So it’s halfway through the year already and I didn’t even know it until I saw Caitlin posting a mid-year update on her blog Realms of My Mind. I always do a mid-year update but hadn’t even thought about it because time has been so strange this year I hadn’t considered we were coming up on halfway through the year already!

Anywho.

Reading Goals Progress

Looking back at my reading goals, I had a few things planned going into 2020. Let’s see how I’m doing so far. (HAHAHAHAHA)

Goodreads Challenge – Read at least 100 Books

I’m currently sitting at 93 (as of 6/30/20) books read which, like last year, is way ahead of my planned goal. Hoping I can break 200 again like the past two years but we’ll see as that also (historically) requires a huge catch up during December. 🙂

Catching Up – Finish catching up on Series

I’ll still be catching up on series I’ve started as per usual, but the plan is to focus hard on this goal in 2020 instead of it being a ‘passive’ goal. Ummmm, let’s see, shall we?

• I’ve completed 9 series
• I’ve caught up on 9 series (2 of those were new series that only have one book out)
• I started 13 series that have sequels I’m not caught up on HOWEVER, most of those were very specific books I read for the 2019 bingo and I have no intentions of reading the series any further. So, mostly good job here–in reality it’s probably closer to 5 or 6.

Reading Challenges

Well, because I’m me I’m also doing several reading challenges. Weeeee!

r/Fantasy Book Bingo Challenge

• 25 books to complete the card
• books must be from my TBR pile
• I already picked out the books ahead of time (damn me!)

If this is your first time running across r/fantasy bingo and you’re wondering what it’s all about you can read more about the challenge here.

Here’s my book list. Those crossed off are the ones I’ve read:

1. Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami – audiobook
2. The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky – physical book
3. A Conspiracy of Truths by Alexandra Rowland – ebook
4. The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells – ebook
5. The Perfect Assassin by K. A. Doore – ebook
6. Blood Debt by Tanya Huff – physical book and audiobook
7. The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – ebook
8. Blackfish City by Sam J. Miller – physical book
9. Written in Red by Anne Bishop – physical book
10. Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett – physical book
11. Rebel by Krista D. Ball – ebook
12. The Fated Sky by Mary Robinette Kowal – physical book
13. Docile by K. M. Szpara – physical book
14. Vita Nostra by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko – ebook and audiobook
15. The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – ebook
16. Redshirts by John Scalzi – physical book
17. Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker – physical book
18. Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey – audiobook
19. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin – physical book
20. Dreams Underfoot by Charles de Lint – physical book
21. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – physical book
22. Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett – ebook
23. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman – physical book
24. Card Captor Sakura Clear Card Vol 1 by CLAMP – physical book
25. Amberlough by Lara Elena Donnelly – physical book

Not really doing great so far, I perhaps made a huge mistake by pre-selecting all the books for my squares. I have read several other books that would work for a few squares but I’m still hoping to complete this list because most of these have been in my TBR for a while and one of my other goals is to work on my TBR.

2019 Audiobook Challenge

Just did a big summation of this recently, you can check out the full post here if you missed it. Long story short is that I’m doing worse than usual so instead of making the 50+ tier that I usually settle at I’m probably going to end up in the 30-49 range. Ah well. 2020 is what it is and it’s affected my reading in all kinds of ways. Also, my audiobook listening has slowly been declining over the last few years. I was at an all time high and it’s been fewer and fewer books each year since. So I’m not entirely sure if this is due to my usual decrease or 2020 doldrums or a combination of the two.

#StartOnYourShelfathon

You can find out more details about this one here but my goals for it are below.

1. Read 40 books that are in my current physical TBR pile – I’ve read 8 so far. YIKES
2. Read 20 books that are in my current digital (audio and ebook) TBR pile – I’ve read 7 so far. DOUBLE YIKES.

MY BOOK BUYING BAN DOESN’T SEEM TO BE WORKING AS I KEEP GETTING NEW BOOKS USING MY LOOP HOLES ANYWAY DAMN YOU EBOOKS *CRYING*

I haven’t yet read any of my books from my initial TBR either:

• Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik – audiobook
• The Tower at Stony Wood by Patricia McKillip – physical book
• Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley – physical book
• The Many-Colored Land by Julian May – physical book
• The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford – physical book

BOOOOOOOO! SHAAAAAME! *maniacal laughter*

Going Forward

Well, obviously I have some work to do on some of these goals and challenges. That being said, 2020 has been a bit of a shit year, to say the least, so I can’t really blame myself for spending a good portion of it mood reading.

I’m also joining in the 20 Books of Summer Challenge as well and I’m not off to a super great start there either. Why do I keep doing this to myself when I’m in an all mood reading all the time mood lately? Argh. I should just let all challenges and goals go and take the pressure off but I’m also me so I’m not going to do that. Or maybe I will. I’ll revisit this is three months. LOL

Favorite Books Read This Year So Far

• Unbound Empire by Melissa Caruso – this was probably one of the best conclusions to a series I’ve ever read. Or at least a conclusion that felt extremely satisfying while upping the stakes and then tying up loose ends.
• The Captive Prince series by C. S. Pacat – my friends had been urging me to read this series and I don’t know why I waited so long because it was amazing and just my sort of thing. I know these books won’t be for every reader, but I loved them.
• The Scar by China Miéville – this book took me forever to finish but it was a strange, strange ride. It left me asking a lot of questions without many answers and sometimes I’m in the mood for a book that makes me think. The weirdness helped as I like weird shit.
• Tournament of Losers by Megan Derr – this is another one my friends recced to me that I took forever to read. I really should start paying more attention when my friends tel me to read a book! This was a fantasy with a romance in it but it’s really all about learning to believe in yourself and others, that maybe the world isn’t as crappy as you think. Don’t be such a cynic! I love this book.
• The Utterly Uninteresting Unadventurous Tales of Fred, Vampire Accountant by Drew Hayes – this book is more like a collection of continuous shorts but the stories of Fred are hilarious, just like the title. It also has a bit of a found family thing building up as Fred makes friends, which I love.
• Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater – this is a lovely fantasy romance involving the fae. It also features a bit of dislike to lovers which I’m a sucker for. I love it when it’s not love at first sight, I love when you can feel them falling for each other. It also was surprisingly deep in pointing out societal issues. The fae in this were the scary kind which are my favorite kind of fae.

Hmmm, I think all but two of these were recommendations from my friends so I think the lesson is that I should listen to my friends more often! 😀

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!