reading in 2014
in journal
hello!
i won’t even pretend that i’ll post here again soon, much less catch you – whoever you are 
– up on what’s been going on in my life. in a way, these infrequent posts over the past handful of years (!) prove to me that this site is what i always thought it was, albeit sometimes getting caught up in other ideas for it: a place for me to put ideas or notes or whatever that i want to access in the future. that’s it. it’s not for creating a following, making money, or even really informing others on things i know. i mean, if people follow a link i post and learn something, yay for that, but it’s not my goal at all. i keep up with family and friends in other ways, including digital ways, so this site here is now very simply just for me – and if it’s interesting to you too, then welcome.
anyhow, to sum up the last handful of months: i was pregnant, had a second baby girl who is currently hiccuping on my chest as she tries to nap, oh and we moved days before she was born, and i finally got my double citizenship papers all done and just yesterday received my national id card. so, we’re really doing it – the whole living-in-bolivia-for-ever(ish) with kidS and all that. oh and we’re building a house too! exciting times. busy times. a lot of my personal interests have been largely put on hold temporarily and sometimes they still insisted on nagging me.
this year though, hello 2014, even with a newborn and toddler to wrestle, i’m determined to make a little more time for them, especially books. oh books, i miss you! it’s mostly ebooks nowadays, at least until bookdepository.com starts free shipping to bolivia at least. 
so, last year i read a grand total of… wait for it.. 23 books. twenty-three!! that’s pathetic. my goal was 100. in 2012, i read over 70. anyway, at least they were almost all good books, and a handful were great to boot. i was thinking about not having a reading goal this year, but once again, the shiny widgets of goodreads tempted me and before i knew it i had committed to reading 52 books this year. but i also want to add two additional challenges: 1) read 12 non-fiction science books, and 2) read 12 books in spanish. now, for #2, those books do not have to be adult books, and in fact most of them will be middle grade books, and that is ok by me. it’s hard for me to read in spanish – i’m so darn sllllooowww and it drives me crazy. i’m faster if i read out loud but that gets old quick.
i’m going to try and post here when i start or finish new books each week or month as the case may be, in hopes of posting more. because clearly, whenever i do post, i babble away for paragraphs, long paragraphs! i’m currently halfway through Hild by Niccola Griffith and it’s as great as promised. for the spanish challenge, i’m considering Uma y el tren a las estrellas by Mariana Ruiz Romero -here’s a short youtube video based on it, done by illustrators of the book i believe. and then for the science challenge, i’m eyeing Periodic Tales: The Curious Lives of the Elements by Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Forests: The Shadow of Civilization by Robert Pogue Harrison, or Here On Earth: A Natural History of the Planet by Tim Flannery.
