2017 Reflection and 2018 Reading Goals

I felt like 2017 was the year that I FINALLY got my reading life back on track. I realized that, without allowing myself to sit down and read a book, I was stifling my favorite parts of myself! I was also drowning in work stuff - although, that's another story.  My wise husband made an observation one night, and asked, "How long has it been since you read a book?" And I couldn't answer him. After finishing an English degree, finishing a library degree, and completing coursework to finish my Media Specialist license, I stopped reading. Now, I read for work. I read stories to my students. But I had forgotten how to read for myself. This is when, haphazardly, I decided to join in on the PopSugar Reading Challenge for 2017. I sat down, wrote out my list and....
I completed about every prompt on the regular list! All in all, I read 93 books last year, which felt great. I ended the year realizing that I was always looking forward to the book (or books!) I was currently involved with, and it also helped me when asked for recommendations by my friends. Here are a few of my favorite moments from 2017:
  • Reading three books with my best friend from college and having the opportunity to discuss them. I have wanted to have a "book club" type experience for quite some time and just haven't been able to find a place to plug in. This was such a wonderful experience. Also, we have a long-distance friendship, so participating made sure that we kept in contact. Together we read:
    1. Bittersweet (Miranda Beverly-Whittemore): This was easily one of my top 5 books of the year. Such an incredible story told with clever writing that keeps you guessing. I listened to the audio of this, and it's well worth a listen. 
    2. The Miniaturist (Jessie Burton): Also another in my top 5. I had very little experience with work set in this part of the world, so it gave me some good exposure to customs/traditions that I wasn't familiar with. A riveting story set around Nella, who is sent to marry a much older man, and the secrets she discovers in the house that she shares with his sister... well. The suspense carries through to the end. 
    3. The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins): My introduction to mystery literature, and I am glad for it. I enjoyed the story and was shocked at the big reveal (although, admittedly, I am easy to mislead). 
    4. In the Woods (Tana French): This was not my first French title (Faithful Place was my intro to her writing, in 2012), but of the two, I enjoyed this one more. I found myself running the full gamut of emotions with Rob and Cassie. It was hard for me to stomach that the story isn't tied up at all - there are so many questions that go unanswered, and I lost some sleep over that. I'm excited to read the next book in the series (The Likeness) and follow Cassie's story. 
  • Discovering that I love audiobooks. My commute for some time has averaged between 30 and 45 minutes, which is a lot of time spent in the car on a daily and weekly basis. Music on the radio just makes me batty - I can't even find what I want to listen to, I didn't have the data to use Pandora or Spotify, and who buys cd's anymore? So that left me with talk radio. I don't dislike talk radio, but I decided to venture into audiobooks via Overdrive and my local library, and fell head over hells in love. I didn't keep track in 2017 of how many audiobooks I read, but I would guess that more than half my 93 books were audio, if not more. 
  • Diving into the world of book-ish podcasts. Currently, I listen to Reading Envy, the Worst Bestsellers, and several Book Riot casts. These are always funny, full of great recommendations, and a good way to fill a quick drive across town or walking the dog. 
Now the moment, I'm sure, all of my readers have been waiting for: 2018 Reading Goals. I hadn't thought about setting goals for reading until I listened to Jenny's goals over at Reading Envy. Of course, I always set a numeric goal with Goodreads, but that always seems arbitrary - a random number off the top of my head to shoot for, and what does it matter if I hit it or miss it? It occurred to me that, perhaps, reading goals were more about quality than quantity, and making sure that I'm reading a wide range of texts. As this is my first year setting reading goals, I feel like these are perhaps easy (for lack of a better word), but I'm excited to see where the year takes me. 
  • Complete both the Popsugar Reading Challenge (just the regular list) and the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge. The prompts on both of these lists cover a wide range of topics, many of which are outside my regular tastes. I believe these will help widen my scope. 
  • Keep track of which books I read are audio and which are traditionally formatted. I don't know that this information will be useful to anyone besides me, but I'm anxious to see what my stats are at the end of the year. 
  • Explore books on the long list for the Tournament of Books. Many of these titles are ones that I wouldn't pick up on my own, and I'm excited for exposure to different topics and authors. 
That's it! I didn't want to overwhelm myself with too many specific goals. I think that these three will give me a great picture at the end of the year of my reading habits and maybe uncover some new genres or topics that I'm interested in. Did you set reading goals this year? I'd love to hear/see them! 

Happy Reading!

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