vgriff

When it came to my reading goals, I did not do very well in 2018. I had five goals and I only made one of them.

I wanted to read all of Sherman Alexie’s books — I only read one before the #metoo accusations surfaced about how he’d abused his power with female authors and while I loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (it made my top 10 list), there was just too much other great stuff on my TBR list to go back to his other books. I think I’ll just shelve this goal for now. I might come back to it someday but I don’t feel any great desire to right now.

I wanted to read all of the Harry Potter books. I didn’t even start one. Shelving this one, too. Sounds like a good goal for a relaxing week in a wifi-free cabin maybe and I don’t think that’s in the cards for me in 2019.

I also really wanted to read all of the books on the syllabus for David Foster Wallace’s Literary Analysis class. I still think this one’s a great idea, and I went so far as to get each of these books from the library, but I didn’t actually read a single one. I am going to read Lonesome Dove this year though, because it keeps popping up in bookstores and online for me like some kind of personal siren call. I’m on the library wait list for it right now.

The one goal I did make was to read 75 books as part of the Goodreads Reading Challenge. I had lots of ups and downs to my reading, tearing through many of them in the winter and spring but almost none in the summer, before getting back on track only in late December.

So, what’s on tap for 2019? This year I’m going to be much more reasonable with only two goals — but the book count is higher so I feel OK about it.

Vic’s 2019 Reading Goals

1. Read 80 books: For the last three years I’ve read 75 books each year; this year I’m upping it to 80.

1. Write a 25-word review for every book I read. Post it here and on goodreads.

That’s it! What are your reading goals for this year?