Another year, another GoodReads Reading Challenge. I typically fall behind schedule toward the end of summer but make it up with extra reading in the cozy fall and early winter months. I also slack on writing book reviews as the year goes on. Hopefully, I’ll find some time to catch up on them soon.
As an author, I greatly appreciate the reviews I receive on my own books, so I like to review the books I read as well. That can be tricky though, especially when I don’t particularly like a book. I want to be honest. I also don’t want to slam a book that is well-written for another reader but simply isn’t a book that suits my taste.
If you want to compare how your taste in books fits with mine, check out my GoodReads profile.
My 2024 Reading So Far…
In looking back over the books I’ve read so far this year, I’m surprised that some of the earlier books were from this year. It feels like so much time has passed since January! I also noticed that there isn’t much of a pattern to my book choices this year. In past years, I’ve had more of a plan heading into the year. Like last year, when I decided to read a non-fiction book and 2 fiction books each month. Or the previous year, when I read all of Wizard of Oz books that were written by Frank L. Baum… interspersed with other books or I might have gone insane. (Those are some weird books!)
This year, I’ve been catching up on books that have been sitting on my TBR shelf for too long or picking up whatever happened to catch my eye at the library. That’s let to some mixed reactions, including a couple of DNFs. On the upside, this year’s standouts (so far) have been a novel called Calvin by Martine Leavitt and the Unwind series by Neal Shusterman.
Calvin is about a schizophrenic teen who believes his life is intertwined with Calvin and Hobbes. The Unwind series is about a dystopian society where unwanted teens are salvaged for body parts. Hmm… both premises sound a bit twisted–and they are–but in a very compelling way!
Though I still have several books to go, I’m sure I’ll meet my goal of 36 books. That’s a lower goal than some years, but I find that it’s hard to read more than 2 or 3 books a month while still making time for my own writing. Do you give yourself an annual reading challenge? If so, I hope it’s going well!