One of my goals for fun and recreation in 2024 is to read 2 books each month. I intend to post reviews here on the blog. In January, I’ve already finished Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I’m not sure when the reviews will be ready, but you can find any of my book reviews by clicking the Books + Reading category in the menu under Calm Lifestyle. Let’s reflect on the last five years worth of reading challenges that I tracked on Goodreads.
Goodreads
I was setting up my reading challenge for 2024 the other day when I noticed something interesting. I have 5 years of Goodreads reading challenges under my belt. I don’t set ambitious reading goals by book-focused social media standards. But I was still surprised that I completed 3 of the last 5 years worth of challenges.
Even though I don’t read 100 books in a year like some Bookstagrammers do, I still consider myself a pretty avid reader. I always have a book going, even if I don’t read it every day. My son and I joke that you should never trust someone that doesn’t bring a book with them just in case (this is a joke).
My favorite genres are literary, apocalyptic, dystopian, and historical fiction (not historical romance). I love a great coming of age story, and if there are themes of self-reliance I am all over it.
Book Club
To branch out and try new books, I started a small online book club with my YouTube community in March 2023. We’ve been meeting on Zoom ever since. Lately I’ve been busy and overwhelmed and my only books have been book club books. I love having that motivation to read. You can get details about the book club in my Facebook group.
Reading Challenges
Let’s take a walk through memory lane and see what I’ve been reading for the last 5 years.
2019
I was in grad school this year. I did not complete my challenge and read 10 of my 15 books. I definitely did read many, many more books than I tracked on Goodreads, but for some reason I did not want to include those in my challenge. I do remember wanting to find an outlet for book talk. I attempted to use this blog for that, but I believe I was just too busy with school and solo-parenting to keep up with it.
2019 Highlights
- You can read my review of Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone here.
- I loved My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent. It was dark and twisted but so good.
- I picked up The Last by Hanna Jameson while browsing the local library on a whim and ended up loving it. It looks like she’s got a new one called Are You Happy Now? that I’ve just added to my TBR.
- The John Marrs book (The Passengers) helped me realize I can really get into a Black Mirror type of premise.
2020
We all know what happened this year. I was still working on my master’s degree. It looks like I did include some of the books I read for school in my challenge this year, which pushed me 5 over my challenge to read 12 books.
Highlights for 2020:
- American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. I listened to this on a cross country move and was enthralled.
- Devolution by Max Brooks. So chilling. I liked it much better than World War Z.
- Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore – I would love to know if this author has plans to publish again.
- I read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman together with my son and we had a great time discussing it (even if he was way ahead of me the whole time!).
2021
Still in school but graduated this year. And it looks like I celebrated by reading as much as possible. I doubled my reading challenge by reading 31 of 15 books.
So many favorites:
- This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger and The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah are the standouts from this year. I usually borrow most of the books I read from the library, but I ended up purchasing these afterwards for my hardback collection.
- My son and I read the His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman together. We still talk about it 3 years later.
- Hollow Kingdom and Feral Creatures by Kira Jane Buxton were both so good. It’s an apocalypse tale from the animals left behind. I want more!
2022
Looks like I fell short of the challenge this year with only 6 books read out of 15. I’m pretty certain I read more than this but I didn’t track them so I guess I have no way to prove it!
2022 Highlights
- I picked up Wildwood by Elinore Florence because we were traveling to Banff, Canada that year and I wanted to read something set in rural Canada. I think it was my favorite book!
- The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson was pretty good. I definitely learned something that I never knew before about the Blue People of Kentucky.
2023
This was the year we started our book club and it shows! Joining a book club is a great way to keep up with reading goals. Even if we take away some of the re-reads this year, I still went above my goal of reading 20 books.
Highlights from 2023
- The Edge of Collapse series by Kyla Stone is an apocalyptic page turner. I think I’m going to start the next one this month to encourage me to go for a walk in the evening (I get the audiobooks from my library and listen with the Libby app on my phone while I walk). This is a technique called habit stacking! Pair something you need a nudge to do (go for a walk) with something you’re eager to do (listen to this great series).
- I also really loved Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt.
Intentions for 2024
Like I mentioned above, I’d like to read 24 books for my 2024 reading challenge. Half of those would ideally be fiction and the other half non-fiction. I’m already on track to complete that goal but it’s still so early in the year. I know I’ll read at least 12 fiction books with our book club. I’m really into productivity and goal setting books right now. I’m planning on doing a re-read of The 12 Week Year by Brian P. Moran and Getting Things Done by David Allen and I want to write about them on the blog.
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