Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

I don't know about the rest of you, but I made a variety of reading goals for 2020 that I am not going to complete. This year did not go as expected, to say the least. I'm going to take a page from the Kon Mari method and let go of all the reading goals, challenges, and expectations I had for myself for 2020 and start with a clean slate in 2021. Join me if you like or feel free to just offer yourself a blanket absolution.

Here we go.

My goal to read 100 books: I honestly thought I was low-balling you when I set that goal. It's been tough for me to focus on books this year and I'm not going to come close to a 100 books. And that's ok. The important thing is that I read many books that I loved.

Doing the ATY Challenge in order: I tried, and that's great. Sometimes things turn out to be more difficult than planned or not as fun as anticipated and you have to adjust. I adjusted. I may not have completed the challenge in the way I wanted, but I got through to the end.

Popsugar prompts I'm not going to finish:
- medical thriller: let's be honest I didn't want to do this one in the first place and this year did not provide me with any additional motivation.
- won an award in 2019: I added many things to my tbr and that's great.
- about a world leader: world leaders got a lot of my attention this year, and it's ok that it didn't happen through books.
- gold/silver/bronze in the title: you were a fun prompt, but alas my library did not have ebooks of anything i wanted and I just wasn't up for the goldfinch this year. and that's ok.
-20 or twenty in the title: you were a surprisingly hard prompt, and sometimes in life we need challenges, but this was not that year.
- set in Japan: thanks for giving me lots of great books on my tbr that I will read eventually

The Bookriot Read Harder Challenge: you pushed me to get to some books much sooner than I would have otherwise and for that I'm grateful. I only did 3/4 of the prompts, but honestly that's pretty good for me.

A-Z genres: I almost did it. The only one I'm missing is X. That's frustrating because I came close but I'm going to say goodbye to you, ill-conceived personal challenge. And that's ok.



What 2020 challenges do you need to say goodbye to?

This is a good idea, my plan was based on my paper book tbr but I had to switch to audiobooks because I had to drive to work again.

I have to say goodbye to:

Read 40 books I bought before 2020:
I didn't buy audiobooks before (I still don't I use the library and netgalley), I came to 15 before covid and I'm now reading number 16. Don't know if I'm ever going to get that tbr lower...

Read at least 50% of the books I buy in 2020:
I was doing really well on this one because I didn't buy many books (not many bookshop visits because of covid). And then I went to the local secondhand bookshop so now I'm on 12 of 34, still very happy that I only bought 34 books this year (lowest since I started keeping records in 2011) :)

Read at least 26 books over 400 pages long:
I have read 16 and will finish number 17 this week, I don't like listening to very long books (or I haven't found the right book for that).

Finish ATY:
I'm now reading prompt number 50, but I don't have books for two prompts and I'm not going to stress to find something to read for them. I did read 80 books this year and I'm happy with that.
Not reading:
- A book from the New York Times '100 Notable Books' list for any year
- A book that was nominated for one of the ‘10 Most Coveted Literary Prizes in the World

I've set a goal for 75 books the past 3 years and haven't made it yet. I was on a really good track in January/February but really couldn't focus on reading all the way from about March through October. I've been doing better since.

I started doing BookSpin Bingo on Litsy and that has really helped me. I've started to also just look at all the ATY challenges as one, since I'm behind on it. So I read a book and just pick a prompt from 2017-2020. I am trying to best to look at 2021 as a fresh start since I've gotten my mojo back a bit in the last few months.

I set a reasonable GR Challenge Goal this year - 60 books. I figured 52 for ATY + 8 extra. I met the 60 goal and completed ATY but am giving up on PS. I gave it a good shot for my first year, even read a Western graphic novel this week! But, I’ve lost interest in the remaining prompts. Also giving up my 12+4 and Motley challenges in another group. I’m ready to move on to 2021!

I was doing several challenges a few years back but suddenly felt like I was never getting to read what I wanted, so I quit all of them one day in a huff. I also cut my GR goal down a lot (like 50 instead of 100). I joined ATY in January after checking it out and deciding the challenges were flexible enough to work. As it turned out I blew away every previous year because I think I'll finish with 150 books. I guess I didn't realize how much time I used to spend in meetings/events and on trips. I also read a lot of short books this year and only 2 over 500 pages. I said I was going to use the time at home to clean and declutter - Ha!

