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Three years ago I started using reading challenges to step outside my usual authors and experience books I might not have read otherwise.  In 2024 the challenge was _____ and I read __ books.  Last year I used Read These Banned Books: A 52-Week Reading Challenge from the American Library Association and filled in some extras to get up to 94 books.  But honestly, I don't remember them all.  

This year, I'm using the ALA's 52 Award-Winning Titles Every Book Lover Should Read: (52 Books Every Book Lover Should Read) and for the first time I want to write down a little bit about each book so I can remember them more easily.  

At the beginning of this year, I felt like I was in a reading slump.  I kept reading the same type of book and was getting a little tired of it.  My preferred genre is fantasy or sci-fi, so it's easy to find enough recommendations to never get out of the two. 

To help break up the pattern, I decided to do the Popsugar Reading Challenge for 2023.  For the prompt "A book about or set in Hollywood," I chose Siren Queen by Nghi Vo. 

The wait forT a digital copy was too long, so I listened to the audiobook.  Amazing mix of a noir feel with a very creepy, menacing magic world.  And the main character is the perfect amount of morally questionable.

I got an Origami-a-Day calendar for this year and am probably a little too excited about it each morning.  Today was the penguin.

Finding new habits for the new year.  One of them is to document things that make me happy, teach me, or help me see the world differently.  Hopefully, I can use this space for that one.