For the last four years around this time (see the links at the bottom of this post), I've done a mid-year check-in on the status of my Goodreads Reading Challenge and other reading goals -- and since the year is now halfway over (ummm.... WTF?!) I thought it was timely to do it again. :)
In my 2024 Reading Year in Review post in January, under "Goals for 2025," I wrote:
- ...I ended the year with 37 books read. I did not reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal of 45 books (nor did I come anywhere near equalling my 2021/best-recorded total of 59 books, when my goal was 36). Nevertheless, I've decided to maintain my goal of 45 books in 2025 ( = 3.75 books per month on average)(and hope to do better...!). I may be repeating one or both of my slow readalongs of "War & Peace" and the Cromwell Trilogy, which took up a lot of my reading time this year -- but I think this is still a realistic & reachable goal for me right now (albeit a bit of a stretch one!).
- I've read more than 45 books in four of the past six years (2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023), and almost 45 (i.e., 43) in 2020 -- so 45 books still seems very do-able. But I'd be thrilled to be able to improve on that goal, too!
- While I'm grateful for my book groups and the boost they give to my reading totals, and while I intend to keep up with them in 2025, I'm hoping to be able to read more of my own choices this coming year too. :)
So. Here we are at the midpoint of 2025 -- which suggests I should have read 22-24 books by now to keep up the pace of 3-4 books per month towards my goal of 45 by the end of the year.
I'm not quite there yet. :( I am currently at 20 books finished = 44% of my 2025 goal (2 books behind schedule to meet my goal). I read 3 books in January, 4 in February, 3 in March, 3 in April, 3 in May and 4 in June. I'm basically in the same place I was at this time last year (end of June 2024). In 2023, I had reached 56% of my goal; 64% in 2022, and I was already at 94% in 2021 (! -- albeit my goal then was just 36 books -- and, I should note, it was peak pandemic then too! = not much else to do but sit around and read!).
Whether I'll reach my goal by year end (let alone improve on previous years' totals) remains to be seen...! (although I'll never say never..!) I'm still involved in several online book clubs and readalongs that keep me reading (albeit not always books of my choice) -- including one for D.E. Stevenson's books on Groups.io and the monthly book club on the Childless Collective (formerly Gateway Women & Lighthouse Women) private online community, which I co-host.
Sadly, the L.M. Montgomery Readathon on Facebook, which began as a welcome distraction during the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020, wrapped up at the end of our last book together at the end of May: the main organizer has decided to move on to other projects. :(
Despite my stated intention in January (above), I decided not to repeat last year's slow readalongs of Leo Tolstoy's epic "War and Peace" and Hilary Mantel's "Cromwell Trilogy" -- "Wolf Hall," "Bring Up the Bodies," and "The Mirror and the Light" -- hosted again this year by Simon at "Footnotes and Tangents" -- albeit I am very glad I read them with F&T last year! I am, however, taking part in some of the other readalongs he's hosting this year, which started with "The Siege at Krishnapur" by J.G. Farrell, and is currently covering Mantel's novel about the French Revolution, "A Place of Greater Safety."
Needless to say, there are still a lot of books on my "priority TBR list" (which has expanded considerably since I posted about it in 2021..!) that I haven't read yet! (And I realize that, realistically, I am never going to be able to read all the books I would like.)(But it's still fun trying, right?)
2024 Reading challenge mid-year checkup
2023 Reading challenge mid-year checkup
2022 Reading challenge mid-year checkup
2021 Reading challenge mid-year checkup
Interestingly, Modern Mrs. Darcy had an episode posted today on this same subject! albeit with a slightly different focus. (I wonder if I got the inspiration for this post, at least in part, from there?) I did not listen but I did read the transcript.
ReplyDeletehttps://modernmrsdarcy.com/485-episode/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=485-episode
In the comments, MMD team member Shannan listed 13 questions that guided their conversation:
1. Fav fiction book you’ve read so far this year.
2. Fav nonfiction book you’ve read so far this year.
3. Fav sequel you’ve read so far this year.
4. New release you haven’t read yet, but want to.
5. Most anticipated release for the second half of the year.
6. Biggest disappointment.
7. Biggest surprise.
8. Favorite new author (debut or new to you).
9. Newest fictional crush.
10. Newest favorite character.
12. Book that made you cry.
13. Book that made you happy.
Should I do a followup post based on these? I'll think about it...!