Another year, another Goodreads challenge I’ve failed. Okay, that’s a little harsh. The past two years, I’ve been reading the final book in my challenge when the clock struck midnight. Until I looked back at last year’s post, I thought I had set the same goal this year of 25, but it turns out I bumped my goal up by one: In 2017 I read 23 out of 24 books. In 2018 I read 24 out of 25. I’m pretty proud of that improvement, especially in a year when there was a lot of good TV out, and even more good video games.

I wish I could be one of those people who reads 50 books a year, but I have too many other interests to spend all my free time reading. Again, TV and video games play a major factor. But so does working out and hanging out with friends. And, this may be blasphemy… but sometimes I just don’t want to sit and read. I already have to force myself to sit and write – I’ve procrastinated writing this blog post for two days already – I don’t want to take any joy out of reading by forcing it either.

Though I did cut some corners to get as far as I did this year. I read not one but two collections of poetry, a photography book, and finally finished two non-fiction books I started in 2016 and 2017. But hey, would I have finished those without pushing myself to hit my goal? Probably not.

I’ve set another goal of 25 books for 2019. That seems to be the perfect balance of reaching, but attainable. I was just one book short this year, but if I had made my goal smaller, I wouldn’t have put half a dozen books on hold at the library in November. And I read some good books:

• The Great Alone and The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
• I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
• The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
• A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
• Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
• City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

You can see all the books I read, and their ratings, over on my Goodreads. I already have a stack of four books sitting under my coffee table I need to dive into, and three more holds at the library. Guess it’s time to get the 2019 challenge underway.