2022 Recap and 2023 Goals

 Well, the elections this year were even crazier than usual and personal stuff also stacked up against me so mental health was not so great and reading time was hard to come by so not all goals were met. I did manage the 15 new authors and the with the help of several short stories I got 72 out of the 75 books that I was hoping for, and 18,895 pages. (As always, the "books" are a collection of books, textbooks, short stories, novellas, and children's books but since there are so many things that end up not counting and my average page count per "book" is over 200 pages, and it's my game, I think this holds up.) 

There are no major elections this year at all although I will be taking 10 units at college for the spring semester but since I will hopefully be graduating after that with my two associates' degrees so that should free up some time to do other things, like read more for fun again. *fingers crossed*

With that in mind, I'm going for 100 books this year with 20 new authors and 20,000 pages. I'm also going to try to start posting my reviews again but we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, here's the list of books that I read for 2022:

1. Long Way From Home by Seanan McGuire - trouble brewing (20p/20p/370,948p)

2. Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman - eloquent (228p/248p/371,176p)

3. Noor by Nnedi Okorafor - fabulous (214p/462p/371,390p)

4. Where the Drowned Girls Go by Seanan McGuire - Forgetful (150p/612p/371,540p)

5. Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation by John Lewis - fabulous (220p/832p/371,760p)

6. Starlight Web by Yasmine Galenorn - interesting (262p/1,094p/372,022p)

7. A Twist of Fate by Kelley Armstrong - meh (283p/1,377p/372,305p)

8. Sacrifice Your Tears by Seanan McGuire - Lovely (36p/1,413p/372,341p)

9. A Separate Peace by John Knowles - thought-provoking (208p/1,621p/372,549p)

10. Spiderman-Man Miles Morales: Wings of Fury by Brittney Morris - ok (263p/1,884p/372,812p)*

11. Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune - fantastic (376p/2,260p/373,188p)

12. The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum - ok (338p/2,598p/373,526p)*

13. Midnight Web by Yasmine Galenorn - fun (286p/2,884p/373,812p)

14. Conjure Web by Yasmine Galenorn - fun (262p/3,146p/374,074)

15. Harvest Web by Yasmine Galenorn - fun (232p/3,378p/374,306p)

16. Shadow Web by Yasmine Galenorn - fun (234p/3,612p/374,540p)

17. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - intense (444p/4,056p/ 374,984)*

18. Volatile Bonds by Jaye Wells - entertaining (327p/4,383p/375,311)

19. Middlegame by Seanan McGuire - I’m not sure what I just read but I think I liked it (528p/4,911p/375,839p)

20. Spelunking Through Hell by Seanan McGuire - Go Alice! (352p/5,263p/376,191p)

21. Ghost Lights by Seanan McGuire - patreon (20p/5,283p/376,211p)

22. Those Three Girls from Rush’s End by Seanan McGuire - patreon (20p/5,303p/376,231p)

23. Third for Magic by Stefon Mears - patreon (20p/5,323p/376,251p)

24. Huck Finn by Mark Twain - again (225p/5,548p/376,476p)

25. Blood Lite by various - mostly  just ugh (359p/5,907p/376,835p)

26. Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett - fabulous (375p/6,282p/377,210p)

27. Hex Appeal by various - entertaining (356p/6,638p/377,566p)

28. American Vision published by Glencoe - textbook (1138p/7,776p/378,704p)

29. The Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol - tragic (57p/7,833p/378,761p)

30. Small Business Management by Cengage - Ok (598p/8,431p/379,359p)*

31. Shadow Rites by Faith Hunter - entertaining (348p/8,779p/379,707p)

32. The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict - interesting (272p/9,051p/379,979p)*

33. Cold Reign by Faith Hunter - entertaining (350p/9,401p/380,329p)

34. Snowstorms & Sleigh Bells by Kelley Armstrong - sweet (116p/9,517p/380,445p)

35. Empty Street Cup by Stefon Mears - patreon (20p/9,537p/380,465p)

36. Dark Queen by Faith Hunter - entertaining (414p/9,951p/380,879p)

37. Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson - fn (456p/10,407p/381,335p)*

38. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - interesting (289p/10,696p/381,624p)*

39. Shattered Bonds by Faith Hunter - entertaining (380p/11,076p/382,004p)

40. Naked City by various entertaining (539p/11,615p/382,543p)*

41. Weaver’s Web by Yasmine Galernon - fun (221p/11,836p/382,764p)

42. Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs - Mercy!!! (389p/12,225p/383,153p)

43. Exploring Psychology in Modules by David G. Myers - textbook (832p/13,057p/383,985p)*

44. True Dead by Faith Hunter - entertaining (359p/13,416p/384,344p)

45. Square^3 by Mira Grant - kaiju (144p/13,560p/384,488p)

46. Be the Serpent by Seanan McGuire - roller coaster ride with my heart (384p/13,944p/384,872p)

47. Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews - fun (393p/14,337p/385,265p)

48. Emerald Blaze by Ilona Andrews - fun (392p/14,729p/385,657p)

49. Fundamentals of Human Resource Management by Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright - textbook (570p/15,299p/386,227p)*

50. Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews - fun (370p/15,559p/386,597p)

51. Saga Vol 10 by Brian K Vaughn & Fiona Staples - goddamnit! (160p/15,829p/386,757p)

52. Final Heir by Faith Hunter - finale (448p/16,277p/387,205p)

53. A Turn of the Tide by Kelley Armstrong - sweet (250p/16,527p/387,455p)

54. Trouble with the Cursed by Kim Harrison - Rachel! (464p/16,991p/387,919p)

55. Introduction to Leadership: Concepts & Practice by Peter G. Northouse - textbook (432p/17,423p/388,351p)*

56. Heroic Hearts by various - fun (368p/17,791p/388,719p) *

57. In Mercy, Rain by Seanan McGuire - lovely (36p/17,827p/388,755p)

58. My Antonia by Willa Cataher - lovely (182p/18,009p/388,937p)*

59. Hammered by Kevin Hearne - epicly stupid (312p/18,321p/389,249p)

60. Skeleton Song by Seanan McGuire - beautiful (25p/18,346p/389,274p)

61. Ghosts & Garlands by Kelley Armstrong - sweet (98p/18,444p/389,372p)

62. Sacajewea by Joseph Bruchac - interesting (212p/18,656p/389,584p)*

63. Wildlife by Jeff Vandermeer - the ravine! (57p/18,703p/389,641p)

64. Elfquest: Stargazer’s Hunt vol 2 by Wendy and Richard Pini - perfect (104p/18,807p/389,745p)

65. The Tiger That Came to the Mountain by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia - intense (28p/18,845p/389,773p)*

66. Into the Sea by Seana McGuire (20p/18,865p/389,793p)

67. Upon Your Honor by Seanan McGuire (20p/18,885p/389,813p)

68. With Sweet Peace by Seanan McGuire (20p/18,905p/389,833p)

69. Like a Dream by Seanan McGuire (20p/18,925p/389,853p)

70. Give Sorrow Words by Seanan McGuire (20p/18,945p/389,873p)

71. Empty Street Corner by Stefon Mears (20p/18,965p/389,893p)

72. Time for Magic by Stefon Mears (20p/18,985p/389,913p)

2020 Recap and 2021 Goals

 So yeah, 2020.  Huge elections for both primary and general meant a lot of work for me along with trying to take my college classes and then add in global pandemic to get the stress going off the charts. We had to put our dog to sleep, had our grouchy old kitty die a few days later, and then lost my dad a few months after that. As much as I usually derive pleasure and stress-relief from reading, there was just too much going on for me to process reading on top of it much of the time. So I not only didn't make my goals, but I also managed to not write single review for all the books I did manage to read.  I do plan on going back and filling those in but it will be it's own project.

So my goals for 2020 were to read 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  I managed 77 books, 23 new authors, and just over 15,000 pages.  Considering how messed up everything was, I'm still considering it a victory.

