Inconsistencies in both Pro-Life & Pro-Choice Perspectives

This is a post that I've been mulling over for about a year. Today, as the anniversary of Roe v. Wade decision it seemed the appropriate time to finally pull my thoughts together.

I'm not going to hide the fact that I am pro-life. I have not come to this position without serious thought and consideration, particularly as I've grown older and have many friends who are pro-choice. I want it to be something I believe with purpose and reason, knowing the arguments of both sides and choosing based on my conscience as well as critical thought.

My goal with this post is to present 1 specific issue I have seen on each side. It is not to start a war, to speak with anger, or to try to get a rise out of anyone. I am speaking in very broad generalities here and I realize this. I am intentionally painting with a very broad brush in order to point out two particular things that have troubled me.

I'm going to start with a major source of hypocrisy I often see within many pro-life speakers and people.

In too many cases when they say they are pro-life, what they actually mean is that they are pro-birth or anti-abortion.

If we are truly to be people who are pro-life, then we must be concerned with more than just the birth of the baby. We need to be thinking about how we can support the mothers and fathers who find themselves expecting a baby when they are not ready, willing, or able to care for that child. We should be supporting single mothers or single fathers who decide to keep and care for their child. We should be offering mental and emotional support, not only to pregnant women, but to them and their families after the baby is born. We should be finding ways to offer financial help if it's needed.

We should be supporting organizations that offer women with complete information about their pregnancy care.

I'm also talking very specifically to people who call themselves followers of Christ. Condemning a woman for choosing abortion when we shun, ostracize, or even just gossip about a woman who finds herself pregnant in a less than ideal situation is neither useful nor fulfilling our supposed stand of being pro-life or followers of Christ. Is it any wonder our opponents find our position to be hypocritical at times?


To those who are pro-choice, there is one particular contradiction in behavior that has consistently concerned me.

As I noted above, I have many friends (both people I know in person and people I only know via social media) who are pro-choice. I have heard them present their views, I have seen them post link after link on Facebook or Twitter. I have read many of those links, I have listened to their perspectives.

I have also seen some of them go through pregnancies, both planned as well as unexpected.

I have never seen any of them talk about the "tissue" or the "fetus" they are carrying that will be a baby when it's born. They always talk about their baby and often add the gender once they've found out ("baby boy is antsy today") or the name if they reveal it before the birth.

I have no problem with this (obviously).
What concerns me in general with many people who identify themselves as pro-choice is the sense that we determine people-hood. We, as fallible humans, determine whether a life is a life or not. If we want the baby or decide to keep the baby, then it is, in fact, a baby, even before it is born. If the baby is unwanted, for whatever reason, then it is a fetus or a lump of tissue that can be disposed of.

This kind of situational perspective on life is problematic. And the question that always comes to my mind is how do we decide where to draw the line? When do we no longer have the right to decide who deserves to be considered a person?


Abortion is an extremely polarizing issue, and I understand that there are many complexities to arguments on both sides. I hope that, no matter where you stand on this issue, I've generated something for you to think about.

Popsugar 2015 Reading Challenge - Completed!

I stumbled across the Popsugar Reading Challenge last year and thought that it looked like a fun way to read some things I might not otherwise seek out. I didn't really plan ahead too much, filling in categories with books I was reading anyway, but also keeping these categories in mind. Toward the end of the year, though, I took a good look at the categories that were left and found books on my shelves I hadn't read before and did some serious googling to find titles for a couple of the categories that weren't easily identifiable (like a book set in my home town or a book published the year I was born). I completed it and was pretty happy with the variety of books I read because of it.

Here are the categories and the books I read to fulfill them:

