Around the World in 80 Books

Right, time to get around to writing that overdue post about the 'Around the World in 80 Books' challenge. I spent YEARS waiting to get back into reading, usually with excuses like, "I can wait until I get done with engineering school, I really don't have the time right now," "Just need to get this Master's over and done with..." and, finally, "Perhaps after I get an actual job!" Well, I'm now employed, so I'm done talking. 80 books in 2014, set all over the world. Right, that's the pointless intro, so on to the 'rules?'

For more detail, just check the 'Around the World in 80 Books' post at Love Bites & Silk. But here's the gist of it:

• Read 80 books from around the world - 1 Red Gem to collect for the achievement
• The books should be spread across all 7 continents - 7 Green Gems
• Read the 'book of the month' selected by the organisers for each month - 12 Yellow Gems
• A Blue Gem for collecting all of the above.
• Additional rule I am setting for myself - Apart from the 12 'books of the month' (which I probably can't be entirely sure about) I intend to make sure each book I pick is set in a different country, i.e., 68 books in 68 countries. Hopefully the remaining 12 will also end up in different countries, but that remains to be seen.
• Wait, one last guideline (not a rule, per se) that I am setting for myself: trying to end every 'review' with a doge meme review. Yeah, you're going to hate me really soon (if you're not already there)...

Right, that's about it. It's a busy January for me (3 project deadlines plus setting up the next 3 months of work), but I'll try to do all the reading I can for this challenge. And get started on some of the other 'goals' I set for myself. See you soon!