So it’s halfway through the year already, wow. 2020 will be here before we’ll know it! A whole new decade! I don’t think I’m ready for it, yikes.
Reading Goals Progress
Goodreads Challenge – Read at least 100 Books
I’m currently sitting at 87 books read which, like last year, is way ahead of my planned goal. Last year I ended up at 200 books, which is sort of a low key goal for me this year even though I kept my goal at 100 because I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I think I’m at a good pace to make 200 again, if maybe I read some manga or novellas in between larger books, but we’ll see!
r/Fantasy Book Bingo Challenge – 25 books to complete the card
Not sure what this is? You can read about the challenge here.
This year I decided to do something a little different with my bingo card and I’m going for an all-vampire themed card. So each book will need to not only meet the condition of the individual square but also feature a vampire in some way. Ooooh boy. So, I think I’ve read 4 or 5 vampire books so far that will count for this but I am working on a list of books for the very specific squares that will be harder to come across in the wild. It’s been pretty fun looking for books! I came across a middle grade book about vampire pirates! I’m definitely checking that one out. I have a feeling most of my reading for this card will be done towards the last quarter of this year and early next year.
Catching Up – Finish catching up on Series / Work on TBR in 2019 GR Shelf
Okay so I’m doing really bad at this, whoops.
- I’ve only checked off 19 books from my ‘to be read in 2019’ shelf.
- 11 series I’ve started this year have sequels that I’m not completely caught up on (for now, until some sequels to things come out next year or so).
- I’ve completed 2 series. (WEAK)
- I’ve caught up on 13 other series that are still ongoing but have no new books out.
Discworld – Read 1-2 a Month
Well, I’ve read one so far this year. 😦
2019 Audiobook Challenge
A did a big post about this one last week. In case you missed it, you can find it here. But, to sum up: I’m doing great! I chose the highest level, Marathoner, which means 50+ audiobooks before the end of the year. So far I’m at 33 audiobooks read, so I should be able to meet this goal no problem.
Going Forward
I think part of my problem with being able to work on the last two goals is that I’ve been spending the bulk of my reading time 1) trying to stay current with new releases I’ve been excited about and 2) trying to catch up on ARCs and other books sent for review (which I’m still slightly behind on as well, yikes!).
I don’t really think I’m going to make many immediate changes, I’m going to read the things that I’m in the mood for because that’s what makes me a happy reader. I’m also going to try and continue to catch up on review copies because getting through them means putting less pressure on myself. If that means I have to put off my Discworld read-a-thon until next year, so be it.
With that said, I have also decided to join in another challenge because I’m me. The 20 Books of Summer Reading Challenge. This one is fairly simple and is really just a number of books in x amount of time challenge, which I usually do great with. I’ve laid out my TBR for it which are all things I need to get to anyway. More than anything, I’m hoping this one will spark some more motivation to get things done. 🙂
Once I get through that challenge I may make a TBR pile for the last quarter of the year as well. I’ve been thinking of something like ‘Backlist TBR’ to work on books that have been sitting in my pile for a while and/or are NOT new (2019) releases. I want to see how the 20 Books of Summer goes first, though.
Favorite Books of the Year So Far
I’ve read a lot of great books so far this year, but I’m focusing on just a few here. These are the ones that have really stood out to me in one way or another. Note that these are not just books published this year, but a couple of backlist books are included here as well.
- A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C. A. Fletcher
- The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards
- The Kingdom of Copper by S. A. Chakraborty
- Thornbound by Stephanie Burgis
- The Wicked King by Holly Black
- Where Oblivion Lives by T. Frohock
- The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson
- A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
- The Silver Queen by Josie Jaffrey
- The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Jemisin
- In Dreaming Bound by J. Kathleen Cheney
- Fair Isle and Fortunes by Nancy Warren
- A Magical Inheritance by Krista D. Ball
- Mist, Metal, and Ash by Gwendolyn Clare
- Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson
So, that’s how my year’s been going so far. I think I’ve been doing really good with some goals while others have sort of fallen off the grid–whoops! Do you have any reading goals? How are you doing with them so far? Leave a note in the comments, I’d love to hear from you about your reading!