I have no idea what this year is going to bring. My work shouldn't be stupid crazy this year but to make up for that I'm taking a full 14 units in school for the Spring semester, I've signed up for cross-stitch challenges to help motivate me to make some progress on those projects, and I have a ton of other personal projects that I want to work on along with getting my house sorted. In light of all that, I'm still going to try for the same goals as last year of 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages.  We'll see what I manage to do.

2019 recap and 2020 goals

So 2019 was slower in the first half with work which was nice.  I got a few things caught up but not nearly as much as I would have liked as there was illness and lots of school stuff to handle since the first half of the school year was spent dealing with many things outside of my control.  I thought the summer would bring time enough to catch up other things but instead I went back to college a year sooner than originally planned and there went any free time I thought I might have.  A local group I work with also decided to put on the first volunteer fair in the area in August and I was doing a lot to help make that happen as well. 

Even with all that going on, it was still less crazy than 2018 and I was able to hit the goal of 100 books (101 actually) and over 20,000 pages but fell short on the new authors (only 25 instead of 30) but on the whole, I think it was a good reading year.  My To-Read pile has only grown a little bit (up 14 books to 1410) but my Read pile is continuing to grow faster so that's good.  I found some new authors to enjoy and that is always a happy thing.

For 2020, the first couple of months are going to be extremely busy with work and I'm still taking college classes and homeschooling one kid so the goal is to get through with my little sanity shreds still intact and reading is one of the ways I do that.  So 2020 goals are 100 books, 25 new authors, and 20,000 pages read.

What are your goals?

2018 recap and 2019 goals

So 2018 ended up being even more stressful than 2017 and a lot more chaotic than I could have ever imagined.  Work was a much bigger adjustment than I could have known it would be as I ended up taking on a bigger role than was first described which was good in a lot of ways as I'm enjoying what I'm doing a lot but it ended up taking more time than first thought as well.  And there were several deaths and a wedding which meant a lot of traveling, being emotional support for many, and helping in whatever ways I could. So yeah, a stressful  year.

I'm really hoping 2019 is less so.  I've got a better idea of what I'm doing at work now and since it's tied to the election seasons, I've got the first half of the year to deal with other things while work is slow.  I'm planning on enjoying it if I can ever get over this cold.  Mark has started a new job in a field he loves with people he has worked with before and enjoys doing something he is passionate about.  It will be hard work but of the kind that will be a joy for him to do.  Yes, he is still going to school but I'm hopeful there will be a better balance now.

So with everything that happened last year I did meet my goal of 100 books (Goodreads and I again disagree since I count Patreon short stories but not comics and Goodreads is the opposite) but only 30 authors and just under 19,000 pages so fell short on those goals but I'm still counting it as a success.

There is a lot to do this year to get things caught up after this last year so I'm going to keep it simple again.  100 books, 30 new authors (I want to read more by several of the new authors I've already read so...), and 20,000 pages (I'm going for an average of 200p per book I'm hoping to read from now on LOL).  My to-read pile has miraculously remained pretty stable, only up 3 to 1,396, and my read pile has now surpassed it with 1,411.  It's nice finally see those numbers swap.  Now to keep it that way.  LOL

2017 Recap and 2018 Goals

So 2017 was a weird year for me and reading. I have started reading a lot more news and becoming more active in my community about issues that I care about but that has meant reading a lot more about those issues so I can educate myself and try to figure out how I feel I can help address them so that has taken a lot of my recreational reading time. Add in, this was a stressful year on many fronts and that stress was making it hard for me to concentrate on books at all.  There is still a lot of stress going into 2018 but it's different kinds now. My husband is working long hours and also going to school so more of the housestuff is falling on me which I'm getting used to but I'm also starting a part-time work from home job which I'm very excited about but I'm not fooling myself thinking that it won't require a lot of adjustments on how things get done around here and it's going to take time (and a lot of effort on my part) to get everyone on board to keep things running smoothly.

