MMD 2020 reading challenge

One of my goals for the year, as with the last couple of years, was to complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 reading challenge - and with all 10 of her prompts now crossed off, I'm checking the whole thing off my 20 in 2020 list. Here's a little recap of the categories and my picks:

 

1. A book published the decade you were born: Someday Angeline by Louis Sachar ★★★★ 

2. A debut novel: Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid ★★★★⭒ (review) 

3. A book recommended by a source you trust: The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall - recommended by Annie B. Jones and Shea Lennon ★★★★ 

4. A book by a local author: Pay Attention, Carter Jones by Gary D. Schmidt - who teaches in my alma mater's English department ★★★ (review)

5. A book outside your (genre) comfort zone: Recursion by Blake Crouch ★★★ 

6. A book in translation: A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson ★★★⭒ (review) 

7. A book nominated for an award in 2020: The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths - 2020 Edgar Award Winner ★★★⭒ (review) 

8. A re-read: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling ★★★★ (plus Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban), read aloud to Hendrik 

9. A classic you didn’t read in school: If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin ★★★★ (review) 

10. Three books by the same author: You Think It, I'll Say It ★★★, Prep ★★★, and Rodham ★★★★⭒ by Curtis Sittenfeld 

It's interesting to look over my ratings, because I think that most of the books that this challenge got me to pick up rated closer to 3 stars. And the ones that I probably would have read anyway but fit the challenge so I stuck them in here are the 4 or 4.5 star ones. Such a Fun Age and Rodham might fit in my top 10 of the year, but my other top standout ones thus far aren't even represented here: The Vanishing Half, Long Bright River, Just Mercy, The Wild Robot, Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, The Heart's Invisible Furies, The Searcher, All Adults Here.

So with my mixed results and the fact that I don't exactly need encouragement to read more books - I'm at 95 this year already - but I have been trying to consciously diversify a bit. While I could use the MMD list to do so, I think it isn't going to be the one for me in 2020, and I'll be looking for a reading challenge to more specifically do that next year, if I do another one.

I linked my reviews where available; if you're curious about my thoughts of any that I haven't been able to get around to reviewing yet, leave a comment! And let me know whether you've embarked on any reading challenges for 2020. What are your top picks so far?

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20 in 2020 update

Writing about some of the books read for my 20 in 2020 backlist goal had me going back through my full list, and I thought it might be time to make an update! An update on the items I've crossed off, but also an update in terms of making adjustments to our new reality. Because I had no idea at the end of 2019 when I wrote this list that some of the items would become impossible - traveling and going to restaurants, for example.

I think this is a great time to look at this list, a list that I wrote because of the value it adds to my life, whether in terms of productivity, creativity, fun, relationship-building - and in a world that doesn't look at all like what I expected, what a time to appreciate the things here I can still achieve and enjoy.

At the same time fine and good to take a minute to mourn those losses and changes to life, including to the hopes I had for the year. And yet it also is a good time to think about holding loosely to those hopes - and make some adjustments to expectations. I've marked some items as "on hold", but honestly I don't think traveling or indoor restaurant dining will be happening this calendar year, so I might think about replacing those items. Or just else leaving them "undone" as a reminder of the times. 

And finally, reflecting on all of this also made me think of the additional things I have done in 2020 that were not planned but are very worth recognizing: completing 12 weeks of homeschooling; figuring out a social life over Zoom; finding new summer camp and activity options to keep Hendrik engaged, like ornithology camp, after the regular ones were cancelled; becoming more of a relaxed Saturday morning person than I used to be.

So here's my list: bold = completed, italics = in process, underline = on hold

1. Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 reading challenge - 6 of 12 books checked off, and a reminder that I should gear my TBR lists a bit more toward this challenge if I actually want to finish some of the categories!
2. Read Harry Potter (book 1) with Hendrik - in fact, we read books 1-3, thanks to quarentimes.
3. Do a monthly family movie night - favorites so far are The Lorax and Onward.
4. Do another 30-day yoga challenge 
5. Go cross-country skiing - gonna need some snow in November or December for this!
6. Eat at Zivio 
7. Do a no-buy month - no clothes (for me or Hendrik) or books or house decor type stuff purchased in all of January, extended to mid-February for me on most things (but long-legged H needed some new pants!) - and re-introduced by default for most of March/April...
8. Explore the Enneagram - officially categorized myself as a one by reading The Road Back to You, The Enneagram Made Easy, and listening to several podcast episodes.
9. Train for the Barry Roubaix (gravel bike race) - did lots of work in spin classes to get ready for this April gravel bike race, but it of course didn't happen in April... currently rescheduled for October, but we shall see. I'm still doing a lot of bike riding either way!
10. Cross off a life list item - achieved a home tour feature (on The Everymom), and allmoooost there on the life-long goal of having a bathroom with double sinks - counters are finally in, but who knows when plumbing will happen.
11. Plan a kid-free trip - all travel is on hold, of course...
12. Explore 2 new area parks/trails with the fam 
13. Reset/organize online account passwords with Keeper app - you'd think that in quarentimes I would have time for this, but ugh who even wants to do this necessary chore?!
14. Do dinner + a movie at the new downtown theater - lucky we got this in right away, because movie theaters have been closed since March, and even if they open in the coming months, we won't be going.
15. Read 10 backlist titles - I'm up to 8, with the favorites being The Heart's Invisible Furies, Just Mercy, and Americanah (see the full list here).
16. Add 2 new vegetarian recipes to the go-to dinner rotation - I'd say actually I've added three! Quinoa chili, falafel, and sweet potato + black bean tacos.
    
