Author: Beatrice Cosgrove

As 2024 draws to a close, I am reflecting on unrealistic expectations and my attempts to address them. For as long as I can remember I have set my sights on goals that weren’t always achievable and almost never led to growth. It has been difficult to learn that starting small is the way to go, but slowly I have begun to discover that I am disappointed less and often find opportunities to achieve those bigger goals that were simply too much. I would like to share some of the things I have learned in this past year in the context of setting reading goals in 2025. 

A month or so ago I decided it was time for me to become the detective I had always aspired to be. Not just any detective, that is, but a book detective, I wanted to figure out the killer before the main character did. As I embarked on this “Murder Mystery Extravaganza” of mine, I realized that particular method of reading and appreciating a murder mystery is not much fun (it happened once, and I’m not sure I would like it to happen again). So when I received my article deadline, I began thinking about what I had recently read that would receive the honor of a review for all to read, and realized that I had three options. One, write a glowing review about one of my favorite murder mysteries yet, two, write a scathing review about a particular book I highly disliked, or, three, go a bit wild and write them both! As evidenced by the following article, I favored the latter. So let’s get started, shall we?