Now that we're in 2019, it's time to look back at my 2018 goals and see how well I did. Then it will be time to share my 2019 goals! Here's what I wanted to accomplish in 2018.
1. Read the His Dark Materials series.
I did it! I enjoyed listening to the full-cast audio production of these books. It turns out that all this time I'd thought that I'd read the first two books in middle school, but I definitely only read the first one. The first book was excellent, the second book was confusing, and the third book was a trash fire of nonsense. Oh well!
2. Read the whole Chronicles of Narnia series.
I did not do this, but I'm all set to do a buddy read of the books in publication order in 2019. I already finished The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe this week!
3. Finish the Hercule Poirot books.
I did it! It took me just about two years to read through all 37 books. I haven't yet decided if I want to make a goal to tackle more Christie in the new year, or give it a break for a while.
4. Reread the Belgariad and Malloreon series on audiobook.
I completed half of this goal: I listened to the Belgariad series in 2018. I hope to get through the Malloreon series in 2019. I wasn't a huge fan of the audiobook narrator, but he grew on me as I got further into the series.
5. Read something my sister recommends.
My sister recommended Night Film by Marisha Pessl, and I thought it was excellent! I turned out to like it much better than the Pessl I'd had on my TBR list for the longest time, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, which I also ended up reading this year. My sister definitely has a taste for creepy books, though: Her past recommendations have been Stolen (about a kidnapper) and You (about a stalker).
6. Read some of the unread books on my bookshelf.
I pretty much failed at this. I read one book I had in hard copy, Disunity in Christ. I also started working through R For Dummies. And that's it. However, for Christmas I got a custom library stamp (as mentioned here) so I think that will prompt me to read more of my unread books, since I can't stamp them until I know whether I want to keep them! (Thankfully I own very few unread books to begin with.)
7. Get roughly 50% of my 2018 reads from my TBR list and 50% from elsewhere.
So it turns out that it's not a good idea to make a goal to read books off your TBR and then make every other goal about books that aren't on your TBR. Whoops. Out of the 124 books that I read in 2018, 43 were from my original TBR list, or 35%. That was the same number I read last year when I was actively trying not to read books on my TBR. Oh well — it's a new year!
8. Read at least three books published in 2018.
A whole bunch of my favorite authors ended up releasing books in 2018, plus I heard about several that I had to get my hands on immediately, so all told I read 15 books published in 2018, which is definitely a record for me. And half of these ended up on my "best of" lists for 2018!
9. Read some 2017 releases.
I read six books published in 2017, which is more than I expected to get to. One of them, When Dimple Met Rishi, also ended up on my favorites list for the year.
10. Promote the Best of the Bunch linkup more.
I didn't exactly do a stellar job of actively promoting this, but I did remember to link up with the Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up each month, so I consistently got 2-4 people linking up each month. Best of the Bunch is an easy linkup to participate in and I find it fun to see what everyone's favorite reads of the month were, so I hope it will continue to grow!
What were your bookish goals for 2018 and how did you do?
Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: Peter Pan and Americanah
Five years ago I was reading: Life After Life and War and Peace
Ten years ago I was reading: The Screwtape Letters and Dave Barry Is Not Making This Up
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