2018 in pages

By | December 30, 2017

I’m going to fall short of my reading goal for 2017. It’s 100% because I’m running at the gym and not bicycling so maybe I should add “learning to like audio books” to my 2018 goals? It’s going to be a must as treadmill runs get longer

I love that Goodreads tells me my reading totals over the years:

  • 2017:  84/91
  • 2016: 84/75
  • 2015: 87/56

My Year in Books is a pretty fun look at how weird my reading habits are.

In cleaning up my Goodreads tagging, I realized I’m not as far behind as I thought I would be. It seems like I was bad at adding finish dates, whoops. Glad to know I hit last year’s total. I won’t exceed it as I’m in the middle of a longer book and don’t have enough reading time today and tomorrow.

Recap on 2017 challenges:

  • #backlistreader: 43. Another one I can blame running for. Lots of new to me books this year and Mt. TBR has grown by a factor of one hundred. Oh well. We’ll try a version of this again
  • #librarylovechallenge: 30. Just shy of the 36 I wanted, but when you add in Kindle Unlimited (9) and NetGalley (19) I feel like that’s similar so while I fell short, I still accomplished the goal of reading more borrowed/free books. I think I’m going to do this one again, despite what I said about only doing backlist.
  • #ebookreadingchallenge: 78. This one is ridiculous for me. It’s not a challenge. I should marry a dead tree challenge with backlist, as that’s the true challenge. I read more dead tree this year though because some books NYPL had in hard copy vs. digital
  • 19,723 pages. This is a decline. Lots of shorter books this year. But books are books. Judgement free zone. I fell short, landed between bonsai and shrub.

Santa and Liz Claus haul

My TBR is out of control at 379 so a backlist reader challenge is a necessity.  This is in part, because Liz, a wonderful person who I’ve known through BookCrossing for a decade or more, introduced me to the amazing Runners’ Bookshelf and so many ideas come from there. Santa only gave me one book this year, Cy Adler is the man who founded the Great Saunter. Liz Claus is responsible for the two running books as well as Iris Murdoch to lure me into a wonderful challenge she’s hosting. Can’t wait. Because I’m “blaming” running for my lack of reading, I really should find a running, reading challenge. In the mean time I’ll settle for at least one on the 2018 Taking the Long Way Home book club list and one of the books of the month in the Runners’ Bookshelf.

The master list is once again a godsend, even though most of them don’t work for me personally (52 books/52 weeks is my bucket list though). The 2016 challenge didn’t come back for 2017 or 2018 and the 2017 backlist one had a few too many rules re: months the book was purchased so I think I’m going with the following:

  • #BeatTheBacklist, I love the fun, team element (love that I’m a Dragon!) and it’s not overcomplicated the way some of them are. I can’t commit to 12 books now because that will do nothing but ensure I don’t read those 12. What can I say, I know me. Goodreads shelf.

Beat the Backlist: Dewey Dragons

Angel's Guilty Pleasures

 

  • and for the library one, same host. I’m going to shoot for Overdrive Junkie and try for Library Addict in the event I get into audio books. I’m going to use #2018LibraryLoveChallenge so I can differentiate them from this year’s books

Here’s to a year full of words.

 

10 thoughts on “2018 in pages

  1. Angela @ Angel's Guilty Pleasures

    Glad to see you joining the Library Love Challenge for 2018 and you can work on those backlist books on your TBR, by looking for them at the library ^_^. As for audiobooks you should give them a try. I dived into them in mid-Sept and am hooked. I can do more things, like take a walk, run, clean, or work on the blog while listening to a great book on audio… Another thing to take a look at, at your library ^_^.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      Yeah running entertainment is definitely part of the draw of audio books. Not sure how good my library’s selection is, but worth exploring. Thanks for hosting such a fun one

      Reply
      1. Angela @ Angel's Guilty Pleasures

        Yes, Audios are worth exploring. Download the OverDrive app and Hoopla, both are for the library. You might find a book one and not the other. I search both when I’m looking for a book or I check my libraries website.

        Reply
        1. cari Post author

          Great tip, thanks! I’m aware of Overdrive but not the other

          Reply
  2. Liz Dexter

    Mwah hah hah … Hope you do join in the Iris Murdoch challenge, it’s super-relaxed, I don’t mind how many of the books people read! I’m just glad they all got there OK! And thank you for the (more) books that have travelled in this direction!

    Happy 2018 reading. I’m only doing my own challenge, plus husband I want to read Alan Moore’s “Jerusalem” and I also will do 20BooksOfSummer because I just read TBR stuff for that anyway.

    Reply
    1. cari Post author

      I need to look into your summer challenge. It always piques my curiosity, but I forget to look further.
      1200+ pages. That a book or an encyclopedia? 🙂 I always liked those tomes for page challenges, but the rise of Kindle Singles and the like keep my totals up, so win win?

      Reply
  3. Pingback: Review: Scott Jurek’s Eat & Run and #20BooksOfSummer – travellingcari.com

  4. Pingback: It’s better at the beach |

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *