2018 reading goals and challenges

[Fabianthefabulous]

My reading/book goals for 2018 are:

• to read 26 books (I have read 34 books this year but I want to read some longer books in 2018)

• spend less time on mumsnet. I want to read books instead of wasting so much time on AIBU

• and not buy any books! The past year has been one long book buying binge, I have been buying books quicker then I can read them, I need to pause and catch up. I easily have enough real and Kindle books to keep me going for a year and I will still use the library.

Anyone else have any goals for the year or any challenges they will be following?

I ll have another look vander

bootygirl no the Modern Mrs Darcy challenge is on her site for free. Modern Mrs Darcy does have a paid-for online book club (I'm not part of that)

I’ve set my goal at 50 again for this year.

My goals are:
To read all the books currently sitting on my TBR window sill by the end of the year (12).
To read all the books I received for Christmas (10), excepting The Basic Works of Aristotle (which at almost 1500 pages makes me wonder what the complete works of Aristotle looks like), and The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson which is also a mighty tome and something I just want to dip in and out of when I wish and not aim to finish.
To read more poetry.
To read more plays.
To read more non-fiction.
Not doing numbers for those categories, just more.
To not be swept up by BookTube new publications hype and buy new releases unless they are by an author who I know I already like. Instead I shall order from the library and practice patience and self control.

Doh, completely forgot to mention my primary reading goal which won’t be anywhere near finished by the end of the year, it’s more of a decade reading goal, which is to read Steve Donoghue's Western Canon Starter Kit this is explains why I have got Aristotle for Christmas.

I think I might start somewhere easy though, probably with The Victorians. Dh is doing it with me and is cracking on with The Greeks after he has finished his current book about zombie tank warriors or something.

I'm also trying to increase the amount of reading I do. Messing about on my iPad has drastically reduced how much I read and I'm going to change that.

Instead of giving myself a target number of books, for now I'm planning to put down the iPad and read when I would otherwise be mindlessly clicking back and forth between mumsnet, Facebook and Reddit. What happened? Is it true about the dopamine hit from getting a like? I don't actually post much either.

So today, during work breaks I'm going to read my book. "The Queen's Man" by Rory Clements and I'm not enjoying it much. I love Shardlake and a friend recommended this series but there's no comparison, IMHO.

I find it hard to find unputdownable books these days but whether that's because my concentration has been damaged by social media or that more dross is published, I don't know.

scribbly I m a bit like that with book tube!

alice I am struggling too & not sure if it's too much time surfing iPad that makes reading 'proper' books...

Exactly bootygirl!

I finished the Queens Man. I'm recovering at home from post-op complications so between very short bursts of work I've been reading rather than surfing or watching tv.

I'd almost forgotten how much I enjoy losing myself in a book. I never thought I'd say that.

I'm going to finish all the partly read books beside my bed ( my concentrations been shot for a variety of reasons) then work through my unread pile.

What I quite liked this year was that GoodReads told me how many pages I had read as well so I am aiming for c. 10,000 pages because there are quite a few longer books I want to read. I did find myself reading shorter books towards the end of the year.

MillicentMargaretAmanda

How?! Not "how did you find the time?" but how did you find the books? I set 100 and I could keep up with the pace but not the finding of things to read.

I don't mind a trashy crime book or two and took up fantasy towards the end of the year but I was still at a loss.