• A book with more than 500 pages: The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination by Sandra M. Gilbert & Susan Gubar - I was wokring on this for a paper I'm writing and this gave me additional impetus to finish it.
• A classic romance: Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte - I wasn't entirely sure what "classic romance" was, but I found some GoodReads chats where people were discussing what they read for this category. I'd had this book sitting on my eReader and kept meaning to get to it, and I'm so glad this challenge made me read it now because I fell in love with Anne Bronte's books.
• A book that became a movie: Coraline by Neil Gaiman - I haven't seen the movie yet, I'd been putting it off until after I read the book, and now I can watch it. I'm curious as to how they adapted this dark fairy tale.
• A book published this year: The Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester - I had quite a few I could have picked for this category, but I really enjoyed this book, so it made the list.
• A book with a number in the title: 3:16 The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado - Another book that had been sitting on my shelf waiting for me to read it. I'm a fan of Lucado's style.
• A book written by someone under 30: A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab - This category was hard to track down because most authors don't advertise their age. I basically looked at books I read and started googling authors that I knew were younger until I found one with an age listed.
• A book with nonhuman characters: Squish: Brave New World by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm - Only the Holms could write such an engaging book about an amoeba. I love their writing style!
• A funny book: Not That It Matters by A.A. Milne - I love Milne's work, especially his humorous essays, so when I discovered a stack of them at the library where I work I felt like I'd hit the mother lode. These are all just so fantastic.
• A book by a female author: Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George - I was a little annoyed at this category, like reading a book by a woman was a big deal or something. Pretty much just picked one of the many, many books written by a female author that I read but didn't use in any of the other categories. Also wanted to highlight this series because adorableness abounds and you should read it.
• A mystery or thriller: The Third Twin by CJ Omololu - Didn't read too many mysteries or thrillers this year, but when Omololu held a Twitter chat to promote this book and the chat was really fun and engaging and the book sounded intriguing I decided to check it out. Interesting twist on the twins switching places trope.
• A book with a one-word title: Landline by Rainbow Rowell - Enjoyed it, but this is probably my least favorite of Rowell's books.
• A book of short stories: A Medicine for Melancholy by Ray Bradbury - Bradbury's short fiction has its ups and downs for me. I really enjoy some of it and others, well, not so much. But I'm not a fan of short stories, so I was glad to find one that I found pretty entertaining.
• A book set in a different country: The Accidental Mother by Rowan Coleman - This was a cute book set in England.
• A nonfiction book: The Word of God and the Word of Man by Karl Barth - I stumbled across this while fielding a research question and became intrigued. Really liked this series of essays.
• A popular author’s first book: The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett - This was both his first book and not his first book as it was an edited and expanded version of his first book, but I counted it because it was so cute.
• A book from an author you love that you haven’t read yet: The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale - So very glad I got to this one. I loved this book a lot.
• A book a friend recommended: The Nest by Kenneth Oppel - My sister really liked this book, so I was excited to read it. Also, Jon Klassen's illustrations are spot on as always.
• A Pulitzer prize winning book: March by Geraldine Brooks - This has been on my TBR list for ages, so I was glad to have a reason to finally get to it. It wasn't a favorite, but it was interesting.
• A book based on a true story: The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston & Mario Spezi - Picked this one up on audio from my local library. I found it a lot more intriguing and interesting than I anticipated.
• A book at the bottom of your to-read list: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne - I read this as part of my through the alphabet quest even though I didn't really have any burning desire to read it. Now I kind of wish it had been in print so I could give the book away. Not a fan.
• A book your mom loves: Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman - After our book club read a Terry Pratchett book my mom has been picking up his books left and right. She recommended this as another book club read and I finally got to it. Hilarious.
• A book that scares you: The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz - I don't really get scared by books often - the only one I can think of that really gave me the creepy, heart thumpy book scare was Koontz's What the Night Knows. I had this book waiting on my shelf so I read it and, though it wasn't a horror book it is all about brainwashing and identity and not knowing who you really are, all concepts that creep me out, so I kept it for this, even though it didn't really "scare" me.
• A book more than 100 years old: The Art of War by Sun Tzu - I'd read excerpts before and I'm glad I read the whole thing, but it was just kind of an, oh yeah I read that, type of book for me.
• A book based entirely on its cover: Labyrinth by Kate Mosse - I really liked the cover on this. The content of the cover didn't thrill me as much, though.
• A book you were supposed to read in school but didn’t: Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick - This was sitting on my Currently Reading shelf, so reading it completed this challenge and part of my personal challenge as well.
• A memoir: Bossypants by Tina Fey - This was highly entertaining.
• A book you can finish in a day: Anne & Henry by Dawn Ius - This popped up as one of the publisher's free reads on their website. It's a modern high school retelling of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn that I'd had on my TBR list. It was a Saturday and I had no plans, so I sat down and read the whole thing in a couple of hours. Entertaining.
• A book with antonyms in the title: Always Never Sometimes by Adi Alsaid - I actually picked up this ARC at BEA specifically because it had antonyms in the title. It was all right, but not a favorite.
• A book set somewhere you’ve always wanted to visit: Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery - I reread this for the paper I'm working on that I will be presenting in PEI, so not only did I read it, but this year I finally get to visit this place!
• A book that came out the year you were born: The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye - Not only did this come out the year I was born, but it's one of my favorite books of all time that I've really been wanting to reread. It's as wonderful as I remember it.
• A book with bad reviews: We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler - This one had the lowest star rating out of the 400 odd books in my TBR GoodReads list. It's ... odd. Very Handler. Very ... weird.
• A trilogy: The Arena Wars by Samantha Hoffman - I think I picked up the first book in this series as a free eBook and enjoyed it so much that I did what I rarely do and bought the second one. When I was looking at this list toward the end of the year I decided to buy the third book and finish off the trilogy.
• A book from your childhood: The Giver by Lois Lowry - It's so interesting revisiting books you haven't read in years and years. I still liked it, but not as much as I remember liking it when I was younger.
• A book with a love triangle: Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle - I really like these books, even if the love triangle drove me a little batty.
• A book set in the future: Armada by Ernest Cline - Love.
• A book set in high school: Also Known As by Robin Benway - This book was so cute. Very happy I read it in my alphabetical challenge.
• A book with a color in the title: The Blue Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang - Collected fairy tales; what more could you want?
• A book that made you cry: Penderwicks in Spring by Jeanne Birdsall - Man, this book made me sob my eyeballs out. And laugh. And *sigh* these books are just perfection.
• A book with magic: Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross - A really inventive fairy tale retelling. I'll be looking up the rest of the series.
• A graphic novel: The Sculptor by Scott McCloud - I found this interesting, though I wasn't as big a fan as I wanted to be.
• A book by an author you’ve never read before: Strawberry Acres by Grace S. Richmond - I had a collection of Richmond's books sitting on my eReader. They were sweet and light. A perfect old-fashioned delight.
• A book you own but have never read: The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross - This was another book good for both this list and my personal clearing out of my Currently Reading list
• A book that takes place in your hometown: Susquehanna by Harriet Segal - I had such a hard time with this one. I had 3 hometowns to choose from and finally ended up with the area where I currently live in order to find a book I could actually get ahold of. I wouldn't have sought this book out otherwise, but I did enjoy it.
• A book that was originally written in a different language: Poetics of Reverie by Gaston Bachelard - Oh Bachelard. I'm such a fan.
• A book set during Christmas: My True Love Gave to Me edited by Stephanie Perkins - Collection of lovely holiday stories.
• A book written by an author with your same initials: Space Cat by Ruthven Todd - Other than book set in my hometown, this was probably the category that caused me the most grief. In all of the books I own but haven't read (+2,000) and all the books on my GoodReads TBR list (+400) not a single one was written by someone with the initials RT. Not. A. Single. One. So I browsed the fiction and Juvenile section at the library where I work. Nada. YA section at the local library. 1 that really didn't look that interesting, though I kept it in mind in case I needed it. Finally found this one in the Young Readers section and I'm so glad I did because it's about a cat that goes to the moon and saves the astronaut. It was written before the moon missions and it's a really entertaining look at the speculation of what would be found on the moon as well as just an adorable story about a cat.
• A play: Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare - Hate this play with a burning passion.
• A banned book: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Hit this in my alphabetical challenge and really enjoyed it.
• A book based on or turned into a TV show: Naked Heat by Richard Castle - I've owned this for a while and just never got around to reading it. It's like reading a fanfic of the show, so it cracks me up.
• A book you started but never finished: The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls by Wendy Delsol - Another one on my GoodReads Currently Reading list that I cleared out. It was interesting, but not my cup of tea.

And that's the lot. I'm looking forward to diving into their 2016 challenge this year!

2016: A Review of a Year in Books

A few years ago, I came across a blog post where someone (I honestly have no idea who it was now, or I would link to it!) had kept track of what they read in Excel and used it to make little graphs to see stats on their reading for the year. I love that kind of stuff, so I bounced off their idea and created my own categories, just for my own curiosity.

I kept it up again this year, and decided to make my own graphs just to visually view the types of reading I had done over the course of 2015.

If you're curious, here they are!

Sort of an unspoken goal for me this year was to read more books by female authors than by male authors. This wasn't really a big goal, since I think a good story is a good story, no matter the gender of the author, but I was pleased to see I succeeded in my goal.
It's also interesting looking at the break down of the main character's gender. Some books (such as books of essays) don't have main characters, so those fall under the n/a and if a book has multiple viewpoints from both male and female perspectives I categorize them under "multiple" but overall it's a fairly balanced pie, with a definite leaning toward female main characters.

For this chart, standard means just the standard type of text format that most books are. Mostly I was curious about the other types of books I was reading.
And then of course, a look at the format in which I read them. I listen to audiobooks in my car, but didn't hit as many this year as I usually do. 13 of those were also from the Series of Unfortunate Events, so that accounts for most of the audiobooks I listened to this year.

 Although many books don't fit into hard and fast age ranges, they do tend to be marketed toward a particular age group. These are based on either where they tend to be sold in a bookstore, or my own perception (especially for the New Adult category).

This is the chart that intrigued me the most. I apologize for the fuzziness - I've tried a couple times, and can't seem to get it to render any more clearly. Anyway, I was shocked to see that I read more contemporary books than anything else this year, but looking back at the last couple of years I can see that, it's not that I read more contemporary (it's pretty equal with the last two years), but that I diversified in my other reading, spreading it out. These categories are also completely subjective to me, so a book I labeled as paranormal, someone else might have labeled fantasy. I just like creating fairly specific categories for myself. I also self-define some of them (such as magical realism, which I attached to books that had magical elements, but were set in a contemporary world).

Just out of curiosity, I like to see what different narrative styles I come across (a lot of non-fiction falls under the n/a category). The thing I found most intriguing this year, was how many books I read that had a mix of narrative styles, such as a book in both 1st and 3rd person.

 I still tend to rate books high, but I don't have a problem with that. I tend to round up (so if I give a book a 3.5, I'll make it a 4 star on GoodReads). But that also means that if I give a book 1 or 2 stars I really REALLY didn't like it.

 And finally, looking at page ranges. I read almost 52,000 words total (at least according to GoodReads and my own calculations), but this breaks it down for me a little more and I can see that I read quite a quantity of books with a fairly low page range. I don't think longer books are better, by any means, but I can see that a 50 page graphic novel will probably take less time to read than a 300 page novel. So it's just interesting to see it play out this way.

I can't say I'm planning on making any specific changes to my reading style based on these numbers, but I do find it really fascinating to look at my reading habits in a more graphic (pun intended) way :)

Bookish Resolutions: 2015 Review, 2016 Plans

2015 is over! I can't believe we're into a new year already.

Here's a look back at how I did on my resolutions for last year and a quick look at what I want to do in 2016.

1. Read 200 books in 2015:

DONE WON

I read 230 books and hit about 52,000 words, which was a little less than last year (even though I read more books), but close enough to make me satisfied.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (preferably 1 a month):

DONE WON

Topped this off at 19 for the year. Finished December strong with It's Too Late Now: The Autobiography of a Writer by A. A. Milne. Really pleased with myself for how well I did on this goal, since I have a tendency to stick with non-fiction. I have a couple of books slated already for next year that I'm really excited about.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:

DONE WON

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):

DONE WON

In December I read Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid, The Key to Midnight by Dean Koontz, and The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex. I'll be weeding the Koontz book - enjoyed it, but don't need to keep it - so a successful month. Overall this year I read 38 books from my shelves and weeded 13 of them. I consider this goal a rousing success.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I own each month:

In December I read A. W. Hartoin's A Fairy's Guide to Disaster, Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman, The Green Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang, the first volume of Batman by Bill Finger, The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, A Soul for Trouble by Crista McHugh, and Anne Bronte's Agnes Grey. I've eased into the B's in eBooks. Can't believe it took me an entire year to get through one letter of the alphabet. At that rate, I've got a good 25 years worth of books waiting for me just on my eReader. But, I read a lot of books I wouldn't have by doing it this way, many of which I thoroughly enjoyed! That means that over the course of 2015 I read 73 (though this did include a few short stories, novellas, and comic issues). I'm very pleased with the success of this goal as well.

For next year I've been thinking about what I would like to do and I've got the following goals in place:

• Read 200 books in 2016 (at least 52,000 pages) - I'm keeping this the same, but adding a page count goal as well.
• Read 12 non-fiction books (1 a month) - I think aiming for 12 works for me. I'd like to go above that, but I'm setting the goal at 1 a month.
• Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding) - There were a couple of months where I barely squeaked by with this, so I'm keeping it at 2/month.
• Read at least 2 eBooks I own each month - as I head into the B's maybe I can scoot through more than just one letter this year.
• Read at least 1 book off my GoodReads TBR list - since I cleared out my Currently Reading list, I thought it would be good to attack the TBR list. The thing about my GoodReads TBR list, is that it doesn't include any books I own. I keep it strictly for books I read or hear about that I don't own. But the list keeps getting longer and longer, so I'd like to take a stab at trying to whittle it down just a little bit.
• Read at least 2 academic articles each month (1 library related/1 literature related) - I read articles pretty regularly as part of my job, so I'm thinking of articles above and beyond those - things I've been curious about or that I just want to read more on. I figure if I add it as a goal, I'll have to force myself to go looking for things to read and will branch out a bit more.

So those are my goals. Any bookish plans you have for the next year? I'd love to hear about them!

