Challenge Yourself

     It's always a good thing to challenge yourself in your reading! You have to keep your brain fresh and alert, and sometimes, we get so wrapped up in the beautifully crafted stories of YA fiction that we just blitz through book after book without taking a breath.
     So I've decided to challenge myself this summer. Don't worry, I'm still reading current books. I have a TBR pile that's taller than me. But amongst my fun reads, I'm mixing in some old English classics to keep my brain sharp and improve my reading skills. I know, you think we get enough of that during school, but really, our challenging school reads are pretty guided, even in college. I definitely have the opportunity to have my own thoughts about what I'm reading, but I also get the professor's thoughts and my classmates' as well. Now, it's all on me.
     Thus far, I've completed Little Women, which I know isn't a British classic but I wanted to read it nonetheless. Now, I'm about halfway through Wuthering Heights, and can I just rant for a moment? Jane Eyre is one of my favorite books, so I assumed that, naturally, I would like its sister book. But no! I mean, I'm kind of into the story now even though all the characters are driving me up a wall! Even Nelly, who's supposed to be the sane and normal character, is getting pretty annoying. And I'm just thinking--how can there be this many awful people under one roof? It's impossible! But I'm determined to finish this book, even if I want to strangle all the characters. It's fine. I'll be fine.
      Rant over.
      I'm also taking notes in my books, underlining significant or nicely written lines. And because my vocabulary is not as vast as I would like it to be, I've been circling words that I don't know or vaguely remember, and writing them down in my notebook to look up the definitions. It might be a pointless waste of time, but oh well! I'm enjoying it.
      Written in the Stars by Aisah Saeed. I started it during finals, and just didn't pick it up again because life got crazy hectic. So that's next, and I'm pretty pumped about it. I just have to get through Wuthering Heights before I strangle Heathcliff or Catherine.

Next on my list is

See you at the end,
     HER