It seems the first half of the year snuck out under cover of darkness (literally, I haven't had power since Friday, so it's been a rather dark--and hot--three days), and now I'm diving in to the second half of the year. In order to keep myself accountable, here's a recap of where I stand on my goals to-date:
Balance
I challenged myself to read a more balanced selection of titles this year, spreading my reading across literary fiction, genre fiction, non-fiction and classics. To date, I have read 55 books in 2012 (20 of which were assignments for Shelf Awareness): 17 literary fiction, 13 genre fiction, 18 nonfiction and 7 classics. Ten are unfinished (eight in progress!, and 2 DNFs). Clearly, I need to up my reading of the classics.
Twenty-four of these 55 titles were written by female authors--not too bad, but not quite as balanced as I'd have hoped. Forty-one of the 55 were published in 2010 or later.
Seventeen were 400 pages or more. I've read a total of 17,786 pages, averaging 9 days per book completed.
Classics Challenge
To date, I've fulfilled 4 of the 9 categories for the Back to the Classics Challenge. I still have to read: a 19th-century classic, a classic play, a translated classic, a classic award winner, and a classic set in a country I will not visit in my lifetime. Recommendations accepted.
A Victorian Celebration!
To help with my goal of reading more classics, I also signed up to participate in A Victorian Celebration, hosted by Allie at A Literary Odyssey, pledging to read three Victorian titles in the months of June and July. I've read one so far--two more to go in July.
26 by 26
On my 26 by 26 list, I set a goal of reading War and Peace and all of Hemingway's works before my 26th birthday. I've read 3 Hemingway titles to date, and none of War and Peace. Plus I'm thinking I should ease into Tolstoy with Anna Karenina first, so I need to get cracking.
It was too hot to read this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI like your balance. For me, I see a title I that intrigues me at the bookstore and the book ends up on the to-read pile, (oh, yeah, I buy it. I'm just girl who can't say no.), but it doesn't always get read. Where do you find the discipline?
I have the same problem - maybe it's genetic.
DeleteThere's an Anna Karenina readalong going on somewhere in blogosphere right now. I'm still considering...
ReplyDeleteHmmm, tempting. But I generally struggle with readalongs because I read so many books at one time, and I like to go at my own pace.
DeleteFinding balance in reading is so hard. I try to do it as well. I know I will always end up with more fiction than non-fiction but I do try to get an equal number of male and female authors. But then there is the whole other issue of only reading books written by white people...sigh.
ReplyDelete