Every year I post a wrap-up of my reading for the year, and a goal for the coming New Year. 2020 brought a lot of changes to our household. Covid weirdness, my husband retired from his job (forced to really), and I went back to work full time. Those changes meant I did less reading than in past years...but I made sure that my reading time meant something to me. I spent 2020 reading what I wanted to read....revisiting series I love......reading books that appealed to me....and started an Agatha Christie reading project I've been wanting to do for years. So, I read fewer books....but had more fun doing it!
This is how the year rounded out. I read: 56 audio books, 9 books on kindle/kindle unlimited, 50 books from my local library, 25 books off my own shelves, 2 books on openlibrary, and I reviewed 124 books. I dnf'd one book. 267 books -- that's not bad. Less than usual, but there was so much going on!
All in all, a good reading year despite everything else.
This year -- I want to continue my quest to read Agatha Christie in publication order. I'm having fun! Agatha has been my fav author since I was 9, but I had never read any of her short stories before. I'm taking my time and enjoying my journey through her writing. I stop to go down any rabbit hole I find interesting along the way -- researching historical events, her life, slang of the era....whatever I want. Loving it! The earlier stories I have read so far have held up remarkably well despite being published about 100 years ago. I'm enjoying the differences I find in language, social norms, racial/cultural biases...and the nuances of human behavior that are still very much the same.
In 2021, I want to read more books off my own shelves. I have a lot of books....I need to start reading and gifting some to others to free up shelf space. Making room on my shelves frees up space for ..... new books! So, I remain on my book buying ban for this year, until I have read more books I already own. Gifted books, ebooks, etc are not banned.....I'm just not ordering lots of new lovely books until I have read and given away more of what I already have. Otherwise, my entire house will be filled with books!
Because I have gone back to work full time and my reading time is at a premium, I am paring back the number of books I request for Review. I only want 10 pending at any time.... Right now, I have 20 on my shelf at NetGalley. Going to pare that down to 10, and then The Rule goes into effect. I can only have 10 pending books on NetGalley -- if there are 10 on my Shelf, then I have to review something before I can request another book. Period .I read for enjoyment -- and I review every book I read. I do not want reviewing to become "work'' because that makes reading a chore, rather than a relaxing, entertaining break from work. I am also going to limit reviews to books, authors, genres and concepts that fit my personal taste. I'm only going to read what I enjoy. I'm going to pass on books/authors that publishers contact me about, but that I really wouldn't choose to read otherwise. This benefits everyone -- I enjoy the book and they get more positive reviews. It definitely keeps the DNFs to a bare minimum. In 2020, I only had one....and it was a library book not a review ARC. Hopefully in 2021 I have no DNFs at all!
I'm setting my Goodreads goal this year at 100 books. I usually read a lot more than that -- but working full time is slowing my reading. I want to enjoy myself...not feel forced to read faster.
That's a wrap! Bye 2020. Can't say I'm sorry to see you gone. Movin' on to the new!
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