Books in 2018

17:00


Before my initial inspection, or seeing my year in books on Goodreads, I genuinely thought I'd had a rubbish reading year. I thought that because I hadn't read nearly as much as I'd wanted to at the beginning of the year that I'd almost "failed", and that the books that I had read weren't especially good.

However, upon actually looking at what I've read this year, I've remembered that I actually read some pretty decent books and that I should be proud of what I've done. Just because I only read 20 books and not my initial goal of 50 does not make my reading experience any less valid - even the fact that I wrote "only read 20 books" shows how much it's ingrained in me that reading a large number of books is equal to being a good reader. NO.

If I would have read 100, 1000 or even just 1 book in the entire year it would have been an achievement because at least I'm reading. Reading is such a wonderful past time, and it upsets me to think that I've spent a lot of the last few years equating the amount of books to how good of a reader I am.

I have set my goal to 30 books this year because I feel it's achievable and I want to make more of a conscious effort to read more. However, if I don't get anywhere near that goal then I'm not going to make a big fuss over it and I'll still be proud of what I've done. I read for pleasure, and I don't find it pleasurable keeping a tight track of my stats, what books I'm reading or how far behind on my Goodreads goal I am. This year if I fancy reading I'll read, and if I don't fancy it then I'll do something else, it's as simple as that. I've vowed to do more of what makes me happy in 2019 and I plan on doing just that.

*ahem* so here's a list of everything that I've read in 2018 - anything in red I didn't finish for one reason or another:

The Light of the Fireflies - Paul Pen
The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k - Sarah Knight
Elantris - Brandon Sanderson
How to Stop Time - Matt Haig
A Court of Thorns and Roses - Sarah J. Maas
Red Rising - Pierce Brown
Unf*ck Yourself - Gary John Bishop
Renegades - Marissa Meyer
The Vegetarian - Kang Han
Little Black Book - Otegha Uwagba
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
Furyborn - Claire Legrand
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson
Strange the Dreamer - Laini Taylor
To All The Boys I've Loved Before - Jenny Han
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Game of Life and How to Play It - Florence Scovel Shinn
Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami
Your Word is Your Wand - Florence Scovel Shinn

I'm not gonna lie, my memory of the books I read last year is pretty lacking for one reason or another. Other than Ready Player One which was a reread and my favourite book of all time, my favourite books of the year were probably Furyborn and The Alchemist

Even though The Alchemist was a fiction book, I read it with a mindset of it being a non-fiction book; it has real life problems and relatable epiphanies in the casing of a fictional world and it was just amazing - I'd heard so many good things about that book so was really happy when I finally got around to reading it. 

I remember what happened in Furyborn and that I absolutely LOVED it, but I can't quite remember how to describe it (if that makes any sense whatsoever). The fact that this is an issue is a reminder to myself to write more book review in 2019 - that'll definitely be a thing. 

Here's to 2019 - finishing books I've already started, creating more of a consistent reading habit and generally enjoying the reading experience more than ever. Chin chin!

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