BAB Challenge Month 6 Summary & Top 5 Books of 2024
How Was Month 6?
Month 6 of the Become a Bard Challenge spanned from 1 to 30 December 2024. December was a difficult month to track accomplishments. Between family members graduating from school and travel for the holidays, I only recorded category points for 11 of the 30 days in Month 6. Although I was able to maintain my fun hobbies and healthy habits pretty consistently throughout the month, I do not have accurate data to present for this summary. Instead, this post will focus on reflections I have on the Bookmarks & Armchairs blog.
Thoughts & Reflections
The Bookmarks & Armchairs blog is now six months old! I have learned many things about myself and what I want out of maintaining this blog since I published Introducing the “Become a Bard” Challenge on 3 July 2024. My ambitions were quite high when I first created this blog with my earliest posting schedule included two posts a week, alternating between book reviews, BAB Challenge summaries, and answers to random questions. But managing blog-writing with my full-time job, keeping up with the daily chores and activities of life, working on my own fiction writing, and spending time with partner, family, and friends was a lot to juggle. I began to wonder if keeping up with the Become a Bard Challenge was even achievable for me. I decided that it was.
The BAB Challenge and the ability to maintain this blog quickly became important to me. Instead of repeating the past—holding on to notions of “I either do it all perfectly or I don’t do it all”—I decided to keep making adjustments until I found a fit that worked with my capabilities and limitations. My ambitious goals of two posts a week then became posting every Monday and three Fridays a month, which then became every Monday and the first and fourth Friday, and finally to what it is now: a single post on most Mondays. By tweaking and tinkering with the Bookmarks & Armchairs post schedule, I was able to create a system that pushes me to achieve more (through daily self-improvement) while never forgetting why I started the blog to begin with (reviewing books).
On Books & Book Reviews
As always, the books I finished reading or listening to in this month of the BAB Challenge are shared here. Between 1 and 30 December 2024, I was able to read or listen to three books: (1) Beach Read by Emily Henry; (2) Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna by Edith Sheffer; and (3) The Family: A Philosophical Introspection by Baruch Menache. Check out my reviews for Beach Read and Asperger’s Children in the Romance and Social Sciences bookshelves, respectively. My review for The Family by Baruch Menache will be posted in the Social Sciences bookshelf by 31 March 2025. But listing the books I read this month is not where I want to end this section. Now that 2024 has come to a close, I want to take a look at what literature I consumed in the last year.
According to the “My Year in Books” summary on Goodreads, I finished 45 books in the year 2024. From those 45, I have shared 33 book reviews on this blog across 10 bookshelves (as of this writing). Some books stood out to me more than others. Instead of listing every book I read or listened to, I want to identify my top five books of the year 2024.
Never Whistle at Night edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Never Whistle at Night is a collection of 25 horror short stories written by Native American writers spanning themes from the supernatural to the criminal. It immediately caught my attention for two reasons: the title and the cover art. I am an Indigenous Pacific Islander (Chamorro from Guam), and I find it absolutely fascinating that so many Indigenous cultures around the world share the notion that whistling at night is a bad thing. The book cover is also gorgeous and I am 1,000% that person who gets drawn to a book if it has a beautiful cover. Check out my review of Never Whistle at Night in the Horror bookshelf.
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
The Island of Sea Women follows the lives of two childhood friends, Young Sook and Mi-Ja, on the Korean island of Jeju from the 1930s to 2008. The story is told primarily from Young Sook’s perspective, detailing how the major periods of contemporary Korean history profoundly effected the women’s relationship with their community, their families, and each other. Lisa See put incredible research and care into the composition of The Island of Sea Women to create a devastating and heartbreaking tale. Check out my review of The Island of Sea Women in the Fiction bookshelf.
How to ADHD by Jessica McCabe
I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 2023. In the journey of navigating what it means to have ADHD, I came across Jessica McCabe’s YouTube channel How to ADHD. In combination with therapy and other resources, I was able to learn so much about myself, my diagnosis, and how to be a better person to myself as someone with ADHD by watching the content Jessica McCabe would post on her channel. In her book that shares the same name as her YouTube channel, How to ADHD, Jessica McCabe consolidates and highlights major takeaways from the nearly 10 years of work she and her team have put into understanding what it means to have ADHD or care about someone who has ADHD. Check out my review of How to ADHD in the Neurodiversity bookshelf.
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
A huge part of the reason I started the Bookmarks & Armchairs blog is because I want to become a published fiction writer. But there is one thing (among many) that keeps getting in my way of accomplishing this goal: me! In Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott goes through the many steps in the process of being a writer. She does not just write about “do this to be a writer,” but expands her discussions to include what it feels like to be a writer and how writing informs and transforms one’s identity and sense of self, whether you are published or not. I will eventually post a review of Bird by Bird in the On Writing & More bookshelf.
I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy
In I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy goes into detail about the abuse she experienced at the hands of her narcissistic mother. This book was recommended to me by a dear friend of mine when it was first published in 2022. I was not yet ready or in the right place of my healing journey at the time to read it, but finally felt ready in 2024 to read about what Jennette McCurdy was put through. And I am so grateful that McCurdy wrote this book and that my friend recommended it to me! I go back and forth about whether or not I would review biographies, autobiographies, or memoirs. As of this writing, I do not have plans to post a review of I’m Glad My Mom Died. But I do want to recognize how important books like this are and acknowledge how reading or listening to them they may be helpful in someone’s healing journey.
Expectations for Month 7 of the BAB Challenge
January to December 2024 were an incredible 12 months for many reasons! The first six months of the Become a Bard Challenge were an amazing opportunity for me to workshop balancing fun hobbies and healthy habits with the daily rigors and demands of adult life with ADHD. The BAB Challenge will continue into 2025.
Month 7 will span from 31 December 2024 to 29 January 2025. The daily goals of each category for Month 7 are listed below.
Sleep: 7 hours
Music & Language: 15 minutes
Reading & Writing: 500 words
Rigorous Exercise: 25 minutes
Drink Water: 40 oz.
Dångkulo' na' saina ma'åse'! Thank you so much for reading the Month 6 Summary of the BAB Challenge!
BABC Category Cheat Sheet: Each category is worth 4 points total.
Sleep
Naps do not count. Only hours spent sleeping at night qualify.
Music Practice or Language Study
Studying music notation and music theory as well as playing an instrument qualify as music practice. Going through language exercises, translating song lyrics, listening to music, and watching movies or TV shows all qualify towards language study.
Reading or Writing
Physical copies, digital editions, and audiobooks of published works all count towards reading. Writing includes creative writing, blogging, and journaling.
Rigorous Exercise
Whether it is doing yoga and other routines at home, going to the gym, or a long walk outside with my dog, I will make sure to move with intent every day.
Drink Water
Just drink water!
Post Date: 6 January 2025