So with all that, I think it was a miracle I finished any of my reading goals for 2017 but I did read 120 books by my count (Goodreads and I are having a difference of opinion about what counts so our numbers are off LOL) and I read 40 new authors (actually ended up backing off a few books towards the end there so I wouldn't go over and make 2018's goals harder) but I got nowhere near my page count since I ended up going with a lot of short stories to try and make the 120 books read (well, that and I had a lot from one of my author friends and I wanted to try and get those caught up).  That meant I read less than 23,000 out of the 40,000 page goal.

Since I knew that I was reading less, I was also trying to buy less but I was also learning about lots of new authors that looked really interesting in all my research so my To Read pile grew rather significantly over the year rather than shrinking or remaining fairly steady.  I was at 1351 to read at the start of 2017 and this year I'm at 1393.  Whoops!  LOL  I do think this may finally be the year that I see my Read list overtake my To Read list which is pretty exciting. *crossing my fingers it happens*.

So looking at everything going on in my life and knowing that I'd like to not have to depend on so many short stories to get me to my reading goals, I'm going to cut things down a bit to try and make it more realistic for me and see how it goes. I'm still going to try for 40 new authors as I'm continuing to try and branch out but I'm only going to try for 100 books and 25,000 pages and I'll just see how it goes.

2015 Recap and 2016 Goals

Another year of high hopes in reading and I felt like I did well for most of the year but towards the end, things slipped away from me.  I more than made my goal of 120 books read with reading 141 but made a miscalculation so I only read 39 of 40 new authors and ran out of time so only got 35,379 pages out of a hoped for 40,000 pages.  I keep falling short on that one and realized the only year I made that goal I read a lot of comic books so that may have had something to do with making it.  LOL

With the close of my favorite local bookstore in July, my book buying went down after that so I did end up with a slight decrease to my to read pile.  At the beginning of 2015, Goodreads said 1329 and Shelfari had 1328. Now at the start of 2016, Goodreads shows 1325 and Shelfari held steady at 1328 (still not sure why that is).  My big hurrah for the year was hitting the 1/4 mark of my lifetime pages read as I ended the year with 250,295 pages read since I started keeping count back in 2009.

For this year, I'm keeping my goals basically the same. I want to read at least 120 books (hoping for more but there are some big ones in there that I know will be getting read for school so...), 40 new authors, and I'm going for 40,000 pages again.  I also want to get caught up with Elfquest (unfortunately that one is a hard one to actually put into the stats since I don't read it in big volume form) and a few other series (haven't decided which ones yet though LOL).  I'm also hoping to again see my to read pile at least not grow too much.

If you have reading goals and want to post them, I'd love to hear about them!

2014 Recap and 2015 Goals

I again had high hopes for this year, especially where reading was concerned about starting to get through some of my backlog of books.  For some reason though, I was having problems concentrating over the summer and it continued into the fall and made reading hard (something I've never experienced before and hope never to experience again) and it definitely put me behind where I wanted to be when December came around.

However, my brain did finally seem to wake from its fog and I wasn't so far behind that I couldn't hit most of my reading goals so I read like a fiend and completed 122 books (although only 120 by Goodreads count since it doesn't count that I read one book twice and there was another book that is not yet published) and managed to just barely get in the 40 new authors.  Page count was low at only at not quite 34,000 pages but I gave it a good go for a while.  There were some short stories/novellas but the average page per "book" was almost 278 pages so I think I'm good there.

In an amazing turn of events, I did actually end the year with a few less books in my to-read pile than last year mostly because I did some more decluttering of the shelves so whereas at the start of the last year my Goodreads list was at 1331 and Shelfari said 1332, Goodreads only has 1329 and Shelfari 1328.  So yeah, not a big reduction but it happened for the first time since I started keeping track so I'm counting it as a victory. :)

So the goals for 2015 are basically the same as for 2014.  120 books read, 40 new authors, and I'm going to try once again for 40,000 pages.  That is a goal I keep striving for but keep falling short of but one of these years I'll make it.  I'm also going to go with the same goal for my to-read pile which is to keep it from hitting more than 25 higher at the end of the year than at the beginning.  Maybe I'll be able to actually hit that one two years in a row?  My bookshelf can hope. LOL

What are your reading goals for 2015?