Friday Memes: TGIF (18), FF (16) + Book Blogger Hop (1)

TGIF is hosted by Ginger at GReads!

Throwback TGIF

Pick a previous question you posted on your blog in the past and revisit your answer. Has it changed since then?

I'm kind of twisting the question - I've only done TGIF 17 times, and most of those are recent and/or I still agree with everything. Which would be quite a boring answer! So instead, I'm going to revisit the first TGIF I ever did, which was the first of the new year since my blog was born on January 1: Book Blog Resolutions! What better time to check in on New Year's resolutions than just over halfway through the year?!

For the original post, click here; though in summary, my resolutions were:
     1) Track my reading.
     2) Read 100 books.
     3) Give vampires another chance.
     4) Open up discussions on books.
     5) Blog.

SUCCESSES: I'm surprised that I've actually kept up with these pretty well! Normally resolutions are lost on me by February. But I've tracked my books consistently, and that this blog still exists is testament to number five. I am still on track to read 100 books in the year (3 books ahead!), though I've been slacking lately. It was going swimmingly, I was over 8 books ahead at one point...and then life got in the way and now I'm only on track. Hopefully in the coming summer months I can pick it back up.

EHHH MAYBE: I've tried with the discussion, and I feel I've had some successes. But I'm still crap at responding to comments, and I don't engage on Twitter as often as I could or would like to. I'm working on it, I swear!

NOPE: The vampire thing. Still haven't gone there. I really, really should - I just can't yet. Vampires are a very non-summer weather thing for me, and obviously that's not been happening for most of this year.  Can I just blame it on the world and its weird weather?! (But really, I know, I know; I will get to vampire books! I have The Immortal Rules waiting, and I'm certain I'll check out the Vampire Academy series before the year is out.)

Which TGIF post did you revisit?

Leave your link in the comments and I'll hop by!

Follow Friday is hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's View, meant to spotlight two blogs and allows bloggers to link up and meet other fabulous bookish friends and share the Following love!

This week's spotlight blogs are: A Glass of Wine & Booktastic Reviews

And the question of the week is:

Christmas in July: Someone gives you a gift card for two books (whatever that costs). What two books will you buy?

Crap. Only two?! Way to make it difficult! My TBR stack is too huge to even attempt to narrowing it down to two, so I'm going to go with books I read, loved, but don't own a finished copy of yet.

Something Like Normal by Trish Doller (read my review here!)

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green

What two books would you buy?

Leave me your link and I'll hop by!

And of course I'd love to return a follow if you are kind enough to follow me :)

Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Crazy For Books

Q: What's the ONE super-hyped book you'll NEVER read?

I don't like saying I'll never read a book, just because I always find myself picking up strange, random or completely unexpected books at the oddest times. Maybe I end up enjoying them, a few times I've questioned why I kept going...regardless, I've definitely read ones I swore I wouldn't. (Such as the Twilight series.) I'd like to say Fifty Shades of Grey - and I assume that'll be the popular answer because there are very polar responses to that series - but the truth is that I've totally read random passages as I stand in a store killing time. I don't think I'll ever read all of it, but...stranger things have happened!

Though I will say it'd be hard pressed to get me to read the Sookie Stackhouse series. I don't know if that counts as a 'super-hyped' book (kinda? True Blood is pretty huge...) but I've tried to read Charlaine Harris books before and the writing was just...not for me. I had to put it down, and I very, very rarely DNF books. Maybe the SS series is better, maybe the one I tried was just a fluke, but it was so bad for me I can't go back.

What hyped book will you ignore?

Tell me in the comments or leave a link!

TGIF! Reading Resolutions

Found this meme (hosted by Ginger at GReads!) through Justin (who is doing THREE awesome giveaways! [How generous is this guy, doing 3?!] January New Releases Giveaway, 400-Follower Giveaway and his New Years Giveaway), and it's perfect since I was going to make a post about this today anyway :)

Reading Resolutions

What are some of your Reading Goals for the new year?

>Track My Reading. I've been on GoodReads for awhile, but haven't been great at keeping up with it. I was starting to get into a rhythm last year, then started working 50+ hours/week, and everything fell by the wayside. I like having a record of what I've read, in a general timeline of when I've read, and I hope to be better about that this year.

>Read 100 books. In accordance with my lack of tracking, I think I missed adding a few of the books I read last year to my Goodreads profile - but I still have 70 on record. That's 70 books (possibly more), without really trying or forcing a number, done unknowingly while having a 50+ hour/week job for 10 of those months. While still maintaining blogs, some writing schedules, and lots of hanging out with family&friends time!  100 feels like a monumental, unattainable goal, but I figure: what's the point of a goal if it doesn't feel near-impossible?  If I can do 70 without a blink of an eye, I sure as hell hope I can do 100 with a bit of pushing.

>Give vampires another chance.  This one sounds weird, I know. I do read Cassandra Clare books (Simon is adorable!), but that doesn't count in this. Twilight ruined vampires for me. I really liked Twilight, and then the rest of the series just...bombed. HARD. I couldn't stand it or the idea that vampires sparkled in sunlight (that is all kinds of wrong), and nothing else, not even Taylor Lautner's body (which I have seen in real life) could save it. I have not read a vampire-centric novel since. I tried The Vampire Diaries since so many people were into the TV show, but I found Elena so weak and whiny and self-centered I don't even know if I made it 100 pages in. I've been reluctant to try any others, but I've been getting prodded for awhile to try the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on an important chunk of YA literature. So this year, I will give it another shot.  (If you have any others to recommend, please let me know!)

>Open up Discussion on Books. I've lamented for years how I don't have anyone to discuss books with. I read obsessively, always, and I haven't quite found anyone I know in real life who 1) reads as much as I do, 2) reads as voraciously as I do, and/or 3) reads the same books I do.  And then I found one book blog, and it just...ballooned from there. I realized that it's not my friends that are the problem for not discussing with me - it's ME. I'm the one who's closed off from a world of others who read with the same enthusiasm I do, much more than me! And so, this year, I hope to really connect with other readers (in real life, through blogging, twitter, meet ups, anything) and start talking about books.  Which is actually why this blog began :)

>Blog. Though this isn't directly a reading resolution, I'll count it anyway since it pertains to this Book Blog. I started this to track what I've read and how I felt while reading, recording some notable quotes, and, most importantly, to reach out to others and talk about something so near and dear to my heart: books. Words. Stories and characters and that heart-wrenching feeling when you finish one and you realize it is not your life, no matter how much you wish it were (or weren't, as the case may be).  To agree with people on how great books were, or argue why I loved something, or be told someone hated a book I loved, or any of the vice-versas that could apply.  Books are so personal to me, and I love the idea of opening it up into a public forum.

What are your resolutions? Have any suggestions? Leave your link in my comments and I'll check it out!