My Goodreads Challenge Update

Hello all! Given as we are a little halfway over the year, I decided that I would take a look at my progress on my yearly goodreads challenge. I want to see how things are going so far and which books are looking to be my favourites. I'll be looking at some stats on what I have been reading so far!

My Goodreads Challenge:

My Goal: 50 books from January 1, 2018- December 31, 2018
Books read so far: 37 (13 more to go!)

Breaking Down the Books:

Out of the 37:

8 have been YA contemporary
9 have been YA fantasy
3 have been YA historical fiction
9 have been classics
4 have been adult realistic fiction
4 have been graphic novels

Five Star Reviews:

I have had twelve five-star reviews so far which seems pretty good to me! I only have one one-star review which is so awesome. To me that seems like I have established what I like and have developed a strong rhythm in my reading.

I won't decide officially until the end of the year, but it looks to me that Maus: A Survivor's Tale by: Art Spiegelman is on track to be my favourite book of the year, which is surprising considering it is a graphic novel! I would have never thought that a graphic novel would be my fave, but this book was so amazingly crafted, and I cannot wait to write my review on it.

The Main Things I've Noticed:

I read a lot more adult fiction these past few months! It seems like every other year in the past was filled with YA with a few classics sprinkled in, but I had a lot more of an even match between adult novels and YA novels as a whole. There was also a healthy amount of classics thanks to my literature class last year.

I also have been ahead of the game ever since I started the challenge, and this is probably due to me reducing my goal to fifty books instead of my usual hefty eighty. I decided to stop forcing myself to read an enormous number of books that I probably skimmed through, and instead focus on reading a smaller amount more closely and thoroughly. Reading has become a lot less stressful with this method!

Overall, over these past six months I found that I have been reading out of my comfort zone, and it has paid off! I would never have reached for as much adult fiction in times past, but I have been taking risks in my reading and the result has been that I have been enjoying books far more! In fact, most of my two-star reviews had to do with the YA's I have read. Now this is not to say that I hate YA, I just think it's good that my reading has matured over this year. I'm looking forward to the remainder of the year and hopefully reading a lot more awesome books!

How are your reading challenges going?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Paperback's Pondering's: Why I've Set My Goodreads Goal A Little Lower This Year

Paperback's Pondering's is back! Today I'm going to talk about Goodreads goals, and why I have set my expectations a little lower this year than in previous years.

I was anticipating not even setting a Goodreads goal this year, and here's why. I just found that for me, in previous years, I would rush through books just to make the goal. I wasn't actually reading, rather skimming, to fly through book after book because I felt as if this goal had to be met. I don't even know why this goal was so important to me, it's not like you win a cash prize or anything, but I associated not meeting my goal with failure. I needed to finish it.

So the first year I set the goal, it was at 65 books, and over the years I have always felt like I needed to top the goal from the previous year. So by 2017, I was at a whopping 80 books, which doesn't seem like much compared to other bookworms who clear at least 100 books a year (seriously, give me your powers), but it was honestly physically impossible for me. So again, I rushed through books and read a lot of pointless short books I wasn't even interested in just to meet and exceed the goal.

So this year, I have set my goal back from even my first year, at 50 books. To a non-bookworm, that seems like such a challenge, and to an avid bookworm, it may even seem a little measly. But with this goal, I can ensure that I actually closely read each book and only read books I am genuinely interested in. I don't want to waste my time anymore.

I would like to eventually work my way up to the incredible goal that is 100 books, but it will be impossible for a first-year university student to reach that quite fast. So for now, I'll be sitting here content with my 50 books.

Do you have a Goodreads goal? What is it set at?

Emily @ Paperback Princess