6-month Review

Well, there went half a year. Whoosh! Time to revisit the reading goals and see how things are going. Here's my post about my Reading Goals for 2019. I won't repeat every detail; instead, I'll just say how I'm progressing on each of my goals.

1. Recently Dead Guys Personal Challenge - 0/3

Bummer. I've been thinking about this one, off and on, and was aware that I haven't read a single one but it still sucks to have to admit it.


2. Perfect Little Gems Personal Challenge - Ugh, 0

Double bummer. If I don't get to it in 2019, though, I will definitely fold this one over into 2020.


3. Books I bought in hardback because I was sooo anxious to read them and then didn't get around to reading them challenge - 2/6

Better. I've read What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Old Baggage by Lissa Evans, from this list. Both were excellent, in my humble opinion.


4. Personal Classics Challenge - 4 titles read 

I've read Howard's End by E. M. Forster, Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and Forbidden Area by Pat Frank. I didn't read any classics in May or June.


5. Fewer ARCs/Upcoming Releases in 2019 - Umm, okay. I started out really well and then, gosh darn it, I went overboard. I have a backlog, now – exactly the thing I was trying to avoid. My current plan is to attempt to accept no books at all (children's books are always an exception) in November and December so that I can make sure that I've either read or attempted every ARC I've received in 2019.


6. Spend less time on social media and more time reading - This has been going quite well, although occasionally I will find myself refreshing either Twitter or Facebook obsessively for that dopamine hit. When I become aware of it, I usually take a week off from social media and that always does the trick. I like my life better without social media but not enough to give it up entirely. In fact, I just put a force hold on my Twitter app to keep me from checking it via the phone because I felt I was overdoing my Twitter usage. I'm on the verge of removing the app from my phone entirely.


7. Progress on annual Goodreads goal - 81/100

I've been ahead of my Goodreads goal for the entire year, although I came close to falling behind, at one point. I'm not going to bump up my goal at the website, although my mental goal is now 160 because I think it's reasonable to try to double what I've read in 6 months. But, I'd be fine with 140.


8. Books my kids insist I must read - 1/2

I've read The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (recommended by eldest) but not Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey by Joseph E. Persico (recommended by youngest). And, I'd totally forgotten about the Casey book, so I'll have to remember to get to that ASAP.


Bottom line . . . I'm reading at a decent pace and not doing so hot on my personal reading challenges, but I knew I was setting some lofty goals when it came to the personal challenges and anticipated not succeeding 100% at all of them. Still, I'd like to do better in the next 6 months. It's going to be a challenge, given the backlog. I just got some UPS notifications and there were so many of them that I did a double take and then checked the shipping numbers to see if they'd sent me duplicate notices. Nope. Next week's ARC stack is going to be a doozy.


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