It’s November! The end of the year is getting closer and that means that’s I’ve been thinking about my reading plans for the rest of the year. Like last year, I didn’t set a Goodreads reading challenge for myself. Not having the pressure of seeing “you’re three books behind schedule” every time you open Goodreads is a really freeing feeling, I can tell you.
That doesn’t mean that I didn’t have a goal in mind, though. In my head, I put my reading goal at 50 books. Luckily, I’m way too bad at maths to quickly figure out how far behind or ahead I am. As the year went on, I did realise that I was doing pretty well, though. In fact, I reached my goal of reading 50 books almost two weeks ago! If I try my best, I might even manage to read 60 books this year, which would be an absolute record for me.
I think what’s been working well for me this year is that I’ve been listening to audiobooks a lot more. Also, I’ve been setting monthly TBRs for myself way more often this year. Which is kind of ironic, considering the fact that I wrote a blog post in February explaining why I didn’t really like setting TBRs for myself. I guess those things can change pretty quickly! But yes, audiobooks and TBRs have really helped for me. Plus, I also think I’ve just devoted more time to reading this year.
As for my reading plans for the rest of the year… I haven’t set a clearcut TBR for myself for those final two months since I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself during NaNoWriMo this month (I’ll get to that in a minute) and the holidays in December. At the start of the year, I made a list of ten books I wanted to read in 2019. So far, I’ve read seven of them and I’m currently reading the eighth (Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado).
That means that there are two books left on the list (which I think is pretty good!). Those are the two books I definitely want to have read by the end of the year. They’re also both over 500 pages (which I don’t think is a coincidence – there must have been a reason why I waited so long to read them). The first one, which I’ve just read the first 30 pages of this weekend, is Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi and the second one is Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I’m looking forward to reading both of them! If you want to hear me talk about my end of year TBR some more, you can watch my BookTube video on it right here.
Now, let’s talk about NaNoWriMo! At the start of the year, I mentioned that the only real goal I had for the year was to finish writing my novel. I have been working on it off and on during the year, but it still isn’t finished, which is why I’m using NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as a tool to get it done. I won’t need the full 50,000 words to finish my story, but the fact that so many people are writing at the same time is really motivating to me. Plus, I like seeing my progress on the stats page on the website. If you’re participating as well, you can add me as a buddy on the website (my name on there is AnneK).
So, those are my plans for the rest of the year! It’s been a great reading year so far – I’ve read some amazing books and I’ve had a really good time on Twitter and my new YouTube channel!
Now, let’s chat! How has your reading year been going so far? What’s the best book you’ve read in 2019 and what are you hoping to read before the year is up? Let me know down below!
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I’m glad your goals have been going well!! And not doing a GR challenge definitely sounds more relaxing ahhh. 😂 I’m tempted to aim for a bit lower next year so I don’t always feel pressured. Also BEST of luck with NaNo and finishing your draft!
Whoops, I forgot to comment, sorry! 😅 Not doing a GR challenge has been so great, but I have to say I’m secretly considering setting one for myself for 2020 because this reading year’s been so amazing! And thank you! I’ve not finished my draft yet, but I’m continuing with it into December and I think I’ll be able to finish before the end of the year!
Lovely post, I find it motivating to hear about your reading progress! I hope December is a good reading month for you, and you feel like you’ve accomplished your goals now the year is closing. I don’t tend to make TBRs myself, but love connecting with other book bloggers such as yourself as it spurs me on to keep up my hobby of reading. I’m currently reading Hetty Feather’s Christmas by Jacqueline Wilson which I’m enjoying so far. I would love hear more about National Novel Writing Month on your blog as I’ve never heard of it before and it sounds interesting. Happy reading! 🙂 xx
Helen | Helen’s Fashion, Beauty & Lifestyle Blog
Thank you! I’m glad to hear that! I think I won’t get a whole lot of reading done in December as I’m still working on my novel, but I have two books I definitely want to read before the end of the year. Ah, that’s lovely to head; maybe I’ll write a post on my experiences with finishing my novel once it’s done! 🙂 Thanks for your comment and happy reading to you too!