2017 Reading Goals - Update

Now that we're more or less halfway through 2017, I decided that it's about time to do a little update on how well Em and I are doing with the reading goals we made for ourselves at the beginning of 2017. We didn't make our goals extremely specific. All we did was choose a number based on how much we wanted to read and what seemed reasonable based on how much we knew we had read in 2016. And now it's time to reflect on those goals... oh boy.

I honestly don't think things are going well for Em. When I asked her if she remembered her original goal, she had no clue. (It was 50 books!) But, after a few months with only one book finished at the end of each one, she had lessened her goal to a more reasonable 30. (She couldn't remember this number, either!) Drawing knowledge from my experience with my monthly goals for Reading is Inevitable, I don't think that you can do all too well if you don't remember your goals. And it looks like this is true for Em as well.

"Horribly," she said when I asked her how she thought she was doing. "I think my problem is, I read books fairly quickly when I have them on hand. But I haven't been reserving books from the library or having books around me that I'm really interested in. So I haven't been reading... basically." 

And is she proud of herself? "Nope. Not at all." But, "there's always next year!"

(Emily, there's also the rest of this year!)

Although I can't blame her. Am I happy with how I'm doing? Eh, not really. I know that my goal is to read 36 books (about 12 more than last year... what was I thinking?) and that I've read about 24 so far. But that includes graphic novels. While I didn't specifically write this in my original post, "2017 Reading Goals", I would preferably hit the 36-book goal without the inclusion of graphic novels. I apologize to anyone who enjoys them, but I think we can all agree that it is easy to read a graphic novel faster than a novel. Since I think I've only read 12 books that aren't graphic novels, that would mean that I have to read 24 books -- the total number of books I read in a year -- in a bit less than half a year. So am I proud of myself? No. 

Looking at the actual numbers, Em needs to read 18 more books to complete her 30-book goal. I need to read 10 books minimum if I want to reach my 36-book goal (or 22 books without graphic novels, which is better than I thought, at the least). 

Now, what books have we read, exactly? Well...

Books Em Has Read in 2017 (so far!)

1. The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan 
2. Every Day by David Levithan
3. The Odyssey adaptation by Geraldine McCaughrean
4. Attack on Titan: Before the Fall - Book 1 by Ryo Suzukaze
5. The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
6. Wake by Lisa McMann
7. Fade by Lisa McMann
8. Gone by Lisa McMann
9. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
10. Eliza and her Monsters by Francesca Zappia
11. The Way I Used I Used to Be by Ellen Hopkins
12. Another Day by David Levithan 

Do you know what Em and I found out when I was typing in this list? She had added a book that she didn't even read! "Wait, what is this book?" I asked. "Did you even read it? I don't remember it. What is this book?" She must have gotten her TBR list confused with the list of books she actually has read. That got us laughing for a long time!

Books Julia Has Read in 2017 (so far!)

1. The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls
2. Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs
3. The Odyssey adaptation by Geraldine McCaughrean
4. Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
5. In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware
6. Attack on Titan - Volume 1 by Hajime Isayama
7. Attack on Titan - Volume 2 by Hajime Isayama
8. Attack on Titan - Volume 3 by Hajime Isayama
9. Attack on Titan - Volume 4 by Hajime Isayama
10. Attack on Titan - Volume 5 by Hajime Isayama
11. Attack on Titan - Volume 6 by Hajime Isayama
12. Attack on Titan - Volume 7 by Hajime Isayama
13. Attack on Titan - Volume 8 by Hajime Isayama
14. Attack on Titan - Volume 9 by Hajime Isayama
15. Attack on Titan - Volume 10 by Hajime Isayama
16. The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe 
• (I don't remember who arranged the poems, however!)
17. Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
18. Jackaby by William Ritter
19. Attack on Titan - Volume 11 by Hajime Isayama
20. Attack on Titan - Volume 12 by Hajime Isayama
21. Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature Sashi Kaufman
22. Blindness by José Saramago
23. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
24. I Wrote This For You by Iain S. Thomas
25. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseinei
26. The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer

So, as you can see, we both still have some way to go. But then again, we still have the rest of the year, right? Right?

...

Well, that's all for today's post! If you have your own reading goals for this year, feel free to tell me about them down below in the comments section! Hopefully you're doing a bit better than we are!