Reading Goals & Challenges for 2018

Hello All!

2018 is my first year setting reading goals!

In previous years I've just read whatever suited my fancy and however many books I ended up reading, well, that was how many books I read that year (averaging about 100 books/year).

This is also my first year trying to actively be a part of the online book community, so...

I've switched things up a bit!!

READING GOALS

This year I set my first Goodreads goal - 52!
Why set my goal to 52 books this year when I have in previous years doubled that?

1.     I figure one book a week is a reasonable amount  for me to read while trying to complete the other reading and bookish goals I have set for myself. Such as;

·     Reviewing some of the books that I am reading. I feel I should slow my pace in order to fully digest, reflect upon, and write about what I have read. 

·     Reading more consciously, diversely, and selectively. Think quality over quantity ;)

·     Experiencing more of the bookaverse. Discussing books with others, bookstagram-ing (lol I am just making up all kinds of words here), and reading and interacting with more book blogs and readers!!

·     Taking time to learn the ins and outs of blogging ;)     

2.     The Goodreads challenge can be adjusted throughout the year. If I manage to hit   my goal early on I can adjust it as needed. 

CHALLENGES

I have chose two year long challenges to participate in,  the Beat The Backlist 2018 Challenge and the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge. I am going to try and participate in some mini challenges and read-a-thons throughout the year as well.

BEAT THE BACKLIST

This is a year long challenge hosted by book blogger Novelknight.  The challenge is to set a goal for the number of books that you want to read that were published before the current challenge year (back list books). And, essentially, dwindling down your TBR (which really is not that easy, because if you are anything like me you are constantly adding to it.) 

This challenge can be quite interactive! You can choose to participate in the weekly bookstagram photo challenge and/or the Goodreads group, you are also assigned to a team (Story Sorcerer here!!) and collectively you earn points. Each month the team with the highest points will have one winner drawn for the monthly prize!!

My Beat The Backlist goal is 28 books (and they count towards my overall Goodreads goal). Some of the books that I intend to read this year that fit this challenge are:

Nevernight  (The Nevernight Chronicle, #1) – Jay Kristoff

The Star- Touched Queen (The Star-Touched Queen, #1) – Roshani Chokshi

The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1) – Brandon Sanderson

The Diviners  (The Diviners, #1) – Libba Bray

Eliza and Her Monsters – Francesca Zappia

A Darker Shade of Magic ( Shades of Magic, #1) – V.E. Schwab

Red Rising (Red Rising, #1) – Pierce Brown

Walk on Earth a Stranger (The Gold Seer Trilogy, #1)  - Rae Carson

As I am very much a mood reader - it would do no good to plan out a TBR for this challenge for the whole year!! So, any other books that I read that were published prior to 2018 will be added to my beatthebacklist shelf on Goodreads ;)

POPSUGAR 

The POPSUGAR Reading Challenge is a list of 40 unique prompts (with an additional 10 advanced prompts)  made to help you "broaden your reading scope". If you are anything like me you tend to stick within the genre that you most enjoy reading (for me it's fantasy) and you end up missing out on some really good books!! 

As one of my reading goals is to read more consciously and diversely, I thought that this would be a great challenge to kick my butt into gear finding books that I otherwise wouldn't think to look for. 

My goal for this challenge is to complete 30 out of the 50 prompts.

Here are just a few of the prompts that I want to start with:

PROMPT BOOK A book by an author of a different ethnicity as you Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha, #1) – Tomi Adeyemi A novel based on a real person The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenager and the Crime That Changed Their Lives – Dashka Slater A book set in the decade you were born 1984 – George Orwell (Not set in the year I was born, but the title is the year I was born!) A book being read by a stranger in a public place Hmmm... I’m going to have to keep my out for this one ;) A book with characters who are twins The Window – Amelia Brunskill A book about a problem facing society today The Hate You Give  - Angie Thomas A book about mental health Everything Here is Beautiful – Mira T. Lee

                                                               

To find the complete list of POPSUGAR's 2018 Reading challenge prompts click here.

Well, that's it!! Those are my reading and challenge goals for 2018 :)

What are your reading goals?

Do you set a Goodreads goal?

Participate in any reading challenges?