Three months of the year have already passed, so I wanted to take some time to see how things are going with my reading plans so far. First I'll take a look at my reading goals.
Goal #1: Stop tracking picture books and board books.
This is going fairly well, although I think I will go back to posting about brand-new picture books on Goodreads and just not put in a date, because otherwise I am having trouble keeping track of what I have and haven't reviewed, which makes it harder to submit feedback to publishers on time. But for other books that my kids read and that I read to them, I've just been making notes in my homeschool blog posts and that's working great.
Goal #2: Read exactly 200 books, and no more.
Because I gave up audiobooks for Lent, I started April behind schedule, and as I'm writing this, I'm 6 books behind schedule on Goodreads. Since I tend to read a bit more in the summer, I imagine I will pick up this slack at some point well before the end of the year, so I'm not going to adjust my goal/limit of 200 books at this point. If things change by mid-year, I'll revisit the number then.
Goal #3: Read 50 e-books.
I have read 16 e-books so far. Considering I need to have read 25 by the end of June to be on track, it seems like I might even be a bit ahead right now. Reading three a month for the next three months seems doable.
Goal #4: Cut back on audiobooks.
At this point last year, I had already listened to 24 audiobooks. This year, I've only listened to 15 so far. I've been able to get more into a few podcasts and sometimes watch shows on Hulu at night instead of always listening to books, so this level of cutting back seems just about right.
Goal #5: Keep up with Goodreads reviews.
This went well in January and February, but I didn't write any of my March reviews until after the month ended. In this next quarter, I want to be more intentional about reviewing as I finish reading each book.
Goal #6: Write down more quotes from books.
I have been doing this with some books and not others. I'm fine right now with not being that stringent with this particular goal.
Goal #7: Host a read-a-thon.
I actually forgot I had included this goal. I still want to do it, but as I said in my original reading plans post, it will be most likely be in the second half of the year.
Goal #8: Read the Bible in a year.
This is going so well. I am loving The Bible in a Year podcast and the most I have ever fallen behind so far is two days. I'm so thankful for Father Mike Schmitz. I would never have made it this far trying to read on my own.
Goal #9: Fill in Literary Listopia journal.
I haven't done much of this yet, but it seems like summer might be a good time to catch up on it.
Goal #10: Write 1200 words per week.
This started out bad and got worse. Writing every day doesn't work for me, and apparently writing every week also really doesn't work for me. I probably should have either set a goal to do NaNoWriMo again, or to revise last year's NaNoWriMo novel. Or maybe I should decide it's time to give up on writing fiction. Either way, this goal is on hold at the moment, and I'm still thinking about how I might change it.
As for my two challenges, The Unread Shelf Project and the Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge, things are going very well.
For my Modern Mrs. Darcy challenge, I chose 12 prompts, and decided to read 3 titles for each. As of today, I have read 22 of 36 books.
I've completed five prompts:
- Three Newbery Award winners (When You Trap a Tiger by Tae Keller, Sounder by William Armstrong, The 21 Balloons by William Pene du Bois)
- Three books by the same author (The Late Show by Michael Connelly, The Black Echo by Michael Connelly, Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly)
- Three Catholic nonfiction books (Mother Angelica by Raymond Arroyo, Be Bold in the Broken by Mary Lenaburg, Motherhood Redeemed by Kimberly Cook)
- Three general nonfiction books (Romance is My Day Job by Patience Bloom, Upstairs at the White House by J.B. West, And Then They Stopped Talking to Me by Judith Warren)
- Three books published in 2021 (Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt, Treasures: Visible and Invisible by Catholic Teen Books, Sunshine by Marion Dane Bauer)
- Three books that are the last/most recent in a series (The Love of Friends by Nancy Bond, The Heart of the Family by Elizabeth Goudge)
- Three books of more than 500 pages (Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy)
- Three books under 200 pages (Lucy Gayheart by Willa Cather)
- Three books about books or reading (How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster)
- Three books about writing (The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr)
- Three re-reads (Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien)
- Three audiobooks with the same narrator
For the Unread Shelf Project, I have read one book for each monthly prompt so far:
- A book with high expectations (January): Just Like That by Gary D. Schmidt
- A book you got for free (February): Treasures: Visible and Invisible by Catholic Teen Books
- A book you bought on a trip (March): In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
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