Woo! A few days ago I officially completed my reading challenge for the year! 😀 And even though I still have six months to go, I plan on sticking pretty much to my original plan. I kept my reading goal low, slashing it in half from last year’s 50 down to an easily attainable 25. The reason I did this was to be able to shift my focus to some of my other goals, the main one being writing. Well, as previously stated, I intend to GET. SHIT. DONE. over the next six months, so I’m ready to pour my all into writing for the rest of the year. Still, I thought it’d be fun to discuss how the reading challenge went. 🙂
I started the year off on a dystopian/post apocalyptic streak with The Road and The Handmaid’s Tale.
From there I ventured off into some lighter whimsical fantasy with Howl’s Moving Castle and a re-read / buddy read of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with Cupcakes & Machetes.
I also squeezed in some good non-fiction with Remarkable Books: The World’s Most Beautiful and Historic Works and the morbid but very interesting The Knife Man: Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery. (The latter of which I intend to do a special review of for blogging buddy and podcast extraordinaire, Imperial Rebel Ork for his and his buddy’s Fly on the Wall Podcast.)
Eventually I found myself in a total Urban Fantasy binge, devouring two novellas and the third full-length novel of The Iron Druid Chronicles as well as the first installment of the Mercy Thompson novels.
Along with these titles were several graphic novels of various genres (horror, slice of life style comics, superhero, action, and comedy). I also read River of Teeth recently which was such a great story that I will probably end up reading its sequel sometime soon despite insisting I’ll not be reading much the next few months. 😉
Well, that’s it for me, but how has YOUR reading challenge been going this year? 🙂 What was your reading goal? How’s it going? Let’s talk books! ❤
IgnitedMoth 
Congratulations to you once again in the same week! (and your butt again, I guess – probably helpful when it comes to reading..)
As for my own “goals” *cough*, your last two memes describe me pretty well, though I have an unfortunate habit over the last few years of not actually finishing *any* books. So I’ve signed up for that Netgalley thing all you cool kids are playing with, and they’ve approved me for 6 books (all of the ones I requested, which was a surprise), so I guess my reading target for this year is ….six.
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Haha Thank you!! 😀 Yeah, oddly enough so many of my hobbies involve sitting on my butt for long periods of time so you’re absolutely right! 😛
I feel your pain on the whole starting books but not finishing them thing. I do that all the time. Even if I’m really enjoying the book. The struggle is real!
That’s awesome about Netgalley. I actually have never given it a go, so you’ll have to let me know what you think of it. I saw your first graphic novel review you posted and you did a great job reviewing it. 🙂 Looking forward to seeing more of your reviews! Happy Reading to you.
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Thanks IM. I’m surprised that you’re not on Neygalley, though if you prefer physical books (as I do) I certainly understand it. Pretty simple so far, though the graphic novel I reviewed was a PDF only, so I read it on my PC. The others are on my Kindle app that I just downloaded for my tablet. Now I just have to make myself read them! :O
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That’s cool. Goals are made to be achieved but it’s good to set yourself realistic ones. Maybe we can sponsor or encourage each other. My goal is to mostly stick with the one project and finish instead of my usual “oh what’s that new shiny thing?!” And go off on that tangent haha.
How good is the tv series Handmaids tale. The wife and are watching episode 6 of season 3 tonight. It’s a bit slow this season but hopefully building to something epic
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Yeah, I’m all about encouraging each other with goals! 😀 Haha and omg do I ever relate to that sort of “ooh, shiny!” mentality with project hopping. I’m also very, very guilty of that one! 😛
Ya know, I haven’t actually watched the tv version of The Handmaid’s Tale yet. C&M keeps telling me to check it out but I just haven’t had the time to give it a go yet.
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I reckon you’ll love it. It really gets under your skin and makes you angry. Very compelling
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Woooo congrats! I reached my goal as well. 🙂 It just feels good not to be pressured to get something done. I enough crap on my plate as it is. (Good year to pick to cut back!)
I like how you had themed streaks when reading so far. There is never any rhyme or reason to mine lol. I haven’t had an UF streak in SO long, I feel like I should fix that. I tend to like to read those in the fall for some reason.
I’m hoping to convince Rob to stop into some sweet bookshops in NYC.
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Woo! Congrats to you as well! 😉 I agree, not feeling so pressured about it has been REALLY nice this year. 🙂
Haha yeah, I was kind of surprised looking back on it how I kept reading in these little micro clusters of themes. And you totally should get your UF fix again soon. I always automatically think of you when I think of that genre. You’re like the UF Queen. 😛
And yeeeesssss, hit up ALL those sweet NYC book shops. Buy ALL the books! 😀
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Haha, I wish I could buy all the books but that would cost a lot to ship back! (Still going to check them out, I can bring back at LEAST one. :p ) I feel like I’ve been failing at being UF queen! Must correct soooooon.
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Haha nah, you’re not failing at being the UF Queen. Your throne still awaits you when you come back from conquering other genres. 😛
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ROFL. I will keep that in mind. 😛
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Congratulations on completing your reading challenge! 😀 My goal for this year is to read 52 (which is like one book per week) and so far I have read 46 books, which I’m very pleased about. I’m 19 books ahead of it. 😀
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Thank you! ❤ And that's awesome. You're totally slaying your reading goal. Hopefully the rest of the year will be filled with plenty of other awesome books for ya! 😀
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Excellent job! I haven’t set a goal for this year’s reading, but I’ve already bought at least 20 new ones, oh dear…
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Thanks! 😀 Haha I feel your pain. The urge to buy new books is a constant struggle! 😛 Happy Reading to you!
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I am glad you achieved your goal so soon and hope you’ll have all the time you need for writing now! I too completed my goal pretty early but it was intentional and it was set at 75, which includes all the manga and comics/graphic novels I read.
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That’s awesome. 🙂 It feels great finishing your reading goal so early in the year, doesn’t it? I know I’m enjoying it, although I’m still feeling the temptation of all these wonderful books and graphic novels I want to read even though I said I wanted to focus way more on writing. It’s torturous! Haha 😛
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Woop-woop! Well done!
I almost finished mine in June, so i increased the target. Then a month later i almost finished that too… was tempted to increase, but then i thought “who am i kidding, it’s nice to finish stuff early” 😀
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Whoohoo! I was one book behind until I finished one yesterday and now I’m back on track lol. I only put 20 on, which tricks me into thinking I can take my time, so I, uh, sometimes skip reading time if I’m too tired that day. Congratulations on your reading victory!
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