma's character from being rather silly to a little wiser although not fully mature. Emma is a character easy to relate to, for who hasn't misread signals of attraction from the opposite sex, and who hasn't said things that they regretted when they thought their words more thoroughly through?


3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Rating: ***

Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole, and finds herself in a strange land where nothing is quite like she is used to back home. This was the only book I read this month originally on my 2017 Reading Challenge List.

This book was okay. I don't remember ever reading it before, so I picked it up so I could say I'd read it. I plan on reading Through the Looking Glass*. But I don't think I'll be reading it again anytime soon. Parts of it were confusing, and unless you research the history and culture of the time when Carroll wrote it, you'll likely to be as perplexed as I was. But if you're already pretty familiar with Victorian England, you should be fine understanding the different references Carroll makes.


I've also left reviews on GoodReads and Amazon (although probably not for the same editions).

In order to keep up with everything I have going on, for the rest of the year I might only be posting Book Challenge Updates once a month. If I can, I may post more often, but I would rather say once a month and post more rather than say every week and post only once a month.

*For the sake of brevity, I have not included the subtitles of these books.