I’ve based my reading goals for this year on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2018 Reading Challenge (listed here).
Here’s my 2018 Reading Challenge list if you’d like to take a look.
Since we’re at the halfway point of the year, I think it’s a good time for a reflection and an update.
At the start of the year, I was excited about the Challenge, but my excitement is waning a bit. Some of that waning excitement is due to the time of year — the end of the school year is crazy and I don’t have enough emotional energy for a difficult text (I’m looking at you, The Brothers Karamazov).
Maybe I had too much gusto at the start of this thing. And I tend to pick sad books. January was dark times: Allegedly, Beartown, Speak, The Goldfinch — why did I do that to myself?
But… it’s only June. Surely I can finish this! Right? Right?!
In 2018 thus far, I have…
- Experienced 26 books
- Enjoyed most of those
- Abandoned three (when should you abandon a book? more on that here)
- Found a new all-time favorite (Brooklyn)
Here’s what I’ve read from my original Reading Challange list, including those I didn’t put into a category:
- Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
- Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
- Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
- Beartown by Fredrik Backman
- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
- Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
- The Likeness by Tana French
- The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty
- Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
- Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle
- Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
- Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín
And here’s what I’ve read that wasn’t on my list at all:
- Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson
- You Learn by Living by Eleanor Roosevelt
- Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown
- Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion by Gary Chapman
- Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line by Rob Thomas
- Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind by Jocelyn K. Glei
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
- What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
How are your reading goals going? Are you tired? Still excited? Let me know!
Emily Paine Smith 