{"id":301,"date":"2021-01-03T08:06:18","date_gmt":"2021-01-03T14:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/?p=301"},"modified":"2021-01-03T08:06:22","modified_gmt":"2021-01-03T14:06:22","slug":"book-bingo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/?p=301","title":{"rendered":"Book Bingo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nothing is more satisfying than finding an excellent book, a new author, or losing yourself in a story. The idea of sharing “My Favorite Books of 2020” is generous. There are dozens of articles and blogs containing book recommendation lists. We stayed-at-home, read, read more, and enjoyed the time spent, whether for knowledge, escape, or self-improvement. I appreciate all the effort to create personalized lists. I also know that someone else’s tastes, desires, and needs don’t necessarily match mine. The truth is, as much as I enjoy knowing what someone found to be a great read, I would rather make the discovery myself. After all, there are reviews and critics’ opinions, and I enjoy finding out what my friends are reading. Sometimes I am even swayed by their tastes. But my stubborn gene says, “I’d rather do it myself!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In March 2016, yes, a lifetime ago, The Story by Kindle<\/em> published their first issue containing a challenge Amazon called Book Bingo, with this description: “Shake up your reading list during National Reading Month with this fill-in-the-blanks game custom-made for bookworms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can still download a copy of their bingo card. Get a Card<\/a>. I took the challenge. Using Goodreads, Amazon reviews, the public library, and my local newspaper’s literary section, I filled it in. I wasn’t satisfied to make a single bingo\u2014I went for the cover-all and gave myself a full year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I read for pleasure, usually grabbing the same kind of book by authors I already know, to relax and be entertained. I have to say my Book Bingo year was the most satisfying reading year I’d ever spent. To use a clich\u00e9, I widened my horizons. I met new authors\u2014read books I would never have picked up, in genres I was convinced I’d dislike. It was enlightening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, I reach wider. I still read for escape, but now, I vary the genres and mix in a few books to flex my gray cells. I’m always on the lookout for a debut author. And when I read “My favorite reads of 2020” articles, it is not for recommendations but out of curiosity. Has someone discovered the same books I have? And, also, because it is a fun pastime. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nothing is more satisfying than finding an excellent book, a new author, or losing yourself in a story. The idea of sharing “My Favorite Books of 2020” is generous. There are dozens of articles and blogs containing book recommendation lists.…<\/p>\n

Read MoreBook Bingo<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-getting-by","excerpt"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301\/revisions\/305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/terryiswriting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}