17. Find an olive green winter coat - very pleased with this coat from J.Crew.
18. Get cocktails at Obstacle No. 1 - might append "and/or perfect a signature cocktail at home" to this one given that we're not going to restaurants/bars any time soon.
19. Update window treatments in Hendrik's room - finally installed after a 2-month Covid-delay, and just in time because our late sunsets in the summer require some blackout shades!
20. Tackle mount cardboard (aka all of the broken down boxes piled in the basement...) - I recently dragged it all up to the garage as a first step, and then just yesterday the bathroom contractor told me I could load anything extra into their trailer when they hauled away the old trim - and so just like that, I was relieved of all of it! So excited.

Do you have a year-long goal list like this? How are you handling changes to your 2020 expectations?

making lately: 2020 list progress

Time flies, especially when winter isn't dragging on as much as normal (so much more sunglasses use so far this season - yay!), and here we are almost 2 full months in to 2020. I was excited to come up with my 20 in 2020 list, and to kick the year off strong and with intentionality by just starting right in on it... so I thought it would be fun to do a little update of which things I have completed or am enjoying working through:

Bold = completed, italics = in process

1. Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 reading challenge - checked off the categories of debut author (Kiley Reid, Such a Fun Age) and outside my (genre) comfort zone (Recursion) and started in on 3 books by the same author (Curtis Sittenfeld, You Think It, I'll Say It)
2. Read Harry Potter (book 1) with Hendrik
3. Do a monthly family movie night - watched The Incredibles with a living room pizza picnic in January, and planning our February movie night for this weekend!
4. Do another 30-day yoga challenge
5. Go cross-country skiing
6. Eat at Zivio
7. Do a no-buy month - no clothes (for me or Hendrik) or books or house decor type stuff purchased in all of January, extended to mid-February for me on most things (but long-legged H needed some new pants!)
8. Explore the Enneagram
9. Train for the Barry Roubaix (gravel bike race) - doing my regular spin classes and adding a bit more time on the bike seat each week to get ready for April's event
10. Cross off a life list item - so excited to see my life goal of having a home tour featured on a website go live on The Everymom in January! Also at work on achieving another life-long goal: double sinks in our bathroom. Though we're still stripped down to studs in that bathroom, so it'll be a little while...
11. Plan a kid-free trip
12. Explore 2 new area parks/trails with the fam - we've done one!
13. Reset/organize online account passwords with Keeper app
14. Do dinner + a movie at the new downtown theater - date night to see Star Wars with Peter, and we had dinner brought right in to our seats in the theater - fun!
15. Read 10 backlist titles - Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant? (2014), Between You & Me (2015)
16. Add 2 new vegetarian recipes to the go-to dinner rotation
17. Find an olive green winter coat - loving this coat from J.Crew to feel a little more polished but still warm
18. Get cocktails at Obstacle No. 1
19. Update window treatments in Hendrik's room
20. Tackle mount cardboard (aka all of the broken down boxes piled in the basement...)

And this reminds me of some great date night ideas for the coming month... might be time to go get those cocktails!

Do you have a 2020 list? I want to hear your update!

20 in 2020

After enhancing my 2019 by crossing off nearly every fun/productive item on my 19 in 2019 list, and a delightful morning on New Year's Day of coffees and chatting about new lists with my parents and Hendrik (who plans to find a new birdwatching trail this year, among other things!), I've come up with my new list of 20 things to do in 2020 to help me have a happier, more intentional, and possibly even more productive new year:

1. Complete the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 reading challenge
2. Read Harry Potter (book 1) with Hendrik 
3. Do a monthly family movie night
4. Do another 30-day yoga challenge
5. Go cross-country skiing
6. Eat at Zivio
7. Do a no-buy month
8. Explore the Enneagram
9. Train for the Barry Roubaix (gravel bike race)
10. Cross off a life list item
11. Plan a kid-free trip
12. Explore 2 new area parks/trails with the fam
13. Reset/organize online account passwords with Keeper app
14. Do dinner + a movie at the new downtown theater
15. Read 10 backlist titles
16. Add 2 new vegetarian recipes to the go-to dinner rotation
17. Find an olive green winter coat
18. Get cocktails at Obstacle No. 1
19. Update window treatments in Hendrik's room
20. Tackle mount cardboard (aka all of the broken down boxes piled in the basement...)

I'm excited for the year ahead for many reasons, and even more so when I consider the enhancement in everything from enjoyment to wellness to tackling some nagging tasks that I'll be so happy once I have crossed off that these things are going to bring to my life... already on day 3 of my renewed yoga challenge, and already have the first illustrated Harry Potter book lined up and ready to go!

Do you have a list like this for 2020? I'd love to see it!