Skip to main content

2018 Wrap-up and 2019 Plans

Professional Reader Hello everyone,

This is a slightly different blog post than what I normally do. Since it is the last Sunday of the year, I'd like to take the time to look back at everything I've read in 2018 and let you know what my plans are for the new year.

So . . . 2018.
At the beginning of the year, I decided I wanted to try to read at least 26 books. I forget how I came to this number but I think it had something to do with the fact I'd tried for 100 books the year before that and I'd only gotten about twenty or so read. According to Goodreads, I managed to read 48 books this year. Yay! That's 185% of my goal. I tried to push it all the way to 200% but then the holidays happened and I had to focus on making the Christmas presents for my family (I crochet everyone a present every year).

For those of you who are interested, here's the list of books I read this year:

  • Noragami volume 1
  • Noragami volume 2
  • Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature
  • Tokyo Ghoul volume 2
  • Burning
  • The Book Thief
  • Black Cat volume 2
  • Children of the Sea volume 1
  • Children of the Sea volume 2
  • Children of the Sea volume 3
  • Children of the Sea volume 4
  • Children of the Sea volume 5
  • Through the Woods
  • Girl Who Owned a City
  • It's All Relative
  • Seven Strange and Ghostly Tales
  • Color of Earth
  • Color of Water
  • Color of Heaven
  • Noragami volume 3
  • Tokyo Ghoul volume 6
  • The Tale of Genji
  • Girl in the Blue Coat
  • Children of Blood and Bone
  • The Graveyard Book
  • Wild Magic
  • Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
  • Hollow City
  • Library of Souls
  • Breath
  • Six of Crows
  • Black Gryphon
  • Meddling Kids
  • Atherlon: House of Power
  • Circe
  • 1Q84 (volume 1. My version is broken into three books)
  • Lies of Locke Lamora
  • Once Upon a Dream
  • What She Ate
  • The Secret History of Wonder Woman
  • Do You Know Who You Are
  • Illuminae
  • The Homemade Kitchen
  • Big Mushy Happy Lump
  • Locke and Key volume 1
  • Locke and Key volume 2
  • Locke and Key volume 3
  • Monstress
Not everything that I read has made it onto my blog yet but I'd like to get them all up. We'll have to see how the next year starts out.

This past month, I became a member with Net Galley. Hopefully that means I'll be able to get out reviews of new or upcoming titles for you.

I also managed to get a short story published in Z Publishing House (affiliate link here: http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264 Note: I do get a small commission from anything purchased through this link).

Finally, I almost made it all the way through NaNoWriMo but going to visit my family over Thanksgiving made it difficult to finish on time.

And 2019 . . .

First of all, I'm switching from trying to post on Fridays to posting on Sunday. I think I switched sometime during the year and it seems to work better for me.

Second, I've decided I want to try for 100 books read again. I have a lot of books on my TBR that I need to get through and I think this is the best way to do it. It'll also be a fun challenge for myself. This number is also partly inspired by the Mount TBR challenge from My Reader's Block (link to the challenge here: https://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2018/10/mount-tbr-reading-challenge-2019.html). 100 books is the Mt. Everest level of the challenge. However, this challenge is meant for owned TBR books but my job requires me to read new releases that I don't own prior to 2019. I could do her virtual TBR challenge but that also has a rule that says the books must all be borrowed, which doesn't help me slim down my physical reading pile (no joke, I have a pile by my bed). So I'm going to do a slightly modified version of the Mt. TBR challenge. I'm going to aim for 100 books this year (Mt. Everest here I come) but I'm not going to limit myself to only things I own-- again, my job requires I keep on top of new releases. I'm going to focus on things that I've been meaning to read, both in my physical pile and suggested by co-workers, but only if it's something I've heard about multiple times.

To help me focus a bit more, I'm also going to be integrating Pop Sugar's reading challenge (link here: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/Reading-Challenge-2019-45450968). Since I have a large TBR pile, hopefully this will help me actually decide on what to read and not just look at my pile  for days at a time. We'll see how it goes.

I also want to focus on my writing this year. I'd like to write and publish another short story as well as focus on a fantasy that I started this year. The Novel Factory has an infograph mapping out how to finish a novel in a year. They have software for this but I'm just going to use their suggested weekly goals. If you're interested in seeing some of my writing or at least getting updates on my writing, please let me know down in the comments.

So, heading into January, here is my TBR for the month. The goal is to read two books a week, one will be determined by the Pop Sugar challenge and the other will be whatever I feel like reading.
  • I Am the Storm by Tash McAdam (courtesy of Net Galley)-- POPSUGAR Book about someone with superpowers
  • Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalo-- POPSUGAR Book featuring an amateur detective
  • A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos
  • Fearless by Sarah Tarkoff (courtesy of Harper Collins)
  • The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka-- POPSUGAR Book with clothing or an accessory on the cover
  • Summer Wars by Mamoru Hosoda-- POPSUGAR Book about family
  • The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
  • The Ghost in the Shell volume 1 by Shirow Masamune
Hopefully I'm not biting off more than I can chew.

Thank you to everyone who has stuck around and read by book reviews. I really appreciate it. I hope you'll come back in the next year.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blade of the Immortal Vol. 1-4 Review

  Blade of the Immortal by Hiroaki Saura, originally Mugen no Junin, published by Afternoon from Jun 1993 to December 2012.  In America, it was published by Dark Horse Comics, using a cut-and-paste method instead of the mirror image method in order to make the series read left-to-right. This was done at Mr. Samura's request to preserve his artwork and to avoid flipping the manji symbol used throughout the series. The series was made into an anime, directed by Koichi Mashimo and produced by Bee Train, released July through December 2008 and released by Media Blsters in North America in September 2009. There was also a 2017 live action film adaption directed by Takashi Miike and staring Takuya Kimura. The manga won a 1997 Excellence Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival and a Will Eisener Comic industry Award in 2000. It sold 5 million copies as of February 2017. I managed to find the Dark Horse versions at a local second hand bookstore. Unfortunately, these edit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Breath

  Update 9/28/18: I am now an affiliate with Z Publishing House. I do receive a small commission for items purchased through this link (http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264) if anyone is interested in anthologies of emerging writers. Breath is written by Donna Jo Napoli and published by Atheneum Books in 2003. Napoli is an American author of young adult and children’s books such as The Magic Circle (1993), Beast (2000), and Dark Shimmer (2015). This is a YA historical fantasy retelling of the Pied Piper legend. Most of this is rooted in historical fact but some elements such as the piper legend and “magic” makes it dip into fantasy. While this reads similarly to a middle grade book, this does deal with some more mature material, including suggestive material, as well as some gruesome scenes with the plague. *Some Spoilers Ahead* Slaz is a twelve year old farmer’s son who has always been sickly. His lungs fill with mucus, causing him to cough and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Song of Roland

Update 9/28/18: I am now an affiliate with Z Publishing House. I do get a small commission from any purchases through this link ( http://www.zpublishinghouse.com?rfsn=1831564.e6264) if anyone is interested in some anthologies of emerging writers. I'm cheating a little by starting with a story that has been around since around 1099 AD (approximately). Not a lot of people will read this book outside of a literature class and I honestly can't blame them. The reason why I bought this book was because of a song I found on Youtube. "The Song of Roland" is a ballad about a knight who is tricked into fighting the Sarasans. He is inevitably betrayed by another knight who convinces the king the horn he hears is just Roland hunting. Roland and his army are slaughtered and later is considered a tragic hero. This is a a good summary of what happens in the book, though not exactly. A quick summary: (Spoilers alert) French King Charles, also known as Charlemagne, is convin...
Post a Comment
Read more