Way Too Fantasy 
Wow, you’re doing great! Anyone who can read 200 books a year is seriously a star in my eyes, since I can’t even read half of that. I’m not really doing any challenges other than GR but I do have a personal challenge I’m doing in the second half of the year, and I’m hoping to get a post about it up next week😁
I never used to read this many books, I don’t know what happened to me. I think I’ve just been hyper focused the last couple of years and some of my other ‘hobbies’ have dropped off so I have more time. 🙂
Oooh, looking forward to seeing what your personal challenge is! I know for Fall, I really have to focus on back list books, I hope I can!
I think you’re doing really well. I don’t get anywhere near that number!
Haha, thanks! Even so, I still somehow feel like I’m really behind on things lol.
Looks like you’re doing great!
(Www.evelynreads.com)
Thanks, Evelyn!
Awesome progress! I’m going to try to read at least 200 books this year as well, I barely managed the past two years so we’ll see! Though I will say audiobooks have made it somewhat easier 🙂
Thanks! Audiobooks are a HUGE help haha. Good luck to us both! 🙂
Almost 100 books? That’s awesome! I have to say, like you, my biggest “failure” (if you want to categorize it as such) is tackling all the backlist series that are on my list. I could probably read nothing but backlist series all year and never run out! I got lured in by shiny ARCs, but I’m hoping once I get out of this summer I can put backlist back in the priority pile and maybe finally get to those books…
P.S. The new layout looks great!
I have so much backlist stuff, most of my TBR pile is backlist from a year or more. I could probably not buy another book for 2 years and have plenty of stuff to read. But new stuff is so hard to resist! Maybe we should just make Fall the season of ‘beat the backlist’ lol.
Thank you! I wanted something a little brighter. 🙂
I’m so tempted to do a Blacklist Binge! I bought like 12 books from Book Outlet last Black Friday and I haven’t read A SINGLE. ONE.
I have an entire book cart of stuff I got either last year or the year before. I think there are a few from this year but not many lol. My tentative plans are to get through this 20 Books of Summer TBR and then focus on blacklists in the fall (with a few new releases mixed in).
That’s a great round up – I’m planning on doing something similar although I don’t really have any challenges – I just fail at challenges! I do fancy your vampire bingo!
Lynn 😀
Well, you see I’m not doing great at all of my goals so…haha. I also fail. 🙂 Vampire-themed bingo has been fun so far! I think I’ve gotten about 5 squares down.
I lowkey have a goal of 200 this year, too, but didn’t want to stress myself out, so have set it at 150. Fingers crossed we both knock it out of the park!
Yeah, I think sometimes low-key goals are great, I did the same thing. Good luck to us both!
Urg, I can’t believe we are already half way through the year!!! I think I am only on track for 1 of my 3 challenges haha. Your Vampire challenge sounds super hard but Vampire Pirates sound awesome so I hope that book lives up to its name 😀 Good luck with all your challenges (and good for you for staying happy and mood reading because thats the best!)
Yeah, this year has just been flying by! Well, I haven’t been doing great with all my goals either, but we’ll see how the rest of the year goes. 🙂 Good luck to you too!
Excuse me but I am over in crisis mode since you mentioned we are 6 months away from a NEW DECADE. Like this is all I can think about.
You’ve had some amazing reads this year so far, and 87 is incredible! I’ve read about half that but am pretty pleased. Happy reading the rest of the year, Lisa!
Yeah, I don’t know where the time has gone–fairly terrifying when you think how fast it’s gone by.
Thanks! Not sure how I’ve managed to get so much reading in! Half of 87 is still a lot! I used to only average about 50 a year, no idea how i got to be where I’m at now lol. Thanks, right back at ya, Kal!