Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Goodbye, 2019 (Favorite reads) Hello, 2020 (First Book of the Year, Reading Challenges)


Another year, and decade, in the books. I always look forward to a new year because it means new beginnings, and another chance to accomplish what we might not have in the past year. I'm trying to learn not to beat myself up when I don't reach a goal, and to try to remember that we are all works in progress.


I'm proud of myself with my reading last year, even if I once again did not meet my Goodreads reading challenge goal of 75 books. Take a look at the graphic though. I read 47. That's almost a book a week AND I read 16 more books than in 2018. If I can read 16 books more in 2020, that will put me even closer to my goal of 75. Who knows...I might even hit 75. Never say never.

Top 11 reads in 2020, in no particular order:

Joy in the Morning, Betty Smith
The Miniaturist, Jessie Burton
The Giver, Lois Lowry
Good Omens, Gaiman and Pratchett
Behind Closed Doors, B.A. Paris
The Dark Game, Jonathan Janz
Parable of the Sower, Octavia E. Butler
Oryx and Crake, Margaret Atwood
The First Mistake, Sandie Jones
Floating Staircase, Ronald Malfi
Full Dark, No Stars, Stephen King

First Book of the Year 2020




Though I'm actually reading several for various read-alongs, book groups, Classics Club Spin, my official book of the year is Stephen King's The Outsider. I'm already almost halfway through (trying to finish before the series this Sunday on HBO) and it is VERY good. Probably one of King's best.

2020 Reading Challenges

Here's a quick rundown of the reading challenges I'm participating in this year (four of them are hosted by me at Gather Together and Read). You can see the full details of all challenges, and what I'm reading for them on my 2020 Reading Challenges page (tab in the menu).







I really did not make any real resolutions this year. What I did was make a promise to myself to work on my novel, and get it written, in 2020. I'll probably post updates from time to time on my writing blog. Go here if you would like to subscribe and receive my updates. 

Happy New Year!



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5 comments:

Thank you for visiting and taking the time to comment. It means so much.

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  1. I'm writing up my wrap-up too. Need to get it out this week and the sign up for the 1000 books challenge! I'll sign up soon. It's been a crazy start to the year. Great job on your 2019 reading year! And good luck this year!

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  2. I read 106 books in 2019 and one of my goals for 2020 is actually to read fewer books. I didn't push myself to reach any particular goal but I was pushing myself to read faster a lot because I had library books that needed to go back and god forbid they go back unfinished. So, I'll try to check out fewer (although I did have 2 monster-sized holds come in last week!).

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  3. Hey Michelle, I'm happy to read you write that you're NOT beating yourself up for reading 47 books instead of 75. It's important to be kind to ourselves and appreciate what we DID accomplish. :-)

    I'm hoping to finally read Parable of the Sower as well as Oryx and Crake this year -- they've both been on my TBR for years (eek!)

    Here's my post if you wanna swing by and check it out https://leahsaylorabney.com/11796/top-5-books-read-in-2019/

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  4. Sixteen more books than last year is pretty good! I'm not even sure if I set a reading goal on GR yet lol. I barely completed a quarter of my goal last year.

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  5. I think I finally have my first book as well! Enjoy!

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