Reading Goals 2017 – Mid-Year Update | #ChattyBlogs July Linky

The middle of the year is here, which means it’s time for the half-yearly check-in on my reading goals.

Now as I write this, I haven’t yet taken stock, but I have a fair idea of what is to come, and I don’t think it’s going to be very pretty, as I have had a very low-key reading year so far.

Which is precisely why I am doing this and taking stock of my progress, because I definitely need a reality check to turn this around during the second half of the year.

So without further ado, let’s get started.

Goal #1: Read 35 Books

Update: This isn’t going so well, ’cause by this point I should have read 17-18 books, but I have read only 13. However, this is one goal I know I will be able to reach by the end of the year, so I am not particularly worried about it at this point.

Goal #2: Finish the Bingo for 2016

Update – This isn’t going great either. There were 7 pending categories, and I have only completed 2 of them. I am kinda optimistic about getting to most of the rest by the end of the year, except the mythology one. Here is a category-wise update.

Re-Read a Book (complete): I did this. I read Cinder in Jan, and re-read it in April, during Dewey’s 24 hour readathon to reacquaint myself with the story before I continued with the series.

Read a Fairy Tale Adaptation (complete): This is done, as I read the whole Lunar Chronicles series, in which every book is essentially a fairy tale adaptation.

Read a book set in the future (kinda complete): Okay technically this is done too, as the Lunar Chronicles is set in the future, but I had picked Ready Player One for this category, and I am still extremely interested in reading it, so I will try and read it for this category.

Give a second chance to an author (pending): Now this is going to surprise many of you, but I have read only one John Green book – The Fault in Our Stars – and I found it just okay. Which is why I never found myself gravitate towards any of his other books.

However I do like the guy, and it was possibly just the wrong book at the wrong time. So I wanted to give him a second chance with Looking For Alaska, a book which comes highly recommended. I haven’t read it so far, but I think I should be able to read this in the second half of the year.

Book about Writing (pending): Bird by Bird was my pick for this category. The status is pending, but hopeful.

Book recommended by a Friend (pending): Okay so 80% of my reading is directly influenced by recommendations from friends, so in a way I have completed this, several times over. But I wanted to read some very specific recommendations, which I haven’t been able to do so far.

Mythology new to me (pending): This is the one category I am the most skeptical about reading. Because the only mythology that I can think of (outside of Indian mythology of-course) is the Greek mythology.

Which makes Rick Riordan the obvious choice. But since I normally finish out every series I start, the sheer number of books in the Percy Jackson world intimidate me, and so I find myself not wanting to pick it up at all. So if you have any mythology book recommendations (outside of Indian mythology) which are standalone reads, or duologies at the most, please share.

Goal # 3: Complete 3 Book Series Start to Finish

Update – I have completed one entire series – The Lunar Chronicles, so I have two more to go. As of now, I am not sure which those two will be, but I have quite a long wishlist.

Goal #4: Read My Own Damn Books Challenge

Update – When I initially took up this challenge, I was extremely optimistic about it, but this has been a total disaster so far. As of 1st Jan 2017, I had 19 books on my physical TBR, and the goal was to get to 5 books, which meant I had to read 14 books. Now technically I did not buy all of these 19 books, some landed as review copies, some as gifts, but that’s not an excuse. I wanted to read all the physical books I had, to sort the ones I wanted to keep/donate.

So far I have read only one book (Half Girlfriend – it was aggravating), and I have 13 more to go, which is pretty impossible, so I am modifying this goal to only clear 5 books from my TBR. Which means I have to read 4 more books to reach this goal.

Goal #5: Participate in the online book community through Readathons and BuddyReads

Update – This one was a success. I have participated in 2 readathons (Diverseathon for which I read If I Was Your Girl and Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon) and 1 buddy-read (Jane Eyre with Bookish Muggle). I have loved all of these experiences, and I am extremely glad that I made this as a goal. I am looking forward to doing more buddy-reads in the second half of the year, and will most definitely participate in a few more readathons too.

That’s all from my end, folks. I would love to hear from you guys. Had any of you set reading goals for 2017? How are you guys doing on those goals? Do share!

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