Friday, August 15, 2014

2014 Reading Goals Update

(1) Read three hundred books.

I had originally made this my pledge on Goodreads...less than halfway through the year I realized that it simply wasn't going to happen. [I had tried for this goal last year too and while I've come fairly close, I've never actually thought I'd make it.] When I was reading all YA? Yeah, it was likely that I could pull it off but with how many behemoths I've been picking up in 2014 I just knew it wasn't going to happen. Unfortunate but true.

So I lowered my goal to a more manageable two hundred books, a goal which I've achieved several times now and know that I can reach without pushing myself too hard. Especially since as of writing this post I'm nine books ahead of schedule according to Goodreads [AKA I've read 132 of 200 books] so I'd say I'm doing pretty good on this revised goal.

(2) Read ten classics.

I HAVE CONQUERED THIS GOAL. I am so proud of myself. It's barely the beginning of August and I've already read twelve classics, and I'm planning on reading more! 

The classics I've read so far in 2014 are as follows: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, The Tempest by William Shakespeare, The Journey to the East by Hermann Hesse, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin, The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories by O. Henry, As You Like It by William Shakespeare, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury.

(3) Read books outside of my comfort zone.

As the majority of the posts on Typing Tiara might reveal I considered YA to be my ultimate comfort zone with a few romance novels thrown in for variation every now and again. I wanted to break free from that. [Part of the reason I challenged myself to specifically read ten classics!] I felt like the only variance I was getting in my reading were the books that were required reading for my literature class and I didn't want it to be like that. I wanted to get back into the habit of reading anything and everything. I wanted to try new things. And I'm so glad I did.

I've been indulging my love of comics, and graphic novels, this year and thoroughly enjoying it. [Saga, Polarity, and New 52 Batgirl remain my favorites!] I ventured out of the YA fantasy genre to try some adult fantasy, and discovered that I love it just as much! [The Queen's Own by Mercedes Lackey and the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson are my favorites so far.] I also tried my first adult mystery/noir type book and surprised myself by liking it. And I've just generally been more open to recommendations from family and friends which for the most part has been paying off. ^.^

I had set some other goals for myself in 2014 but those largely pertained to fledgling youtube channel I was working on during my hiatus from Typing Tiara and since I'm back to blogging, semi-regularly-ish, I'm not sure that they really apply any more.

Either way I'm really happy with where I'm at so far in my reading goals and I'm hoping to do even better in the second half(ish) of 2014.

How are you guys doing on your reading goals this year?

2 comments:

  1. I don't usually give myself specific reading goals. I'm satisfied if I consistently read throughout the year, which is what I've been doing.
    So does that mean that you don't plan on uploading more videos to your booktube channel? If so, that's a shame since that's how I first found you but I'm glad you're regularly updating this blog :).
    Reading books outside of your comfort zone is a great goal, and I could stand to do that as well.

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    1. In that case, congrats! I can't help but be supportive of a goal like that. [:

      I hadn't quite decided yet. I can almost guarantee that my blog will be getting more frequent updates but I can probably try to upload a couple videos here and there.

      I think all readers could really. It's remarkable how many things you'll find you've been missing out on.

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