Update: In Which I Make Plans I Probably Won't Follow

Life Events:

First, I passed the Bar!!! Whew. After three years of hard work, the last of which was excessively stressful (I gained 30 pounds and an anxiety disorder), a summer spent at a desk studying until I dreamed legal theories and fact patterns, and a three-day Bar Exam that was weirdly unstressful, I passed that terrible test, and I never have to take it again. In California. I'm done with school, and so happy about it. That's a sentence I never thought I'd say.

Second, we went to NY for Thanksgiving and met our beautiful and adorable niece. It was also her christening. Here are a couple of photos to melt your heart on this cool December day:




And we get to go back to NY for Christmas to see her again!

Alright, enough side issues and on to book issues, which is the point of this blog in the first place, I guess.

Reading Plans:

I still have a stack of books I've read in the past few months, and I haven't written even one review. I suppose I'll get around to it eventually. But with everyone posting their "Best of 2011" lists and "Plans for 2012" posts, I've begun to think about next year.

This year was a bust for me reading-wise. I had almost no time, and when I did have time, I was mostly watching TV or movies because I couldn't be bothered to concentrate for more than an hour or two at a time. I read some good stuff, but nowhere near my normal level (which is less than most bloggers' level, I know). But next year shouldn't be an issue. I am hoping to have a full time, real, grown-up attorney job by the new year, and I know that will take a lot of time, but that's it. I'll just have a job. I won't have a job and full-time school, and law review and networking and extra-curricular activities. I can take reading lunches, and stuff. I'm not going to be overly ambitious, but I think it's time to start doing some real, bloggy things like Reading Challenges and maybe some memes. Oh, and write some actual reviews.

So, I'm considering several Reading Challenges that fit in with my current reading tastes and plans, such as The Banned Book Challenge, a Classics Reading Challenge and a TBR pile challenge. I'll post about each when I'm ready to commit.

Current Reading:

For our anniversary earlier this month (7 years married!), Mike and I took a weekend trip to San Francisco. It was really fun (and fattening), and of course included a trip to the famous City Lights Bookstore, which is of course where the writers of the Beat Generation first got some real attention. I know almost nothing about the Beat Generation writers, so I bought a book at City Lights called "The Typewriter is Holy," which is the comprehensive story of the Beats and how their lives intersected. It's good so far, but it's made me hungry for more information. I have a biography of Jack Kerouac in my TBR pile, so I may read that next. Also, my brother recently took a class in which they read and discussed some of the Beat Generation writers, and he promised to send me "On the Road" and "Junkie" so I'm excited to get a well-rounded Beat Generation education.

As I said, I will be traveling for Christmas, and I'm sure I'll get a lot of books and book-ish stuff, so there's no telling what direction my reading will take next. For now, I'll just end with a general intention to post more, read more and try to find a job. Maybe not in that order.