2018 Reading Goals

I will be the first to admit that 26 is a completely random number. There is no real significance to it. If there is, I don't remember, so it obviously wasn't that important to me. Last year I chose 26 as the number of books I wanted to read in 2017. I would love to read more, but I have a day job on top of writing and a family and other hobbies, and I have a very hard time with audio books - love the idea. I listened to Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee all the way down to Atlanta for GRL a few years back. But, most of the time, the audio isn't actually loud enough for me to hear and understand. I'm hard of hearing and I am missing a good portion of the conversational ranges. If people aren't looking at me when they are talking to me, 9 times out of 10 I will miss everything that is said. Last year, I knew I wanted to expand my reading so my goal was 3 non-fiction, 3 classics, and 20 whatever.

According to Goodreads, I read 14 Books last year.

I read 6 Non-Fiction books -

I read 5 Classics

 

 

I read 3 that fall under the whatever Category

 

This year, I went with the same number of books 26 - because I didn't make it last year. But, I decided to add more categories - a way to read more - to expand not just my horizons, but point of view.

Same 26 Books:

3 - Non-Fiction - because I want to be the best me I can be, as well as, the best writer I can be.

3 - Classics - because I actually haven't read a lot of them.

1 - Native American Author

1 - African American Author

1- European Author

1- Non-European Author

1- Banned Book (current/previous)

15 - Whatever I Want.


I got the idea of expanding my reading horizons because of the Writing Excuses Podcast I found in November. Listening to it has motivated me in my writing and kept me from having a complete meltdown with the stupid number of hours and piles of stress I was under from the day job. While binging on the episodes, I was interested and kind of amazed at these Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror authors reading Romance, Literary Fiction, Fiction from international authors, and Young Adult. And not poo-pooing any of it.

I know some reading  challenges add things like a book by a female or male author or a political novel or a large novel, but I didn't want to do that. I generally don't care what the gender the author is of the book I'm reading. I wanted to challenge myself - to learn and relax. Maybe become a little uncomfortable with what is being said.

I do know that I want to read a book by Maya Angelou this year. I was fortunate enough to listen to her speak in person at a leadership conference I attended while I was in college - 2007 or 2008 I believe, but I still have yet to read anything by her.

So far this year I have read --

 

I have started:

 

I have added several books to my To Be Read pile and I know I will be adding more through-out the year. I love hearing about new authors and new books from authors I already know. I'm excited for what 2018 will bring. And if I'm lucky, I'll read more than 26 books!

Blessings,
Simone.