2012.5 at Booking in Heels

Wow. A whole half-year gone already, can you believe it? I thought I'd just use a post to see where I am right now, both with books and with life. Because you know, occasionally I have a life away from books. Okay, just kidding.

Offline

(incidentally I took this photo to demonstrate the crazy blue lighting in public bathrooms to a friend - I do not make a habit of taking bathroom photos of myself, believe it or not.)

On the surface it seems like nothing has changed - same lifestyle, same boyfriend, same house.

On the inside though, I feel a lot better. Mentally I wasn't in an amazing place back in January, but now (due to both therapy and medication) I feel much happier with myself. Physically I still have ill days, but I feel more able to cope with them.

The latter means that I've actually taken a step towards productivity and I now work one afternoon a week in the British Heart Foundation charity shop. It's not a whole lot, but it's difficult for me physically and I really enjoy it. The people are great, it's nice to be working in a shop again and hey, they sell books :)

On an employment note, the last six months also featured my acceptance into BPP Law School Leeds, where I'll be doing my BPTC in September. Well, assuming I eventually get accepted into Middle Temple Inn as I haven't heard back yet and I'm starting to panic. Hmm, I might poke them tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm doing well. We've started leaving the house more - even if it's just a walk round Leeds or Sheffield. We also caught the bus to a little tourist town where I wandered into Ellie's lovely bookshop!

Online

God I love my blog. I mean, that's hardly a new development, but Booking in Heels has become such an ingrained part of my life that I can hardly imagine life without it!

It's become slightly more successful over the last six months. Previously I was barely scraping a hundred page visits a day, but the other day I hit my first 300+ day! And yes, I was very, very excited.

I'm also a lot closer to several other bloggers than I was before. There are two I text regularly, one I've actually met in person and two others that know me better than most of my offline friends! I swear, if it wasn't for the wonderful blogging community, I'm positive Booking in Heels wouldn't still be going. 

I've also added a nice little TBR tracker to the sidebar on the right. It's getting out of control, so I've decided to monitor it on a monthly basis. For the month of June, my TBR pile went up by 14! Appalling, no? 

This year I'm running my very first challenge - The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Challenge! At first I was worried nobody would sign up (but they did), and then I was worried nobody would bother to read the books (but they did). For a while I was worried that nobody would complete the challenge (but they did). All in all, a successful experience, I'd say!

As for the challenges I'm participating in, here's how I'm doing. And yes, I'm behind on most of them, but I can catch up. Click the title for a list of books.

Mixing it Up Challenge - 9/16 books read.

Just over half. I have to admit, I've done this without really trying. It's nice to know I read a reasonably wide selection of books! The only one I'm going to struggle with is the Poetry one, I think.

What's in a Name Challenge - 4/6 books read.

Again, just over half. I love this challenge - it's probably my favourite. The categories are quite tight as well,  which makes it even more fun. I'll probably read One Day for the 'things you'd find on a calendar' prompt, but I'm not so sure about the last one.

Terry Pratchett Challenge - 1/7 books read.

... and here's where it all falls down. Poor Terry Pratchett challenge. *strokes gently* I can catch up though. It's just that I've read all but one of his books before, so they don't really spring to mind when choosing something to read. Still, he has two new books out this year, so that will spring me up a little.

Telling Tales Challenge - 3/10 books read.

Behind again! In my defence, I know exactly what I'm going to read for the remaining seven slots and thankfully it involves one of my favourite authors.

TBR Challenge - 19/50 books read.  

Haha, a lot of people seem to be behind with this one! I should be up to 25 books by now, but I'm only at 19. Still, six books behind isn't too bad - I can catch up. My TBR bookshelf is arranged chronologically by date obtained, and I'm very, very aware that books earlier than The Complete Edgar Allen Poe Collection would fit into this challenge, and I find myself scanning them constantly. This is definitely the challenge I keep most in mind!

Project Fill in the Gaps - 10/100 books read. 

This is actually on track, although I know it doesn't look like it. The goal is to read 100 books over 5 years, which is ten books every six months *points upwards* Again, I seem to have done this without really trying, but I'm sure it will get much, much harder in a year or so!

All in all, not terribly, irretrievably bad, I think. Wish me luck for the rest of 2012!