Bookish Resolutions: November Progress

AAAHHHHH!!! The year is almost over! How did it fly by so quickly?
I've already started thinking about what bookish resolutions I might want to make for next year. Keeping myself accountable here has really helped me to stay on track and I'm really pleased with the progress I've made.

November was a light reading month because I was doing NaNoWriMo (which I won handily this year. I'm still working on the rough draft and then I'll start the "real" rough draft of this story, but I'm really very super excited about how the character development and world building are coming together. But that's a blog post for another day).
So most of the time I might normally spend reading, I spent trying to get my word count in.

However, I think I still did pretty well.

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I passed my goal! That's CRAZY PANTS. I'm at 205. And I still have a whole month left! I am, however, still about 5,000 pages lower than last year because of the picture books and young reader graphic novels. I'm not saying those books are somehow lesser, but it takes less time to read a 50 page young reader graphic novel than a 300 page adult novel. I've got several more books on deck for this month (and NaNo is over) so I should be able to make up a little of the page count.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (preferably 1 a month):
I did not read any non-fiction books this month (see NaNo madness), but I've done really well in this over the year, so I'm not even the slightest bit ashamed of this lack. I would like to hit one more in December, though, to end the year on an up note.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
DONE WON

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
I read 3 this month, so pretty good. The Girl Who Could Not Dream by Sarah Beth Durst, which was beautiful and wonderful and definitely staying on my shelf. I also read Coraline by Neil Gaiman and Naked Heat by Richard Castle, both of which I've been meaning to eventually get around to and the PopSugar Reading Challenge pushed me to do so. Nothing weeded, but still a success.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I own each month:
I got through 3 in this category as well. I finished The Red Fairy Book edited by Andrew Lang and Consumed by War by Samantha Hoffman, which not only took care of a Reading Challenge category, but also helped me finish off the trilogy while I still pretty much remembered the first two books. I also read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte and discovered how very much I love Anne Bronte.

All in all a successful month. Here's to a strong December!

Bookish Resolutions: October Progress

Can't believe there are only 2 months left in the year! My goals are coming along nicely. Here's how I did in October.

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I'm up to 196! I can't believe it! And I've caught up really nicely on page count. I just have to do about 3500 pages each in November and December, which is definitely doable. Of course, I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo once again this month, which will cut into my reading time, so we'll see how things go.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
Finished 2 non-fiction books this month, both rather lengthy - The Female Imagination by Patricia Meyer Spacks and The Madwoman in the Attic by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar - both related to a paper that I'm preparing. And feeling a little burnt out, so I would rather do a lighter non-fiction this month, if I get to one at all. Which I'm totally okay with since I've done really well in this category so far.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:

I finished this one, as I'm mentioned before, but I have a couple that are new hanging out there. I'd like to clear them out, so I don't feel like I have to put this on my resolution list next year.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):

I did pretty well, though I didn't pull any for weeding this month. I finished The Nest by Kenneth Oppel and illustrated by Jon Klassen and Shannon and Dean Hale's The Princess in Black and the Perfect Princess Party. Also read Rebecca Serle's Truly Madly Famously and Inherit the Stars by Tessa Elwood. Having a vacation in the middle of this month helped with my reading level in October!

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month:

Completed this one as well reading Amalia Dillin's Blood of the Queen and Ray Bradbury's Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories.

Bookish Resolutions: September Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I'm up to 177! I'm still a little low on pages compared to last year, but I've got a couple of really long books I'm working on right now, so that should help. I'm also going on vacation this month, so I'll have time to just sit on the beach and read. Whee!

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
Made this (and have made significant dents in two more non-fiction books that I should finish soon. This month I read Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano which was really interesting.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
DONE! COMPLETE! YAY!

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
Made this goal, even though so much of my reading time has gone to the aforementioned giant non-fiction books. But I did manage to finish Armada by Ernest Cline, Becoming Maria mentioned above, Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver & H.C. Chester, and The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month:
Made this one by a lot! Read Awaking by Madeline Freeman, Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone & Ardian Syaf, A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan, Bear is Broken by Lachlan Smith, and The Blue Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

I'm excited to see how this will all look at the end of the year.

Bookish Resolutions: August Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I'm up to 169 and the page counts on this month's books were a little higher. I'm still about 20,000 pages lower than my 2014 total, so I'll just have to make sure I read some longer books :)

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
I read Karl Barth's The Word of God and the Word of Man, which I found quite interesting. This was my first encounter with Barth, but I have a feeling it won't be my last.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
I DID IT! I finally got through the last pending book that was sitting here, reading The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross. Which I loved. I can't wait to read the next one in the series. I still have 2 non-fiction books on this shelf (in addition to the active currently reading ones), but they are both ones I'm just going to pick at as I feel like it, so they are actually currently reading as opposed to all of the books I had started and then stopped that were just sitting there forever. I feel really good about this.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
I did well on this goal this month. I read James Dashner's The Kill Order, the prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy, and while I enjoyed it, I won't reread it, so I am weeding that one. I also read The Girl in the Steel Corset as I noted above as well as a couple of ARCs that I picked up at BEA including Will Walton's Anything Could Happen and Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit both of which were good, but are on my potential weeding pile.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month:
Knocked this one out of the park again. I finished the Grace S. Richmond collection, which gave me Red Pepper's Patients, The Second Violin, Strawberry Acres, and Under the Country Sky. I also read Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (I swear if I had had to read 1 more description of fish I would have found a real copy to throw out the window) and Lorena Angell's A Diamond in My Pocket. I also made it through Asylum by Madeleine Roux, Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, and Awaken by Rachel M. Humphrey-D'aigle. Some of them I enjoyed, some of them I wanted to enjoy but just didn't do it for me. But I'm working my way through the A's and I think I'm pretty close to hitting the B's!

Forcing myself into a structure has certainly kept me on task with my reading and made me read things I might not have gotten to. I'm enjoying this journey!

