ICYMI, my 2018 resolution is to do more things that make me forget to check my phone. My goal is to replace the time wasted scrolling through social media with better-quality content that feeds my soul, ex. books, music, and movies. I detailed my strategies and how it’s going so far in this article I wrote for CharlotteFive.
I would say the biggest contributor to my success has been the Amazon Kindle I picked up over the holidays. It was on sale, plus I applied a gift card I got with credit card points, so we purchased it for just $14. (Best Christmas present ever.) I got the basic model (which is all you need!) and it’s small enough to fit in my purse, so I take it with me wherever I go. And now, when I have some free time, I find myself reaching for my Kindle instead of my cell phone.
To keep my motivation up, I started a new notebook for 2018 where I keep track of everything I read, watch, and listen to. Here are some of the best ones from January:
Read:
This YA book is a cross between The Hunger Games and The Bachelor and I devoured it in four days! Highly recommend if you like stories about young love and imagining what the world will be like hundreds of years from now.
Younger by Pamela Redmond Satran
This is the book the TV Land series starring Hilary Duff and Sutton Foster is based on. This was a fun, breezy read, although I like the TV show 10x better. The only character I liked more in the book was Josh (I’m #TeamCharles).
(And yes, if you can’t tell, I love love stories. If the book doesn’t make me swoon, I don’t want it.)
Watch:
Good Girls Revolt on Amazon Prime
MPR and I binged this show over Christmas break. It’s about gender equality and sexual discrimination in newsrooms in the late 1960s, and how the female characters’ fight to be journalists spills over into their personal lives. I fell in love with all of the characters (especially Jane Hollander) and am incredibly sad that this terrific show was canceled after just one season. WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS TO ME AMAZON?!
I highly recommend this movie for ladies who were in high school in the early 2000s. I saw so much of my high school experience in this movie, right down to the ridiculous boys the main character dated. I’ve been in love with Saoirse Ronan ever since I saw her in Brooklyn, but she’s somehow even more believable in Lady Bird. Watch it now.
Listen:
I never followed Paramore over the years outside of their singles, but this album had me bopping all the way through. I love the 80s influence and how their sound has matured over the years.
Oh my. This is the best album I’ve heard from Fall Out Boy since From Under the Cork Tree. Be still my teenage heart. They still have the best lyrics in the pop-punk world. (FIGHT ME.)
Any recommendations for February? Drop them in the comments below!
Caitlin Ryan, APR 