nadya with a why: My end of 2016 book thrift haul

A few months ago, I had the urge to challenge myself to read 20 books before the year ended. With just a day left in the year, I'm almost at my goal (as you can tell from my Goodreads 2016 challenge in the sidebar.) By the end of the week, I'm hopeful I will have read 18 out of 20 books.

My next reading goal is to read at least a book a week for 2017. When I tell people this, their eyes nearly fall out of their head—which is funny to me because I know others who can read way more than a book a week. I have no idea if I'll be able to accomplish this goal since I'm in school and working, but I'm ready to try.

To prepare for this wild endeavor, I went to the thrift store and used up my remaining coupons to stock up on some books. I found a few classics, some books I've been searching for years and some hyped YA books.

Like many, I'm ready for 2016 (aka the "dumpster fire" year) to come to an end. I'm kicking off 2017 with a week-long trip for school to New York City. So, naturally, all I can think about is the NYC book stores I'm inevitably going to visit—a great start to the new year, I think.

Here's a list of what I was able to find during my end-of-2016 haul! I picked up too many to write a description of each (plus, I haven't read most of them yet) but you may see some individual reviews and roundups of these from me in the future.

A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

The Colour Purple by Alice Walker

Delusions of Grandma by Carrie Fisher

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Paradise by Toni Morrison

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Promiscuities by Naomi Wolf