Saturday 17 June 2017

Reading Challenges & Goals | Mid-Year Update

We are very close to the middle of 2017 already and while that thought absolutely terrifies me, it means it's time to take a look at my reading goals progress so far. I think I'm a little early this year but since I usually end up doing my mid-year posts around September I figured a few weeks early is better than months late.

I've had a pretty good reading year so far but I often get a bit slumpy in the second half of the year. I'm really hoping that's not the case this year and I can carry on as I have been so far. I think my reading has changed a bit this year and already I am realising some things I would like to change about my goals for next year. Sticking with the current year though, I shared my 2017 reading goals at the beginning of the year so let's have a look at how I'm doing so far.

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Goodreads Reading Challenge
Goal: 50
Progress: 26
According to Goodreads I am 4 books ahead of schedule. I'm pretty happy with this considering there were a couple of months in which I read very little. If I can continue reading as much as I have been and don't fall into a slump I can hopefully complete this challenge.

Around The Year In 52 Books
Goal: 52
Progress: 15
To be on track I should be at 24 books by now so I'm not doing quite as well with this challenge. As much as I enjoy this challenge, I have realised that this is probably not something I will be doing again next year. I have really been enjoying just reading what I want rather than being confined to specific categories, however I am reading books for this challenge that I may not have picked up otherwise. I definitely still plan on trying to complete this challenge for this year.

TBR Under 100
Goal: 100
Progress: 167
In my reading goals post I said just my physical TBR, however it seems to have become my whole TBR, including ebook and audiobooks, which is possibly why I'm not doing so well. My physical TBR is actually down to 138 so I will probably manage to get that down by the end of the year, but if I'm including everything else I don't see it happening.

Read 5 Before Buying
To cut back on my book buying I wanted to read 5 books before allowing myself to buy any physical books and I was limiting it to 2 books each time. I am very proud of the fact that I have actually been sticking to that. I am allowing myself to buy ebooks, which I have been doing more than I would like, but the main goal was to clear my shelves a bit. Having read 26 books, I have been allowed to buy 10 so far and have actually only bought 9. I really think this is the way for me to cut back on buying books.

Read More eBooks
Goal: 10+
Progress: 9
This goal is pretty simple, I wanted to read more eBooks this year than last year. Last year I read 9 so reading 10 or more this year I will be very happy with. So far I have read 9 so I am definitely accomplishing this goal.

Read More Series
I don't really have a goal for this one, or really a measure of how well I am doing. I just wanted to get through the books in series, whether than be first books, sequels or conclusions, that I have been putting off. So far this year I have read 9 books in series. I would like to read more but I think that is very likely to happen in the second half of the year.

Get Back Into Audiobooks
I didn't listen to any audiobooks in 2016 and I wanted to change that this year. I did really well with this in the first two months of the year, listening to 3 audiobooks, however I have stopped again. I am happy that I have listened to 3 already but I would like to be listening to at least one every couple of months.

Read What I Want
I feel like I have been doing well with this goal to some extent. I have stopped creating monthly TBRs for myself as I was beginning to feel a bit restricted throughout the month, and I have really enjoyed just picking up a book I was in the mood for. However, I have still been slightly restricted by the books I am wanting to read for the Around The Year In 52 Books challenge. This is one goal I want to focus more on next year.

I also included some blogging goals in that post so I thought I would update on them as well.

Blog More Consistently
Consistent is really not a word I would use to describe my blogging at the moment. I have been more consistent in terms of posting at least once every week, not including when I'm on holiday. However, I have been inconsistent in terms of how much I am posting each week. I'll have one post one week and five another, it just depends on what time I have. With my life at the moment I don't really think this is going to change any time soon.

Have More Variety
At the beginning of the year I was definitely starting to include more of a variety of posts, including some discussions that I really enjoyed writing. However, as things have become extremely hectic I have gone back into the same old schedule of wrap ups, reviews, memes and tags. This is definitely something I want to focus on more in the second half of the year.

Keep Up To Date With Reviews
I have never been so up to date with reviews and I am so proud of myself. It makes such a change not writing reviews 3/4 months after I have read the book and I think it has improved my reviews since I can actually remember the things I'm talking about and how the book made me feel. Hopefully I can stick to this from now on.

Bookstagram
The less said about this the better. I have completely abandoned by bookstagram it seems. I'm just not a very creative person and I don't have the ideas to take nice artsy pictures. I may go back to it but it isn't a top priority at the moment.

I don't think I have done too badly with my goals so far this year but I know I have some things I need to work on in the second half. I have a challenges page on my blog where you can have a look at what books I have read for each of my challenges and keep up to date with my progress throughout the year.

How has your reading year been so far? Have you been doing well with your goals and challenges?

Sophie :)

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