I do the Goodreads reading challenge every year. It’s not a set list or anything like that. You just decide how many books you want to read this year, and then track them at the site. The way I work it is, I set a goal, and if I reach that goal by the end of the year, I add one to it for the next year. I don’t remember what number I started at a few years ago, but I am shooting for 25 books this year. Let’s see how I am doing, shall we?
My first book was marked as read on January 2. The last full book review was July 26. I did a quick review of some samples of books I am thinking about buying in August, but that doesn’t really count. So, on that front, I am a bit behind.
As far as total number of books read, I am currently at 17, which is 68% of the challenge. That leaves me 6 to read between now and December 31. I think that’s doable, but I am going to have to get on it, and start to carve out reading time every day in order to make it.
Want to know what books I’ve read? Okay, here’s the list:
- Goblin War by Jim C. Himes
- The Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks
- Fool Moon by Jim Butcher
- The Letters of John and Abigail Adams
- The Hum and the Shiver by Alex Bledsoe
- Cress by Marissa Meyer
- Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce
- Prudence by Gail Carriger
- The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
- Burn Me Deadly by Alex Bledsoe
- Under the Empyrean Sky by Chuck Wendig
- Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
- Kill the Crazy by Lucy Carol
- Dawn of Steam: First Light by Jeffrey Cook
- Pandora Gets Jealous by Carolyn Hennesy
- Floor 21: Descent by Jason Luthor
- The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer
My reviews of all of them are here on the blog (go to any of the posts and click on Review under Categories on the right hand side) or on Goodreads. Many are also on Amazon, though I admit to not being really good at putting them up there.
I like having a goal for reading. I haven’t always made that goal in past years, but it does keep me reading, even when it would be easy to skip picking up that book in progress. Even a few pages feels like I’m accomplishing something.
Do you set reading goals? How do you keep track? Do you use a specific challenge?
(Image from ses.clintonokschools.org
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