Revisiting My 2013 Goals

So… way back in January, I did a Top Ten Tuesday where I listed some bookish goals for the 2013 year.  Something made me think about this list the other day and I realized that I have two and a half months to try to wrap up some of these goals.  I figure revisiting these goals on my blog may actually provide some accountability for me to complete these before the year ends.

Goal #1: Read 50 books.
This is still within the realm of possibility.  I’ve read 39 books so far this year, so I will probably end up in the neighborhood of 50 books, though I may be shy by a book or two.  We’ll see.

Goal #2: Keep up the blog

Err… I’ve been terrible at blogging.  My free time is in short supply these days and I’ve mostly been focusing on other hobbies (read: staring blankly at the TV) when I do get free time.  I have vague notions of posting a few mini-reviews and perhaps keeping this as more of a reading journal than a review site, but I don’t know that you could hold me to that.  I’d consider this a success if I actually post a handful of posts before the year is up.

Goal #3: Read daily to Lydia

Here is one I feel pretty good about.  While we don’t read every day, I do read to her pretty often.  Currently, Lydia is mostly into books for their chewable properties, though, so we don’t get a lot of reading done.

Goal #4: Listen to audiobooks

Another one I have been doing really well with!  I quickly realized when I went back to work that one of the best windows for getting reading done was my commute, so I’ve been doing lots of audiobooks lately.  I also like how I can download them to my phone from the library, so I don’t even have to leave my house to check them out.

Goal #5: Read some of the books I own

Well… I haven’t made the sort of progress I’d hoped here, but I have made some baby steps.  I have bought or been gifted a few books and actually read them (there is one book I bought at the library book sale I haven’t started yet, though).  I also reread the first Harry Potter book, which I own, and have been trying to make it through Bridge to Terabithia, which I bought for my Kindle over a year ago.  Baby steps.

Goal #6: Get rid of books I own that I won’t read or reread

This hasn’t happened.  I also don’t think it will happen, but we did some rearranging and I actually have some free shelf space now, though my shelves are still a mess because I haven’t actually resorted them.  Not a real priority right now.

Goal #7: Read one classic

I began reading Villette by Charlotte Brontë on Kindle yesterday.  I also just started the audiobook of Jane Eyre.  I’m not sure Jane Eyre counts since I have read it innumerable times before, but I am really going to try to get through Villette, too.  I know I can do Brontë’s writing, so I am hopeful.

Goal #8: Read outside of the box

I’ve been better at this than I thought I would be.  I’ve actually read a tiny bit of non-fiction (though, to be honest, this was mostly pregnancy/childbirth books).  And while I don’t completely avoid sci-fi, it isn’t my usual fare and I really enjoyed the Across the Universe series this year.  I also tried The 5th Wave in that genre, but had to DNF it.  I also gave literary fiction a chance and tried listening to Swamplandia!, but that one also was a DNF.  I also did Historical Fantasy (is that what they call it?) with Grave Mercy, which was a pleasant surprise.  I’d like to listen to the sequel at some point.  And like I said, I’m currently doing some classics, so that is also outside the box for me.

Goal #9: Read something not set in the US/Western Europe or with non-white main characters

I haven’t accomplished this yet.  I am hoping to get through Sherman Alexie’s Blasphemy before the end of the year (I’ve just been reading a story here and there) and as this is mostly Native American characters, I will probably count it towards this goal.  I also hope to pick up the new Khaled Hosseini book at some point, so that would also count towards this goal.  I’m just not sure I’ll get to it in this calendar year.

Goal #10: Read a chunkster

I managed to make it through the audio of Grave Mercy which is 14 hours long (which for me, is a super long audiobook) and Villette is also known to be a chunkster, so I am maybe facing my fear of big books.  I also apparently read two 500+ page romance novels.

I am actually doing better than I thought I would be, so yay for me!  How has your 2013 reading year been so far?