list – hellomelissa.net

What I read in 2017

January 1, 2018January 1, 2018 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

It’s time for my annual what-I-read-last-year post! My Goodreads profile tells me I read 79 books in 2017 – the most books I’ve read in a year since I started tracking! The link leads to some stats about the books I read – you may need to be a Goodreads user to see it, despite me changing my settings to make my profile public.

I know a lot of people don’t like ebooks, but I read nearly all of those books on my Kobo. I know I wouldn’t read nearly as much if I didn’t have easy access to library books via the Toronto Public Library’s Overdrive page and new this year, the new Libby app. (And this is not a sponsored post; I just really like this stuff.)

And now, here is the full list:

Melissa’s favorite books »

I tried to leave more ratings for the books I read this year. I’m a generous rater and I don’t like leaving ratings on memoirs – it feels like I’m rating someone’s life – so I didn’t rate everything I read. I left reviews sporadically. I always feel like my reviews are too light/simple when I see some of the longer/more-thought-out ones so any reviews I did leave are pretty superficial, which is fine.

There were a few books I slogged through this year, but if I really didn’t like a book, I abandoned it and didn’t add it to Goodreads. That way, I didn’t screw up my tracking. I liked most of the books I read, but here’s a list of the books that I really enjoyed, in the order that I read them throughout the year:

Leave Me by Gayle Forman
Breaking out of Bedlam by Leslie Larson
The Conjoined by Jen Sookfong Lee
This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel
We’re All in This Together by Amy Jones
Saints for All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan
In This Moment by Karma Brown
The Book of Polly by Kathy Hepinstall
The Arrangement by Sarah Dunn
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud: The Rise and Reign of the Unruly Woman by Anne Helen Petersen
The Wangs vs. the World by Jade Chang
Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan
Dancing on Broken Glass by Ka Hancock
One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul
Please Proceed to the Nearest Exit by Jessica Raya
Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez
How to Murder Your Life by Cat Marnell
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

For 2018, I’ve upped my reading challenge from 55 to 70. I think I can do it. What have you been reading? I’d love to hear your recommendations!

My word for 2012

January 9, 2012January 8, 2012 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

Happy… Old Year?

I’m a little behind. Forgive me, I’ve been busy.

Like so many other bloggers, I’ve chosen a word for 2012. I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a big year, and not just because there are theories that the world is going to end come December. (Personally I don’t buy it, but lots of people do so I have to acknowledge it.)

The word I’ve chosen for 2012 is:

create

I want to create great content for hellomelissa.net
I want to create more in general
I want to create a happy, settled, comfortable home for me and my family
I want to create the life I want for myself, which will benefit my family

It’s a short list, but they’re pretty lofty ambitions. Wish me luck.

Hotel rooms, lists and friends that remind you to do what you said you were going to do

January 21, 2011January 21, 2011 by Melissa Price-Mitchell

The following conversation I had with the lovely @OpinionatedLizz last week got me thinking.

(read from the bottom up to keep it in context)

Conversation with OpinionatedLizz, January 11, 2011

I have never stayed in a hotel room alone and the idea of it really appeals to me. Not for any awful reason – I’m not fantasizing about running away from my family and living a life of luxury in a boutique hotel by myself – at least I’m not right this minute. However, some time by myself somewhere I don’t have to clean up first to enjoy it sounds pretty appealing now.

I keep a lot of imaginary lists in my head: what I would do if I won the lottery, writing ideas, chore lists and so on. Turning an imaginary list of things to do in 2011 that I’ve never done before into a tangible, readable list sounds like a lot of work.

Fortunately, Lizz called me on it.

(again, read from the bottom up to keep it in context)

Conversation with OpinionatedLizz, January 20, 2011

I had asked Lizz (who by the way also has a great blog that you should read) if I could use our conversation as screenshots for a post. She said okay and when I wrote my self-pitying, pay-attention-to-me tweet last night, she reminded me that I had planned to write this post. I hadn’t forgotten, but I hadn’t gotten around to doing it either.

All this preamble, and no list. How’s that for smooth?

I’m not sure how solid my list is. I wrote some lists for #reverb10 and some of the items could apply to be cross-posted to this list too. I spent a lot of #reverb10 pulling things out of thin air though so it’s a tough call.

Here are the things I want to do in 2011 that I’ve never done before:

stay in a hotel room by myself
get the house professionally cleaned (not sure if this would be a one-time or regular thing, but I’ll start small and call it a one-off)
Go to a sit down restaurant alone (I do fast food alone all the time, I’ve been to the movies by myself, but have never done a nice restaurant alone)
Get an evening babysitter that is not family for the occasional date night (which are currently few and far between because the family babysitters are 2.5 hours away so it’s a big deal for them to come)

This is a small, somewhat manageable list. I’m sure there’s other things I’d like to put on this list, but as the goals get more pie-in-the-sky the list becomes less realistic and easier to ignore.

So thank you Lizz for being a good friend and calling me out. Here’s hoping your trip that merited your solo hotel room is great and that we all try some new stuff in 2011.

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: