Let’s Talk Bookish: Mid Year Reading Check-In

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was originally created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books starting in August 2019, and was then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion from May 2020 to March 2022. Book Nook Bits has hosted since April 2022.

I can’t believe we’re at the end of June already! This year has flown by, especially the last month – we were away visiting my family for my niece’s first birthday, then away the following weekend at some very swanky hotels to celebrate my dad’s 70th. It’s been a lot! So, as I’m writing this I’m kind of just settling back into my normal routine, and trying to get some blog posts up as I have fallen behind just a touch. So, let’s dive in with the reading check-in, shall we.

Let’s Talk Bookish June 28th:
Mid Year Reading Check-In

  Prompts: We’re just about halfway through 2024! Did you set reading goals at the beginning of the year? If so, how are you doing with them? What are the best books you’ve read so far this year? What are the worst ones? What reading goals do you have for the rest of the year?

I did set an overall reading goal at the beginning of the year, as well as setting up for some reading challenges. My main goal for books read in total is 70 – I’ve tried various numbers through the years, and occasionally have extended it if it looks like I’ll easily hit the overall goal, but more recently I’ve decided to stick around the same number, and just be glad if I exceed it!

So, right now, out of 70 books, I’ve read 40, which I’m really pleased about. I’m always happiest when I can exceed my overall reading goal, and I’m currently on track to do that. For my reading challenges, I currently have 5 – 2 to be completed at any point, 3 that are specifically for this year. The Disney Reading Challenge 2024 has 40 prompts, and I’ve finished 11. The reading challenge I created – Musicals Reading Challenge 2024 – has 24 prompts, and again, I’m on 11. The Barbie Reading Challenge is for 2024, and out of 17 prompts I’ve completed 8. I think I’m doing pretty well on all of these so far, though I definitely think next year I’m going to do less.

For the two challenges to be completed at any time, the Avengers Challenge! has 6 main prompts, plus 5 bonus prompts – I’ve actually completed the 6 main ones, and 2 of the bonus prompts. The Netflix Movies & TV Shows challenge has 24 prompts, but this one has slowed down a lot this year as I focus on the others! It might be one I pick up again properly in 2025. So far, however, I have completed 13 prompts, so not too many left to go.

As for best books I’ve read this year, that’s always tricky. I’d definitely rank I Feed Her to the Beast and The Beast is Me quite highly, along with Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle. I also really enjoyed The Furies and Gay Aliens and Queer Folk, two non-fiction books that tackle very different topics. Among the top is also Saga, Volume 9, which I picked up after finishing my reread of volumes 1 – 8. There are so many great books I’ve read this year and not much room to go into all of them!

On the other hand, with great books comes…some not so great ones. There are some I’ve read this year I’ve ultimately been left dissatisfied with – despite a strong start, I ended up giving 1 star to Gambling on the Due’s Daughter. Kissed also got 1 star from me, while Crowned a Traitor and An Improbable Season got 2 stars. Other books that proved more disappointing than anything else were Taming the Minotaur and A Curse of Blood and Wolves.

As for the rest of the year – hit 70 books read, and if I can, I’d like to reach 80. At the moment, I’m not totally sure if I’ll be able to complete the Disney Reading Challenge, but I feel like I’m on track for the others. I definitely want to create another Musicals challenge for next year, and I’ve started jotting down some ideas for this, and do the Disney challenge again, but I’ll probably stick to them and the Netflix one until I complete that. I want to finish the bonus prompts for the Avengers challenge, and finish the Barbie one, and once they’re done I can concentrate more on the Disney one.

So, it feels like a bit of a wait and see moment for the middle of the year, though I’m sure I’ll have a better idea of what challenges I might be able to complete in a couple of months. For now, I’m pretty happy with where things stand, and even if I don’t finish the Disney Reading Challenge, I can at least try and get over halfway.