Out with a whimper.
My goal:
Well, it’s easy to set a goal! I have to finish 8 books this month in order to make my annual goal.
I did mark 8 books “read” in December, but I’m not proud.
What I read: (Link to my Goodreads 2018 Reading Challenge)
Touch Not the Cat
Mary Stewart
3.75* (Dec 4)
Review
The Trouble with Tuck
Theodore Taylor
1* (Dec 4)
Review
Caroline: Little House, Revisited
Sarah Miller
3.5* (Dec 11)
Review
Another Day
David Levithan
3.75* (Dec 16)
Review
Bad Dreams and Other Stories
Tessa Hadley
3* (Dec 24)
Review
Christopher Robin: The Little Book of Pooh-isms
Brittany Rubiano
4* (Dec 24)
Review
Coffin Bell: One
Tamara Burross Grisanti
(No review/rating)
Excuse(s) for Not Reading More: Actually, I think I did ok this month.
Diversity? YA, child, historical fiction, short story collection.
Star Ratings: I base this on the flat stars Goodreads displays in list-view, not the quarter-star system I assign in my reviews.
- 5 stars: 8 books
- 4 stars: 14 books
- 3 stars: 14 books
- 2 stars: 1
books - 1 star: 2 books
- 0 stars: 0 books
- Abandoned: 5 books
- Not rated: 1 book
Pages Read: (does not include abandoned books)
- January – 849
- February – 1122
- March – 1268
- April – 980
- May – 915 (ugh, it gets worse and worse)
- June – 759 (keeping the downward trend alive!)
- July – 1012 (wow, what a jump – that’s actually not so bad)
- August – 720 (and I had already read about half the cat book in previous months)
- September – 284
- October – 670
- November – 1383 (hey, that’s better!)
- December – 1940 (not counting the CB anthology)
Coffin Bell Submissions: (I’m going to include this because it takes so much of my time)
- June
- 25 short stories
- July
- 31 short stories
- 2 CNF
- 7 poetry
- 5 flash
- August
- 46 short stories
- 1 CNF
- 1 flash
- September
- 11 short stories
- October
- 14 short stories
- 10 flash
- November
- 15 short stories
- 5 flash
- December
- 20 short stories
Reading Goals:
1. Read 40 books – I did it, technically. More on that in my annual reading review.
2. Decrease my TBR – As of May, I’m trying to be more ruthless about abandoning books that have been on my shelf for a long time and/or that don’t draw me in quickly when I pick them up.
- Jan 1 – 88 physical / 19 Kindle
- Feb 1 – 89 / 19
- Mar 1 – 80/20 (I purged a LOT of books, but some were previously read and 3 were gifts)
- Apr 6 – 85/22 (It was my birthday and I like to buy books as souvenirs)
- May 1 – 86/21
- June 4 – 81/22
- July 6 – 80/22
- Aug 1 – 82/22
- Aug 31 – 78/22 (I found a discrepancy on my shelves)
- Oct 1 – 69/21 (I pulled out a bunch to donate)
- Nov 1 – 71/21
- Dec 3 – 71/21 (I read/bought 2 physical, 1 digital)
- Dec 31 – 73/21 (I would blame Christmas but I only got 3 books as gifts)
January is busy – I’m starting a new job and also going away for a week. But I also plan to start with my annual reading of “Zen and the Art of Happiness,” which is a short book. I’m going to set a goal of three books for January.
I’ll set a new annual goal in my annual review in a few days. I expect I’ll change the way I do these posts, especially since the new WordPress isn’t cooperating with me. Yet…