Bookish Resolutions: July Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I'm up to 148 already. I can hardly believe it! But 73 of those have been under 200 pages (and half of those under 100 pages), so page-wise I'm further behind last year. Still pretty happy with my progress here, though. My book count will be higher because I've been reading so many that are fewer pages.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
I finished Ann Thwaite's A.A. Milne: His Life which was absolutely and completely fascinating. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes biographies.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
Still have one left sitting here, so no additional progress this month.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
Other than the Milne biography, I read The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure by James Dashner. I had read them before, but have been wanting to do a re-read ever since The Maze Runner movie came out. So, not planning on getting rid of them right now, but I technically completed this goal :/

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month:
Did much better on this goal than on the print goal. I read Jus Accardo's A Darker Past, The Adventures of Zelda: Pug and Peach by Kristen Otte, and Jennifer Niven's All the Bright Places (which just ripped me up in the best way). I also read most of the novels/novellas/short stories in the collection of Grace S. Richmond's works that I downloaded ages and ages ago. They were interesting and definitely not something I would have read if it hadn't been sitting in my queue for this reading resolution quest.

Overall pretty pleased :)

Bookish Resolutions: June Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I'm up to 129, so doing well on this front. Slowed down this month a little bit as I hit some slightly longer/more involved books.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
Made my one this month, finishing A.A. Milne's Not That It Matters. However, I've made significant progress on the thick and densely printed Milne biography, so I'm more than content with that.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
Cleared out one more, finishing Willa Cather's My Antonia finally. I've got one more to go before I consider this goal complete and considering that I have 6 months left, I'm confident I'll make it!

4. Read at last 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
Did well on this one, reading three books, all of which I am passing on, giving away, or donating. I read Rowan Coleman's The Accidental Mother, which I really enjoyed, but know I won't read again. I also read 2 of by new BEA books. I finished The Adventures of Miss Petitfour by Anne Michaels, which isn't out until November. I already gave that one to my sister. And I just finished Gregory Maguire's upcoming book After Alice, which I think I may run an Instagram giveaway for on our Booksellers Without Borders NY account.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month:
Just barely squeaked this one out. I read Darker Days by Jus Accardo and My Antonia was an ebook, so it counts. I've been watching X-Files on my breaks at work, which is usually when I read ebooks, so that accounts for less reading done this month. I'm back to reading on my breaks though, so it might tick upward next month.

I know no one probably cares about this but me, but posting here at the beginning of each month inspires me to actually read with more purpose and I've read quite a few books I probably wouldn't have read if I wasn't doing this, so yay for me :)

Bookish Resolutions: May Progress

This is really helping me focus my reading! So here's how I've done this month.

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
Well, number-wise I'm up to 120, which is crazy, but page-wise I'm less than half way to what I read last year. I've read quite a few picture books and early reader graphic novels, which I count as books, but which don't bump the page number that much. So, while the book count is good, I'm hoping to bump the page count a bit in the next month.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
WOW! I read 5 non-fiction books this month (and 1 of those I enjoyed, but am weeding from my collection to make room, so double win!). I read Sun Tzu's The Art of War, G. Neri's graphic novel biography Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty, Max Lucado's 3:16 The Numbers of Hope, If I May a collection of essays by A.A. Milne, and The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived by Allan Lazar, Jeremy Salter, and Dan Karlan.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
I finished Wendy Delsol's The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls bringing it down to 2 1/2 books left lingering (that I'm not actively reading). So nice to start seeing this actually represent what I'm actually currently reading. (And that 1/2 is a book I was reading for research for a novel that I've temporarily shelved, so I am going to read it sometime, but if it's not read this year, I'll be okay with that.)

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
I started reading through alphabetically by title, so I've actually made progress on this one! I read Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived (mentioned above in #2), The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls (mentioned in #3), Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers, 3:16 (one of my non-fiction reads), and The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale. Out of those 6, I weeded 3. It's nice to finally see a win in this resolution! I may be taking a break from the alphabetically to work through the books I just picked up at BEA, though, so I can review close to release dates, rather than sitting on them for five years as has happened in the past. We'll see what happens.

5. Read at least 2 eBooks I already own each month (I upped this from 1 to 2, because I've been blowing it out of the water each month):
Another alphabetical win! I read a total of 9, though 2 of those were superhero weeklies and a couple were more novellas. But still! Books read that I own. I read After the End by Amy Plum, Apocalypse Weird: The Red King by Nick Cole, Aquaman 1: The Trench by Geoff Johns, The Arena Wars and War of Hearts by Samantha Hoffman, 11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass, Arrow #1 by Marc Guggenheim, A Breath of Eyre by Eve Marie Mont, and The Art of War (one of my non-fiction titles).

How about you? What have you read that you've loved? Have you made any bookish resolutions? How's it going?

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way Through My Books

After moving to my new place and sifting through all my print books twice (once while packing them, once while unpacking them) and getting rid of probably 2-3 boxes of them and getting them all cataloged in LibraryThing (which is a magical site that allows me to stop buying duplicates of books ALL THE TIME) I decided that I really needed to catalog my eBooks too.

This took a long time and a lot of patience and several restarts as I changed the way I wanted to organize them.

Then I decided I really should mark every book that I haven't read.

All of these things combined to open my eyes to the plethora of books I own but haven't read, or am dying to reread, or will probably never read in a million years.

So a few more books went out the door. A handful of eBooks got deleted from my Nook account.

And I decided there had to be a better way of systematically reading all of those free eBooks and ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies or Galleys) that I had picked up over the years. So I did the logical thing and started with A. Well, actually I started with the books that have numbers for titles, because those get put before the As. And when I finish one I take of the "Unread" label and, if it's an eBook, I archive it so it doesn't show up on my Nook anymore, but I can download it again should I ever want to, or, if it's a print book, decide whether to put it back on the shelf or plop it in the to sell or donate box.

I started this toward the end of last year with my eBooks, and last month for print books. And so far I've read 30 eBooks and 4 print books I probably wouldn't have read (or wouldn't have read yet). Some of them I would have gotten to before others, since they were by favorite authors. But honestly, many of them would have probably languished on my Nook or bookshelf forever.

Some of them have been wonderful books. Some of them have been good. A couple have been awful. Many have been just okay. But they are all now read.

But I noticed something in the last week.

