Happy Saturday everyone! If you celebrated the 4th of July this past week, I hope you were all safe and had a great time! (and maybe got some okay sleep from all the fireworks) Today I wanted to share my reading stats for the year and what I’ve done so far with reading! This is taken from my Goodreads that tracks all my reading and also some thoughts on my reading so far this year. I’ll admit that reading this year has been a little bit more complicated for me as far as my own personal expectations and my wonky reading mood. But here’s all the stuff I’ve read and a few stats for my reading!
It’s really interesting to see how far you’re reading has gone by the time the first half is over! I only set a goal for 75 books for the whole year so far and with being almost halfway to reaching my goal, that’s pretty good! I didn’t pay attention to the number of books for a while because I didn’t want to jinx myself lol. But to be honest, I’m glad with my goal so far and with having such a variety of books I’ve read so far this year. But what’s surprised me the most is the categories of books I’ve read this year:
Library books (e-book, audio book or physical): 11/31 or 35%
Personal books (e-book, Audible credits or physical): 4/31 or 13%
ARCs (physical or digital): 15/31 or 48%
Other (samplers): 4%
DNFs in 2019: 8
This year I’ve felt a bit more brutal with DNF’ing books as far as having more of a definitive reaction to them. This year, these books I decided to DNF were ones that in one form or another bored me to tears. Most of these just didn’t seem to match the story I thought I was going to get and I also got frustrated with giving these books more time to see if they got better. But once I put these books down, I’ve only looked back at them with more disappointed feelings which tells me that they weren’t for me. It’s interesting how strong my reactions were, but I have the philosophy that you shouldn’t force yourself to keep reading a book you haven’t liked.
It’s also been crazy how many ARCs I’ve read this year! I wasn’t keeping track of how many I was reading until I saw these graphics of my reading year. I am very thankful for the chances to read books early, as I know how important these early reviews are for readers and boosting the upcoming book. I’ve done my fair share of boosting books that I feel really deserve the love and hopefully sell very well upon release date. But the slight downside to this is that my personal books have been suffering! I’ve bought so many and while some I’ve bought are ones I read as ARCs and wanted finished copies, SO many others are waiting to be read. I’ve made a few lists and a few posts that talk about personal books I want to read by the end of the year so far, it’s not looking fantastic.
Final Reflection
While I’m disappointed in myself that I haven’t been reading from my own physical library, I am proud with the new favorites that I have found this year and also being close to halfway with my goal of reading 75 books. I would love to finally accomplish a set number that I give myself, since I haven’t met that Goodreads goal ever since I started using it. It’s been quite the year of reading new releases and also having much stronger reactions to books I DNF or not enjoy, but that’s life. I’m glad that many of my reactions to books are getting stronger, giving more vivid memories to attach to those books and also feeling more satisfied as a reader. I plan for this year to finish my ARC pile as soon as I can and then maybe enjoy a month or two before 2020 to read some books on my Kindle or on my shelves. Wish me luck everyone! I hope we all can reach our goals before the new decade comes in 🙂
What’s your reading been like this year? Any favorites or surprises? Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments!
Great to hear you are using your library. Ours isn’t all that wonderful at buying books from places like Australia – they tend to go for the more popular choices
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s no fun! Hopefully if enough people request more YA that they’ll buy it? I try to use mine as much as possible 🙂
LikeLike
Unfortunately the requests seem to be for more crime novels and celeb bios
LikeLiked by 1 person
No fun! Do you guys have a digital library like Overdrive? That’s been a great way for me to read books that they don’t have physical copies of
LikeLike
I see a few rated 5 stars in there, which one has been your favorite?
I just glanced at my mid year Goodreads stats and realized that so many of my reads this year were rereads. Hah! I need to start reading some new stuff.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Crap lol! If I had to pick only 3, I would say: Sorecery, the Kingdom and probably the lady rogue. Lady Rogue really went after the teen in me that was obsessed with Vlad the Imapler 🙂
LikeLike
I have read mostly ARCs as well, 57% of my reads were ARCs. I find that for the first two months I read all backlist titles and the last two months I have read nothing but ARCs. I want to try and balance it out more for the rest of the year. I want to finish some old series that I started a while ago and read some of the books I got at a library book sale.
LikeLike
Looks like a good year so far!
I’ve also been dnf’ing more books this year!
(www.evelynreads.com)
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s freeing isn’t it? I don’t think it’s a bad thing; it just helps you realize what is and isn’t for you 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly! (Even though sometimes it’s still a bit hard..)
LikeLike
Aww no, The Bone Charmer looked so promising! 😦 I’ve been trying to DNF more books this year as well. I still feel kind of bad about it (usually if they’re ARCs), but I agree with you–life is too short to be trudging through books we don’t enjoy.
All the best of luck for the rest of 2019, Amanda! ❤
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Kathy! You still doing ok? Yeah I keep telling myself that with DNF’ing. It really does feel better to know I’ll spend time reading something I’m liking much more
LikeLike
Thank you for the mention Sionna! 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks girlie! It’s fun to reflect with stats like that 🙂 I feel like I’ll need luck for the rest of the year lol
LikeLike