by the numbers
Overall, none of the quantity-based data about my reading in the past year really surprised me... I was kind of expecting it all. Despite the fact that I read about 1,000 less pages total than I did last year, my average number of pages per book stayed the exact same - seriously, 306 for both years! - and I read around the same number of books.
However, there are more quality-based trends that affected my goals instead... including the fact that, on average, I rated books at about a 3.9, which meant that either I spent my year reading a lot of books that I really liked, or I just felt like being a little nicer when I reviewed them!
lowering my goodreads goal
I wrote a longer post about this two years ago, but for me, lowering my Goodreads Book Challenge goal felt like a necessary step in upping the caliber of the kinds of books I'd been reading. I figured that if I put less pressure on just numbers, then I'd reach for heavier or denser books, ones that might require more time. For the most part, that didn't end up happening.
taking part in nanowrimo again
If you've followed me through the Fall, you know that reading during NaNo is always a major struggle for me, being that I get a little afraid that the voice I read is going to end up coming out on my pages, as well. However, with the writing process being so difficult this year, I really should have taken a break to escape to a different book or two.
failing my Harry Potter resolution with my brother
One of my only major Resolutions for 2018, was that I was going to completely reread and rewatch all of the Harry Potter series with my younger brother, and we totally tanked. The problem is, we were completely on schedule for the first half of the year, and were keeping a good pace going into late summer... but then, we got around to Order of the Phoenix, and all progress immediately halted. There is such a sizable and boggling tonal shift that comes around in the fourth book, that gets so dark by the second, it was hard to keep reading. However, I'm keeping it as a personal goal this year, to finish out what we started!
reading romance for the first time
On a bit of a whim, leading into the summer, I began to contemplate any genres that I hadn't explored before, and the one glaring example I kept coming up with, was Romance. This launched what I dubbed my "Summer of Reading Romance," and over the course of the second half of the year, I read a total of about 8 of these kinds of books. And - surprise! - I absolutely fell in love with the genre all about love! I'm looking forward to posting more about these explorations in the new year, especially all of the nonfiction work I've been doing while exploring the genre.
some minor bookish resolutions in 2019
It wouldn't be a new year without this goal-setting junkie getting a few Resolutions written down, don't you think?
#nonewbooks... kind of
While I seriously toyed with the idea of doing yet another installment of the Book Buying Ban resolution that has served me so well in recent years, I just couldn't give up the idea of one more Book Outlet order, or another trip to Powell's. However, there are still a jam-packed number of books on my TBR shelves -147, to be exact! - and that's not even counting what's on my Kindle. So, I'm instituting a sort of halfway rule: I can't add any more books to my TBR, be they purchased, or from the library, unless I've finished at least one from my own collection. Hopefully, I can beef up the ratio as the year goes on!
60 books on Goodreads
I'm taking on a small step up from the number that I successfully outread this year, but am staking it with the same stipulations that I had hoped for previously: I'm trying to read more books that challenge me, that teach me something, that bring me out of my comfort zone. I'm going for more critically reviewed and rigorous literary fiction, with the objective of reading at least one book from my "100 Essential Novels: Millenials Edition" poster per month. Wait, you haven't heard about this poster? Aren't you following me on Instagram?
over 1,000 followers on my @playinginthepages Instagram
Because speaking of, I have an Instagram handle specifically associated with my blog, that has been live and functioning since late June. I've amassed a little under 500 followers in that time frame, and have kind of plateaued in my engagement... but with any luck at all, and a whole lot of work, I'm hoping to build that to at least 1,000 followers by the end of next year.
How was your year in reading for 2018? What are you most excited to tackle in 2019? Let me know, in the comments below!
I used to do something similar: I alternated a book I knew had been on my shelf a long time with a book that was either new or that I was highly motivated to read for whatever reason. I fell out of the habit awhile ago... not sure why but it's a good idea!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good one! I'm definitely guilty of letting books that I purchased a while ago sit there even longer than the ones that have arrived in my possession more recently. It's like the more time they've spent in my TBR, the less likely I am to pick them up. Your habit might be a great means of changing that!
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