See, I get daily e-mails from three wonderful sites: BookBub, The Fussy Librarian, and Bookperk. You sign up for free, in some cases you select the genres, formats, content that you like and then they magically deliver a list of books that are cheap or free. Every. Day. It's magical. I've discovered sales on some of my favorite authors this way. I highly recommend them.

And it used to be that every day I would be downloading at least one free book. Every. Day.

That adds up to a lot of books. A lot of eBooks that were languishing on my Nook.

I noticed, now that I'm actively reading through many of these free books that I've downloaded in the past, I am much pickier about the ones I buy or download. Even if they're free. Because I have, according to my LibraryThing shelf, over 1,200 books I haven't read yet. TWELVE HUNDRED.

So instead of saying, like I used to, HEY IT'S FREE. DOWNLOAD ALL THE BOOKS, I say, Do I really want to add this to my list?

Sometimes the answer is YES.
Sometimes the answer is perhaps.
But more often now it's... probably not.

So by reading the books I already own I'm not only weeding out my personal collection, but I'm also keeping myself from adding to it!

A side benefit I never expected.

How are you at reading books you've already bought? Do you keep a tight rein on yourself or are you like me and own almost as many books you haven't read as those you have? Do you have a system that keeps you from buying or downloading more books than you could possibly read in one lifetime or did you give up on that long ago?

Bookish Resolutions: April Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I hit the library for picture books again. So I'm up to 87 of the 200 ... really good considering it's only April! I have read other books, though, not just picture books and graphic novels. This month I've read 15 books over 200 pages and 7 of those were over 300 (1 over 400). So they balance out the 11 that were under 100 pages.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015 (1 a month preferably):
I have 7 read so far! And 2 read this month. I listened to The Monster of Florence by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi, which was fascinating. I also read Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures by John Granger, which was an interesting look at the literary influences in Harry Potter.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
I didn't get through any of these this month, but I only have 4 left and still have 8 months, so I'm not too concerned.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month (with an eye to weeding):
I read 3 books (all of which had been sitting on my shelves for a while) so this one was finally a win. I read Janet Gurtler's #16 Things I Thought Were True (though to be fair, I knew that one wouldn't get weeded), 5 Cheesy Stories by Patsy Clairmont (I will be holding onto this one to read with my nieces and nephew), and 29 by Adena Halpern (which I enjoyed but will be weeding because I probably won't read it again). I did better this month because I adopted the strategy I've been applying to eBooks and just started alphabetically on my unread shelf in Library Thing. So rather than dithering about what to read or heading toward more recent acquisitions that I would most likely not be getting rid of, I'm forced to just read what's next on the list.

5. Read at least 1 eBook I already own each month:
Did well on this one again. I read 4 eBooks this month. These included A Dangerous Inheritanceby Alison Weir, Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton, Angels Watching Over Me by Michael Phillips, and Anni Moon & the Elemental Artifact. I'm almost done with the As! Maybe I can finish them off in May!

Yay for books!

Bookish Resolutions: March Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
Still moving happily along. 56 books putting me at 28%. Still ahead for the year and with a few books right on the edge of being finished.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015:
I squeaked in on this one, listening to Tina Fey's Bossypants during a long car ride since I realized I hadn't even started reading one this month. That puts me at 5 so far, so still ahead of the game, but my goal is really to read at least 1 non-fiction book a month, so I'm still on target for that.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
I cleared one more out - Hope Leslie, an old school read I'd never finished. That leaves me with 3.5 (one of them is sort of actually currently reading, sort of just hanging out there). Still, nice progress with plenty of time left in the year.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month, with an eye toward weeding:
This resolution continues to be my downfall. I did read Thursdays with the Crown by Jessica Day George, but I also knew I was not going to be getting rid of it. I squeaked in Dangerous by Shannon Hale (another keeper) with six minutes left in the month. But both of those titles were on my to read list and I do own them. I'm going to try some sort of alphabetical thing like with my e-books because that is helping me rock the goal.

5. Read at least 1 eBook I already own each month:
I honestly think by just working through alphabetically by title, I'm not worried about which book I should read next or figuring out what I'm in the mood for. I just click on the next title. I've enjoyed some of them a lot. Others have made me roll my eyes. But there are less books I own that I haven't read, so that's a good thing. This month I read Hope Leslie by Catharine Maria Sedgwick, 1/2986by Annelie Wendeberg, Also Known As by Robin Benway, Altdorf: A Novel of the Forest Knights by J. K. Swift,  Anathema by Megg Jensen, A Bride in the Bargain by Deeanne Gist, Andy McBean and the War of the Worlds by Dale Kutzera, and Angel in the Shadows by Lisa Grace so 8 books. Pretty impressive. And it also makes me feel better about the print goal, because this is where a lot of time went.

And there you have it. Any resolutions you've kept up with or are struggling with?

Bookish Resolutions: February Progress

1. Read 200 books in 2015:

Still doing quite well on this front. I've read a total of 41 putting me at 21% of my goal. Pretty good, considering we're only 2 months into the year.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015:

I knocked this out of the park this month. I finished A Life and Its Mirrors: A Feminist Reading of L.M. Montgomery's Fiction by Gabriella Ahmansson as well as The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career by L. M. Montgomery, AND I finished Poetics of Reverie: Childhood, Language, and Cosmos by Gaston Bachelard. So, feeling pretty good about this.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:

I finished another book for this one, bringing my total down to 6, with only 2 of those being actual currently reading books. That means I only have 5 more to finish this year. Totally doable.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month, with an eye toward weeding:

Didn't do as well with this one, though. Technically I "completed" this, finishing off Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz from my currently reading list and then reading My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins. I am getting rid of Splendors and Glooms but I don't feel that the other one really counts as it's a fairly new purchase and I knew I wouldn't be getting rid of it. But I was deep in the two ILL non-fiction books I had to get back, so I give myself a little bit of a pass this month.

5. Read at least 1 eBook I already own each month:

Did quite well on this goal as well. I finished off The Adventures of Gerard by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Aerisia: Land Beyond the Sunset by Sarah Ashwood, The Adventures of Zelda: A Pug Tale by Kristen Otte, Alessandra by Lizzy Ford (though this was a short story), Alice in Zombielandby Nickolas Cook and Lewis Carroll, A Bride Most Begrudging by Deeanne Gist, and The Alpine Path: The Story of My Career by L. M. Montgomery (one of my non-fiction reads). Rousing success on the e-book front. I think working my way through (roughly) alphabetically is keeping me from dithering over what I should or want to read on my Nook and I just move to the next one.

