I read 66 books this year, surpassing my goal of 52. For 2020, I set my goal at 64 books, so one book a week, plus an additional book every month. I think it's doable given this year. But I'm going to need to add more books to my list so I can keep my hold list stocked.
What's your 2020 reading goal? Tell me what you're reading now or what you suggest!
I am currently reading The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger. It's pretty good so far, but not quite what I was expecting for some reason.
I recently finished and gave 4 or 5 star reviews to:
Here We Are: American Dreams, American Nightmares by Aarti Shahani Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: And Other Lessons From the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid In The Dream House: A Memoir by Carmen Maria Machado (this one is written in a really interesting way and made me feel a lot for the author)
I got 94 (actually was 91) over the year in a stretch goal of 100 so I’m pretty happy. Having said that I had a pretty low December, with a run of mediocre ones which killed my motivation.
Ones I enjoyed were
- Nothing to see here by Kevin Wilson. Bonkers premise but really fun - Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. Really interesting character studies for such a short book. Wish there was more.
“With sorrow—for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection—we dissent,”
I'm reading Fire and Blood, but George R.R. Martin. It's a prequel to Game of Thrones that is a history of the Targaryens and the basis of the new show HBO is working on.
I'm about halfway through and its REALLY good, although the names are confusing and the family tree I printed doesn't really help because Targeryens are incesty and the lines are going all over the place.
28 out of 36. Oh well. I'm reading The Peach Keeper and I like it so far. The first few on my list for the coming year are Educated, The Yellow House, Little Fires Everywhere.
I do the Goodreads Challenge and I don't know if I should lower my numver for next year, or keep it the same for an incentive.
I haven’t read yet but it’s next on my list is Boys in a Boat (about the 1936 men’s Olympic rowing team).
I really enjoy period mysteries such as Sherry Thomas’ female version of Sherlock Holmes series and Kerri M-something’s series that starts with Stalking Jack the Ripper.
I read 47 and was happy with that number. I feel like I have the best balance between feeling relaxed and restored with a good book and still getting other things accomplished when I’m at about a book a week.
I just finished the year with a fluffy Elin Hilderbrand beach novel. I tried some more serious stuff first and just couldn’t do it. I’ll dig into something deeper this week. I am really excited for American Dirt coming out this month and I just got a new Book of the Month pick called Tightrope about the issues plaguing small towns and the effects they are having. I’m very eager to dive in. I also got Recursion and I have heard great things about that one.
Wow, alleinesein and tacokick! That’s a lot of books! You must read really quickly! I want to be someone who just devours books, but I haven’t found the right recipe yet.
I’m here mostly to add book to my very lengthy “Want to Read” List on Goodreads. I’m currently reading House Rules by Jodi Piccoult.
Post by wanderingback on Jan 1, 2020 2:26:34 GMT -5
My goal for 2019 was to read 12 books, I read 11 and will finish the 12th (Roots) on Jan 1 as i only have about 50 pages left of that almost 900 page book. That’s the most non-academic books I’ve read since high school, so I’m pretty proud of myself and won’t compare myself to others. All the books were by Black authors except for one was by an American Indian.
I think I’ll keep that streak going in to 2020 and only read books by Black and Brown people. My next book will be The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. I think my book goal for 2020 will be 12 books again as realistically I don’t think I can do many more.
lilac05 I'm single, broke AF, semi unemployed, and have no offspring. That leaves a lot of free time to read. A 200-page book is a 2-3 hour read for me so if I am having a lazy day, I can easily read 2-3 books if they are under 300 pages. Even longer books (800-1000 pages) are only a day's worth of reading. I also read before bed to relax and unwind; the only problem with doing this is that sometimes I don't want to put a book down if it is getting really good. There have been many late nights where I end up finishing the book because I have to know how it ends.
I read 175 for the year. Best of 2019 were: (all contemporary romance, most in Kindle Unlimited)
The Kingmaker by Kennedy Ryan The Spire by Kate Canterbary Reckless Miles by Claire Kingsley The Nordic King by Karina Halle How Not to Fall by Emily Foster
The Five Minute Life by Emma Scott Perfect Strangers by JT Geissinger
I read 89 this year which is a little low for me. But I also started listening to podcasts this year, so that took away some reading time.
I just read Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s about The Troubles in Northern Ireland which was something I didn’t know about at all. It was really good and now I understand more of the jokes in Derry Girls which is an added bonus.
I also finished listening to The World as it Is by Ben Rhodes because apparently memoirs by former Obama staffers is one of my favorite mini genres now. It was good, but I don’t think I like listening to books that much. Maybe it was just a boring narrator.
Stephen King is a guilty pleasure and just finished The Institute. I really REALLY liked it. I am starting The Testaments today.
I don't read for enjoyment as much as I'd like to anymore because I'm an editor and so my brain and eyes have tapped out at the end of the day. But DH got me a Kindle Oasis for Christmas (replacing my orig Paperwhite) so I'm reading a lot over holiday break.
Recent reads: Ghosted by JM Darhower Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren - this one was so so good. The Nordic King by Karina Halle The Simple Wild by KA Tucker
I read 115 last year with a goal of 100 so yay! But I severely underestimated how much going to school would affect my reading for fun. I read book 100 on September 10 so...obviously it slowed WAY down. Since I’ll be in school all year, my goal for 2020 is 52. One book a week.
ETA: Oh and I’m currently reading How to be an Anti-Racist that my SIL gave me for Christmas. I have If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais checked out from the library and The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, Night Moves by Jessica Hopper, and Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly to pick up.
I've been loving the books by Marie Benedict about women. Albert Einstein's first wife Mileva, Winston Churchill's wife Clementine, Hedy Lamarr, and the Carnegie's maid Clara Kelley.
turbo, Catch and Kill and A Woman Is No Man are both good.
wanderingback, my favorites of 2019 by black/brown authors:
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado Here We Are by Aarti Shahani Sabrina & Corina by Kali Fajardo-Anstine The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya Someone Knows My Name by Lawrence Hill Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo Becoming by Michelle Obama
There were others, but these were all stand outs for me.
ETA: And even though I read it in 2018, Sea Prayer by Khaled Hosseini gets an honorable mention for a beautifully written story and stunning illustrations. (It’s a “children’s” book about a family fleeing Syria.) My sister just got me a hardback copy for Christmas, so it’s on my mind.
I read 80/60 last year. This year's goal will be lower at 40. I'm going to be taking a graduate class and rather than using DD's nap time to read I want to shift my focus toward exercise. I have a lot of weight to lose.
My last good book of the year was Commonwealth by Ann Patchett. Next up is The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China.
I just finished The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. It's the second book of hers that I've read recently, and I like her style. It's easy reading but decent suspense and the pacing is such that I want to keep turning pages.
I'm also reading Not in My Neighborhood, a book about the history of Baltimore's segregation and racial discrimination. It's interesting, though not a page turner so I'm reading it in chunks instead of trying to get through the whole thing at once.
And I just started reading Beloved, by Toni Morrison, because when she passed away I realized I'd never read anything by her.
I read 46 books in 2019, which slightly beat my goal of 45. I am still struggling to set my 2020 goal. This morning I put at at 40 books, but that feels a little like cheating, IDK. I usually raise my goal each year, but I am going back to grad school and will have reading with that to do. The majority of my book reading is before bed, audiobooks, at the gym, etc so I'm not sure that I'll really realistically be swapping reading time with studying time anyway... but it's hard to say. It really bothers me NOT to meet a goal so I hate to set it too high and get frustrated, since reading is just for fun anyway.
I think I read about 25 books. About 2 a month seems accurate. I only have time to read for about 20 minutes a night so it takes a couple weeks for me to get through a book. Vacations and long flights don’t help since I have 2 year old DS who requires constant attention. I also get really motion sick if I try to read on the subway/bus, so even though I commute for 2 hours a day, I can’t read or look at my phone. I can only listen to music or podcasts. Anyway...
I am currently reading My Husband’s Wife. Too early to rate.
I read 50 in 2019, after dropping my goal down from 60. Normally I read a lot more graphic novels, but I was having a hard time getting into them this past year. So I set my goal for 50 again 2020.
I just started Other People's Houses because I'm sick and need something light. I've been reading two different non-fiction for months (on about the shady shit in the CIA over the decades - I'm just about to start the Reagan years - and another on automation/AI making it easier to discriminate against the poor), but neither of them are good bedtime reading for me.
Also, shameless plug for a friend. One of the guys in my writing group is getting ready to put out the 2nd book in his mystery series, and so the first book is currently on sale for $0.99 - www.amazon.com/dp/B07MNY1PLT?fbclid=IwAR1oylpRZl7Qi-2b_K1KO3cvjOSb9pthvgWB9f342hbbAfkPP4LlUq9Z9M4. Disclaimers - I haven't read it yet (just bought it myself) and it has nothing to do with the Monk TV show.
Recently finished The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which I really enjoyed. Now reading Hourglass- Dani Shapiro and The View From Penthouse B- Elinor Lipman