I didn't have a number in mind but I intended to read mostly books I owned this year. I did better at this during the shutdown when my library was closed, but I also realized how easy and cheap it was to buy ebooks. Of the 150 books, fewer than 40 were ones I owned before 2020. I did get some from the library both before and after shutdown, as we have had pickup since about June.

I’m planning on doing less challenges in 2021 and reading fewer books. I’d like to read more books that are part of a series and some longer books. I just started the War and Peace with the serial reader. I did manage to finish ATY 2020 in order but once is enough for that extra challenge. Mainly, I just want to read whatever I want regardless if it fits a challenge. I’m challenge burnt out.

I have Week #52 left to finish the 2020 ATY challenge. I primarily read library books, and I tried to complete this challenge in order, but anyone who puts books on hold knows that they can all be ready for checkout on the same day! I didn't read exactly in order, but I did manage to finish all 4 (or 5) weeks of every month during that month, so I count that as a win. This is my favorite challenge!

This year I plan to drop a couple of challenges that focus primarily on book cover color or the picture on the cover. Instead I will focus on my TBR list.

I far exceeded my reading goal this year when I became COMPLETELY addicted to audio books. I plan to raise my goal a little for 2021, but I don't really concentrate on number read. I just love to read!

Jillian wrote: "I’m planning on doing less challenges in 2021 and reading fewer books. I’d like to read more books that are part of a series and some longer books. I just started the War and Peace with the serial ..."

I just started War and Peace also. I am about 5% in and I really like it so far.

I dropped all challenges (well popsugar, aty and a classical bingo), except two very flexible ones, in the beginning of summer. They stressed me out and I needed lighter reads and fantasy reads. After that my reading took off and I read more books and more pages than the previous two years I've been active on GR (233 books I think and +40.000 pages).
For a month or so I was determined to do PS and ATY next year, but last week I felt the pressure growing. So I've dropped them again, keeping the couple more flexible ones. I'll still be lurking in this group, I like it here, and I may join some of the shorter seasonal challenges. I absolutely love the readathons.

Thanks for this, Jackie. So cathartic!

I'm going to nearly hit all of my reading goals this year, which is surprising. I have two books left to go to get to 100, so if I could get off the computer and read, it wouldn't be a problem (one of them is YA, so it should go quickly).

There were a few months at the beginning of quarantine that I didn't hit my BIPOC/LGBTQIA+ goals because of lack of access to books, but I made those up in other months, so I'm counting it as a win.

Just one book left to go for ATY.

I will say that this year, I deliberately made my goals lighter (my original number was 60 books) and this is the first year I didn't add a rejects or outside yearly challenge. The freedom really helped, and I'm looking forward to returning to just reading what I want next year and applying them to ATY prompts after the fact.

I upped my GR 2020 challenge to 200 books during the first lockdown (it was 150) as I was reading loads and thought the added challenge would be a good distraction. But my zeal for reading faded as the pandemic continued and work became super-stressful, and I ended up rushing around at the last minute to find short books so I could finish in time.

In 2021 I'm going to worry less about quantity of books and focus on quality instead - maybe reading some longer books I've been meaning to get round to (one of my best friends keeps pushing me to read The Pillars of the Earth which sounds right up my street so I'll make that a priority).

I have to laugh at my 2021 goal of reading longer books since I have a 3 1/2 hour audio book and 266 page print book planned for tomorrow. Though, they both fit hard challenge prompts.

Milena wrote: "Jillian wrote: "I’m planning on doing less challenges in 2021 and reading fewer books. I’d like to read more books that are part of a series and some longer books. I just started the War and Peace ..."

I have made it to 3%. I’m liking it so far but I don’t have all the characters figured out yet. They seemed to have a lot right at the beginning.

Jillian wrote: "Milena wrote: "Jillian wrote: "I’m planning on doing less challenges in 2021 and reading fewer books. I’d like to read more books that are part of a series and some longer books. I just started the..."

Yes, I am hoping that slows down a bit as the book goes on.

I met all of my reading goals/challenges except reading the USA Roadtrip. I have 6 states that I didn’t find books to cover.
I’m just going to let it go.....I. I’m not going to carry it over.

For the month of December I read mostly holiday books. They were full of fluff and nonsense and just what I needed.

Happy reading in 2021!!