I Read 67 Books in 2019. (67-ish.)

Goodreads has reported that I read 67 books in 2019. This beats my goal of 50, so at least I can say I definitively kicked butt on ONE of my goals for 2019. (Let’s not talk about the others, which all involve writing.)

I realized that this is NOT a complete list, as this list primarily covers all the books I have REVIEWED for NetGalley. It was way more, and my baseboards prove it. (So does my waistline, sadly.) It doesn’t include a few I’ve finished but still need to review (shhh), and it probably doesn’t include anything I checked out from the library.

We won’t talk about the plethora of non-fiction books that are in various stages of being read.

ANYWHO.

This is what my reading year looked like:

There are SOOOO many books that I didn’t get to read that I really wanted to as well!

I did a quick tally of my Goodreads list plus the books that had not been added (yet). It includes, roughly calculated:

• 66 fiction books
• 5 non-fiction titles
• 23 children’s/young adult titles
• 15 dystopian/fantasy/sci-fi titles
• 8 historical fiction (a really low number for me!)
• 9 books with Christmas-themes
• 1 cookbook

Meanwhile, the bookshelf that I purchased earlier this year and dedicated to hold only my TBR books is heaving. My desk has stacks of half-read writing and woo-woo self-helpish type books, most with some odd sort of bookmark.

Will I beat 67 books in 2020?

A very good question indeed when I look at my OTHER goals for 2020, which include writing.

As mentioned above, 67 books work out to about 1-1/4 books a week. That’s still not a lot for me, but as someone who has a tendency to hyper-focus, if I pick up a good book, I get lost in it – to the detriment of everything else. And, I have intentions, people.

For 2020, I’m going to keep my goal at 52 books – roughly 1 book a week. Within that goal, I’m hoping to:

• Read more biography/memoir
  
• Read ALL my books on writing, cover to cover, especially Dani Shapiro’s Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of the Creative Life (and not just because it’s been marked as “in progress” on Goodreads for far, far too long.)

• Finish all the woo-woo type books I’ve started and not finished, such as Gretchen Rubin’s Better Than Before (perfect for the start of the new year) and Jen Sincero’s You Are A Badass.

• Expand my reading horizon. I’m fortunate to have access to a lot of advanced reader copies, but it also means that I miss out on a lot of other published books. Fellow book lover/book blogger @KellyAnnLibrarian tipped me off to The Last Page Turned Book Blog‘s 20 for 2020 Reading Challenge. I can’t resist a good challenge, and hers runs the gamut from backlist books to books that were made into a movie to various types of non-fiction, and so on. There is a category or two there that will push any reader a little out of their comfort zone!

Interested? Click on the image below to go to Christine’s blog and learn all bout the challenge!

Now, some people may wonder HOW I finish so many books. The truth is that I have a Kindle and I never, ever, ever leave the house without it. Waiting at the doctor, parked in the school pickup line, grabbing a coffee out on my own – I read any chance I get.

Which may or may not explain why I am not writing as much as I’d like, but that’s another post entirely.

What about you?

What’s your reading goal for 2020?

Is it 5? 10? 12? 24? 52?
Was 67 books a crazy number?