I am, however, in a bit of a reading dry spell at the moment, so I'm hoping I can get back into the swing of things and stay on top of my goals for March.

Any reading successes you'd like to share?

Bookish Resolutions: January Progress

I think that updating on my blog every month how I'm doing on my resolutions will help me stay on track! So here goes:

1. Read 200 books in 2015:
I've been marking picture books To Read as I go through Publisher's Weekly for my job - kind of a side perk - so a couple weeks ago I took the list to my local library and checked out a stack of picture books and middle grade graphic novels and devoured them, which helped my total quite a bit.
So as of right now, I've read 26 books - which is 9 ahead of schedule and putting me at 13% of my goal. * of those were picture books and 8 of them were MG graphic novels. Being ahead now will help me as I get slowed down on some of the longer books I know I want to read this year.

2. Read 12 non-fiction books in 2015:
I squeaked this one out by finishing Why Buffy Matters: The Art of Buffy the Vampire Slayer last night. This was a really good read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm also about half way through another non-fiction book, so February is looking quite promising already.

3. Clear out my Currently Reading GoodReads shelf:
I am doing all right here. I deleted 2 that I knew I wasn't going to be getting to any time soon, so there was no need to have them sitting there. I also finished The Boyfriend App by Katie Sise, so I am now down to 10 on this list, 4 of which are ones I'm actually currently reading. That's only 6 more I need to attack and clear off.

4. Read at least 2 print books I already own each month, with an eye toward weeding:
I didn't really do as well with this resolution. The Boyfriend App did double duty here, being both on my Currently Reading shelf and a print book I own that I hadn't read yet. The other book I read was a purchase at the end of last year, and is one I knew I wouldn't be getting rid of - Stephanie Perkins' Isla and the Happily Ever After. It had been sitting in my TBR pile, but I really want to try to read books I own that have been sitting there for a long time for this resolution - in addition to the books I "want" to read right now. I did a lot of library-ing this month too, so I had books I had to read so I could return them. I think I need to cool it on the library until I get through some of the books I own (but libraries are awesome-sauce!)

5. Read at least 1 eBook I already own each month:
I'm pretty happy with my progress here. I did a mini purge of my eBook collection, deleting a handful of books. Then I just started with the A's (well, actually with the numbered books, since the Nook forefronts numerals in front of A) and began working my way forward. This month I finished 44 by Jools Sinclair - well, I finished the books I own. It's a YA serial and I had a set with the first 5 books, so I finished the 4th and 5th. Then I also read Kim Foster's A Beautiful Heist and Adam Bede by George Eliot, and I'm almost done with The Adventures of Gerard by Arthur Conan Doyle. So I call this one a roaring success (especially since Adam Bede was over 400 pages long :)

So that's where I stand with my bookish resolutions. Did you make any book-related resolutions for the year? I'd love to hear about it!

2015 Book Resolutions

I'm not one to really make resolutions, but this is the 2nd year in a row I decided to make some book-ish ones.

Last year I challenged myself to read 200 books in the GoodReads challenge and made it with flying colors.

I also wanted to read one non-fiction book a month, which I pulled off, scraping by the skin of my teeth with finishing the 12th one yesterday.

And finally I wanted to read at least one book off my shelves a month. That one I didn't do so well on.

So here are my resolutions for 2015:

1. Once again I've set my GoodReads goal for 200 - it's a good number for the mix of books I read including a smattering of picture books and graphic novels.
2. Once again I would like to read 12 non-fiction books. I kind of want to up this number, but knowing myself, it's just not going to happen. I want to challenge myself but not make it undoable.
3. I want to clear out my "Currently Reading" shelf on GoodReads. Either I need to take the books off or I need to actually finish the book. By next December I want it to be down to only the books I'm actually actively reading.
4. I want to read at least 2 print books I own a month - with the goal of getting rid of any that I've just been holding onto.
5. And finally, I want to read at least 1 eBook I already own a month.

And that should do it! Any resolutions for you this year? Bookish or otherwise?

No Colored Text: An Open Plea to Publishers

I am very disappointed right now.

I recently finished Marie Lu's book Legend. I really enjoyed it. I'm dying to know what happens next. I found the second and third books at my local library and sat down this afternoon to lose myself in her story.

Except I can't.

Once I hit the second chapter I had to put the book down. They're being returned to the library unread and since my library doesn't have them on audio, I don't know when I'll end up getting a chance to finish the series.

What made such a dramatic turn around? The sections from Day's perspective are printed in a bright aqua with rather bold squarish letters.

After reading only a paragraph my eyes were straining and my head had started throbbing.

And that's honestly not an exaggeration.

The square text would have been enough to differentiate the voices, The blue really isn't necessary. The third book has Day's perspective in vivid red. My vision was spotting just opening to book to see.

And I'm not one to normally be very bothered by this. I managed to get through Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy (though the third one was a struggle). And I barely even noticed that the text in Kiersten White and Jim Di Bartolo's In the Shadows was colored.

However, I have a sister who has difficulty with colored text. She still hasn't finished the Shiver trilogy and had some problems finishing In the Shadows. I know for a fact she will never be able to read these books.

I read Legend on my Nook, so perhaps these would be safe there, but I wouldn't want to risk it.

I'm only calling these out because these are the books I've encountered with colored text.

So Penguin, Scholastic, and any other publisher considering printing books with colored text, please don't. It might seem like a nice feature, but I guarantee that you are losing readers over it.

Perhaps print a special edition with the colored text, but most of them with black ink. That way people who don't mind/like the colors could have them, but people like me and my sister and many others with sensitivity to colored fonts can enjoy the authors we want to read.

