Happy New Year Good people 🙂 !! It’s been a minute. How were the holidays? Did you get to experience anything new? Did you meet new folk? How much have you carried from the last year? Did you cut anything/anyone off?  With the holiday festivities almost coming to a stop, people returning to their normal lives. I’m back. Here on my little space, my other world. I trust you started the year well, with all the energy you had preserved, and all the confidence you could acquire and good vibes. All is well from my end. Though a little skeptic, I still have a little optimism in me. I hope this won’t be 2016 v2.0.

To other matters now. Do you write down New Year Resolutions? If so, how much do you achieve? Keeping notes of your targets is good. It’s even better if you achieve all your intended goals at the end of the year. I’m not a fan of writing down resolutions, I’m more of keeping mental notes. I wish everyone who has written down their resolutions, that they may be proud of their success when the year closes.

Music. Books. Poetry. These are some of the things I can’t live without. Forget Maslow’s hierarchy, for a minute, the three top my needs :-P.

With the help of goodreads I had set a target of books I had to complete reading in 2016. I’m glad I did. 2016 Reading Challenge was a success for me. I may not have posted reviews for every book I read, but I without a doubt completed every book I was to read. The beauty of books is that you can teleport to any part of the world while seated. Books by authors from different corners of the globe enable one learn so much. I must admit that books are one of man’s best inventions. In the previous year, I randomly read any book I came across, which was exciting of course. I wish to twist that a little this year. I compiled a list of what genres/authors to focus more on my 2017 Reading Challenge. This will help me not just stick to certain books. I wanna be diverse in my reading, for good books enlarge my world. Also, of what use are books if we don’t read them? The book you don’t read won’t help. Stock that shelf all you want. Like John Green said, Great books help you understand and they help you feel understood.

WHAT I PLAN TO INCLUDE IN MY 2017 READING CHALLENGE

  1. Books that at one point were banned.
  2. African Literature (I plan to dig deep here, also stock Swahili books. So help me God).
  3. More Edgar Allan Poe tales.
  4. A Trilogy.
  5. Re-reading Shakespeare Classics.
  6. A book I started reading, but got bored along the way.
  7. Books about Africans in the diaspora.
  8. Biographies/Autobiographies/Memoirs. I never tire from reading peoples’ life stories.
  9. A book that I’ve been saying I’ll read but every time I skip it on the shelf.(Oh God, I’m so guilty here).
  10. Audio books. I’ve tried this severally, and fail each time. Wish me luck this time 🙂
  11. Books friends recommend.
  12. Books that have been made into movies.
  13. Books that were bestsellers in 2016.
  14. A Pulitzer prize-winning book.
  15. A book published this year.
  16. Books with bad reviews.
  17. Books by authors I’ve never read before.
  18. A  book that addresses global affairs.
  19. A book nominated for an Award in 2017.
  20. Re-reading a book I read in high school.

I haven’t selected the specific books I’ll read, I’ll do that in the next few days. This should be an exciting activity. To a successful and joy-filled year ahead. I wish everyone I interact with the best in whatever they do. Happy new year, good people! To a great year y’all. cheers!