How are we in July? With six months gone in a blink of an eye, I thought it was time for a reading update.
I set myself two goals.
- To Read 52 books (a book a week)
- Book Theme Challenge
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness was book 38 for the year.
Because of that, I have now changed my reading goal from 52 books to 70. I was thinking 80, but that might be a bit too ambitious.
As for the theme challenge I have completed the following:
- A book on personal growth – Indistractable by Nir Eyal
- Set during a war – Diary of Anne Frank Graphic Novel Edition
- Set Locally – Wimmera by Mark Brandi
- Gender Diverse – I’ll give you the sun by Jandy Nelson
- Race Diverse – The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas
- Animal on the cover – Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (DNF)
- Recommended on BookTok – The Invisible life of Addie LaRue by V.E Schwab
- An Australian author – The Other Sister by Sally Hepworth
- A book made into a tv series – A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
- Goodreads winner – The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
- Bestseller – The Light Between Oceans by M.L Steadmen
- Clever title – Hot Shade by Tamara Lush
- A book everyone is talking about – Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
- Own but haven’t read – Desperately Seeking Epic by BN Toler
- Collection of poems – Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
- One word title – Circe by Madeline Miller
I’ve also started using The StoryGraph, alongside Goodreads. StoryGraphy it’s an independent website that is far superior to Goodreads (in my opinion).
Recently I discovered that Goodreads is owned by Amazon.
I have nothing against Amazon, but being in Australia I just never really purchased anything from them, besides a few ebooks that I couldn’t get elsewhere.
If you like graphs and data, you will get more out of StoryGraph than Goodreads.
StoryGraph helps you track your reading and choose your next book based on your mood and your favorite topics and themes.
Let me tell you I have read some dud books this year. I did not finish (DNF) hard on Six of Crows at 60%. I tried so hard to like this book. In the end, I decided it wasn’t worth it.
Circe was a book that I tried really hard to like. If it wasn’t an audiobook I would have given up on it early on. But no, I persisted, and I got to the end and I was like “What, is that it?!” It’s a retelling of one of the stories Homers ‘Odessy’. It’s safe to say, I have NO desire to read that book. This book got no rating from me, cause it just worth any stars.
Life is too short, to waste time on things you don’t enjoy.
This is why I implement the 50/50 rule.
If I don’t like a book after 50 pages, I’m allowed to give it up.
If the book is interesting enough after 50 pages, I will continue. However, if by 50% I’m not digging it, I give myself permission to not continue.
Remember it’s ok not to be a completist.
And yes, DNF still counts to the yearly book count.
Now if you are wondering how am I getting time to read so many books.
I don’t watch tv.
Yep, the act of not watching tv in the evenings means I reading way more.
I also set a goal to read a minimum of 20 minutes a day.
How is your reading going?
What should I read next?
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