Moving Right Along

It's happened. I'm actually in my new apartment. Woot! I still find it weird to look around and think, this is where I live now...
I had a bunch of wonderful people help me move and they only razzed me a little bit about all the books I own. (Since I used almost all B&N boxes to pack they seemed to believe I had bought out the entire store before I left :)
So we moved all the stuff in on Saturday and then I returned "home" to stay one more night so I could spend Father's Day with my Dad and then Sunday night I came "home" for the first time. (finding both places are now considered home which adds to weirdness)
I am so glad I planned on doing this because after people who helped had left and it was just family, Mom and Dad and sis asked what they could do to help, but I was just totally overwhelmed and couldn't even think, so Mom and I went shopping for things I realized I really really needed (like a kitchen trash can and a shower curtain) and I just left everything to start on Monday.
Monday morning I was up bright and early because my internet installation appointment was between 8 and 10 am. The Comcast guy came right around 8:30 and set everything up within about half an hour. He was super nice and I was relieved I didn't have to go more than half a day without internet (I may have a problem).
The kitchen was my first project and I kept a running list of things I discovered I still needed (like a step stool and sponge caddy). The biggest strain of unpacking the kitchen was washing all of the wonderful new things I go like all of my canisters, my new dishes and silverware. I did things in batches. Unpacked a couple of boxes until the counter was piled high, washed them, let them dry while I unpacked more boxes or ran to the store or ate breakfast or lunch. But I got most of the kitchen done. I have a few more boxes to tackle today and then I can move on to my bedroom.
Here are the "before" pictures of my apartment. As I finish or after I finish unpacking I'll post the after ones.

Kitchen 1
We did move the boxes
around the stove before we left

Kitchen 2
Love all my cabinets

Living Room 1
I don't have a couch yet

Living Room 2
So this is where a lot of boxes
ended up temporarily

Bedroom 1
Yay for closet space!

Bedroom 2
So grateful Mom made up the bed
Made Sunday night less stressful

Office/Spare Room 1
This is such a nice extra space for me

Office/Spare Room 2
Everyone was jealous of my
rolltop desk - my favorite
piece of furniture

These are pretty much all book boxes...

My first apartment!...now what?

1 week from tomorrow is my move in day. Into my first apartment. For the first time I will be living out from under my parent's roof. I am super excited about this, not because I dislike my parents, but because it means I get to pick the stuff that goes into the house and where to put it!

But as I contemplated this move, I began doing many interweb searches on what I would need when moving into my first place. Because there is a lot guys. So many things. And I found some really helpful lists and suggestions that helped me figure things out. For your edification, here is a list of the things I found to be most important or that I hadn't thought about at first that sort of compiles some of the other lists I found along with things I added.

Furniture - this seems obvious, but it warrants a little thinking:

• tv cabinet
• bookshelves
• couches/chairs
• side tables
• dining furniture
• bed
• dresser
• desk
• inflatable mattress (I got one for easy company sleeping)

Lamps and lights - there is, fortunately, good lighting in my apartment, but I will still need more of these than I had in one bedroom.

Kitchen appliances - If there is one thing I'm excited about, it's that I'll have my own kitchen. I like to cook and my apartment has lots of counter and cabinet space. But I'm going to fill that up with

• toaster oven (or toaster if you prefer, but toaster ovens are the bees knees and I can't imagine living without one)
• microwave (if you want those evil rays infiltrating your brain. Or to warm up food fast)
• blender
• bread maker
• crockpot
• mixer (whether stand or hand or both)
• you might also need things like a coffee maker
• rice cooker
• juicer depending on what kinds of things you like to cook

Other Kitchen Stuff

• pots and pans
• baking sheets and pans (loaf, 13x9, cupcake)
• spatulas, spoons, scrapers, etc.
• glass or plastic storage containers to hold all the delicious food you cook
• cooling rack
• measuring cups (liquid and dry) and measuring spoons
• paper towel holder
• dish towels
• dish cloths
• hot pads and/or oven mitts
• mixing bowls
• rolling pin
• whisk
• pizza cutter
• ice cream scoop
• cutting board(s)
• knives
• can opener
• ladle
• tongs
• peeler
• aluminum foil/plastic wrap/wax paper/zipper bags
• toothpicks/matches

Dining Stuff

• plates and bowls
• silverware
• serving bowls
• napkins
• placemats
• tablecloths
• salt & pepper shakers
• cups and glasses

Bathroom Supplies

• bath mat
• shower curtain
• towels
• washcloths
• hand towels
• toilet paper

Cleaning Supplies

• sponges
• toilet brush and plunger
• broom and dustpan
• vacuum
• toilet/glass/bathroom/all purpose cleaner
• trash cans and wastebaskets/garbage bags
• paper towels
• dish detergent
• laundry detergent/dryer sheets/softener/stain removers

Other random things

• first aid supplies
• extension cords
• picture hanging supplies
• hammer/screwdriver/allen wrench
• duct tape/super glue
• step stool
• q-tips
• clothes pins
• batteries
• light bulbs
• recipes

And I also gathered some food stuffs so I wouldn't be tempted to eat out every day during my first couple of weeks:

• spices
• flour
• sugar (powdered, white, and brown)
• salt
• baking soda/baking powder/cornstarch/yeast
• vanilla extract
• yeast
• non-stick cooking spray
• pasta/rice/couscous/potatoes/whatever starchy thing you like
• oatmeal/cereal
• bread/wraps/bagels
• canned and/or frozen veggies
• salad dressing(s)/soy sauce/worcestshire sauce/bbq sauce/ketchup/mayo/mustard
• butter/margarine/Smart Balance
• milk/cheese/eggs
• chicken/tuna/ground meat (turkey, beef, venison, or whatever)
• meals in a box like Hamburger Helper, mac&cheese, or other meal starters just so I have easy things to fix or throw in the crockpot while I'm unpacking and tired from the move stuff
• ice cream (because, let's face it, when you've spent all day at the DMV and come home to an apartment full of boxes you're going to want a little treat)

This is a list I've compiled over the last 6 months or so, but by no means is it exhaustive. Some of the stuff I've listed you might not need and you might absolutely have to have something I never considered. If you think of anything important I've forgotten please feel free to leave it in the comments! And I'll come back and add stuff if I remember anything (or move and wish I'd had it).