2016 Wrap-Up and 2017 Goals #MountTBR

In 2016 I failed at most of the goals that I had set for myself, so I will only go with two goals for 2017!

2016 Wrap-Up

In 2016 I read 117 books, thus smashing my original Goodreads reading goal of 66 books!

Of those 117:

• 59 were books, 38 graphic works, 18 pieces of short fiction, and 2 audiobooks
• 64 were books by women, 37 by men, and 16 by male/female teams
• I rated 13 books five stars.

I only managed to read three books out of the 8 SFF books and classics that I had set for myself in the 2016 Reading Goals & Challenges post. Those were:

• The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner (5 stars)
• The Golem and the Djinni by Helene Wecker (4 stars)
• A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (4.5 stars)

I also only finished one more book, Lord Edgware Dies, in my quest to read Agatha Christie’s Poirot books in order – but I’ll blame the library, who had lost their only English language copy of Murder on the Orient Express, which would’ve been next on the list. I also failed in the TBR Triple Dog Dare, since all of my library reservations came in at the same time, and I focused on those instead of reading mostly my own books like the Dare specified.

2017 Goals

My first goal is to read 55 books for the Goodreads reading challenge in 2017. Since I’m on the job hunt and also want to draw more, I’m not aiming for more than that.

I want to read two of my own books per month – preferably from my physical TBR shelf, but Kindle books will also do in a pinch (All the Unread Books I Own). This way I’ll read my own books, but can still use the library.

To achieve this, I’m taking part in the Mount TBR Reading Challenge run by My Reader’s Block. I chose the Mount Blanc challenge level, which is to read 24 books from my TBR pile. If I do well, I might consider upping it to Mt. Vancouver, reading 36 books. I will keep a list of the books I finish right here. Physical books will be marked in bold, the rest are ebooks. I want to read at least one physical book every month.

Mount Blanc

1. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (50% in 2017)
2. The Lost Child of Lychford by Paul Cornell
3. Forest of Memory by Mary Robinette Kowal
4. Borderline by Mishell Baker
5. Queers Destroy Fantasy! Anthology (50% in 2017)
6. The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley
7. Broom with A View by Gayla Twist & Ted Naifeh
8. The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 4: Rising Action by Kieron Gillen & Jamie McKelvie
9. Clay’s Ark by Octavia Butler
10. Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter
11. The Man with Two Left Feet by P.G. Wodehouse
12. The Martian by Andy Weir
13. The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps by Kai Ashante Wilson
14. Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb
15. The Grey King by Susan Cooper
16. Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
17. Mixed Magics by Diana Wynne Jones
18. Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani
19. Engraved on the Eye by Saladin Ahmed
20. The Fire’s Stone by Tanya Huff
21. The Sun King: Louis XIV at Versailles by Nancy Mitford
22. Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson
23. Patternmaster by Octavia E. Butler
24. Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher

I hope your 2017 is off to a good start, and happy reading!

2014 Wrap Up & 2015 Goals

It’s high time to look back at the past year, and also to plan a little ahead. You can watch the video, or just read the recap below.

2014 Wrap Up

This year I completely surpassed my 50 book reading challenge by reading a 104 books (26 512 pages)! This is the first time I’ve ever read over a 100 books in a year, and I read about 3 000 pages more than I’ve ever read in year.

Out of the 104 books:

• 56 were books, 44 graphic novels, and 4 short stories
• 67 (!) were written by men, 29 by women, and 8 by male/female teams.
• 13 things (books, GNs) received 5 stars.

I read a lot of graphic novels, and A LOT of those were written by men. Usually my author gender divide pretty naturally settles to 50%-50%, so this year was a real surprise for me. This is something I need to pay attention to if I continue reading a lot of graphic novels and comic trade paperbacks.

I read 6,5 books from my 2014 High Fantasy reading challenge list (I finished the second half of The Lies of Locke Lamora this year). Btw, one of those books turned out not to actually be high fantasy – who would’ve thought? Outside of the challenge I also read one other high fantasy book (The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss) and 3 high fantasy short stories.

2015 goals

• Talk more about books that I’ve actually read, so more reviews and wrap ups, less TBRs and hauls.
• Read & review the books on my 2015 SFF Reading Challenge
• Read 5 before I buy: I need to read 5 books from my physical TBR shelf before I can buy 1 book
• Reach my Goodreads challenge goal of 60 books.

Have a great reading year 2015, everyone!