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6 July 2013

The State of Things - halfway through the reading year

Now is the time to assess how I am coping with the various reading challenges I set myself at the beginning of the year.

Well, the truth is that some are progressing well, some are finished, and others barely started. Overall I'm happy, but not sure I am going to reach an overall target of 150. 140 is probably more realistic.

Here's the summary. The full story can be viewed in the Reading Challenges Update for 2013.

The confession
  • I haven't used my Kindle much this year, hence the low count in e-books.
    I've been borrowing quite a bit from the library as well as reading a number of review copies provided by authors and publishers. 
  • I've had a bit of a focus on Australian and British authors.
  • I need to think a bit more about the Global Reading Challenge (particularly South America, Africa, Asia and New Zealand)
  • I've neglected American and New Zealand crime fiction. It is not that I don't have the books, just that I need to read them. Ditto for translated crime fiction.
  • I'm doing really well on new-to-me authors.
  • I didn't complete the Canadian Reading Challenge for 2012-13 (1 July to 30 June), but I'm off to a flying start for 2013-2014
My achievements so far
 Personal reading challenges
  • American authors: currently 4/20
  • translated, currently 5 - last year 27
  • New Zealand, currently 0/4
  • new to me: currently 37 - last year 48
  • not crime fiction: currently 4

4 comments:

  1. Kerrie - 140 or 150, it's still impressive. I know what you mean about not reading certain kinds of authors although you've got them. I've done that too. I wonder if it's the way we focus ourselves. Well, I think it's that for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You did amazing, 140 is an outrageous #. I love that you've focused on Australian authors, inspiring. I didn't make the Canadian authors challenge either, and I'm not trying for next year. Part of reading is reading what you feel like. No commitments. Thanks for all your great suggestions.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so impressive. I have not been able to read my quota per month, and have been reading long books and been busy, so I'm finishing fewer titles.

    But the books are quality, so I'm going at I can. And, yes, I have to read books from Asia and Latin America to meet the Global Challenge.

    It's been harder this year than ever but I'm going to try to make it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. That's impressive, Kerrie. There just aren't enough hours in the day. For my sins I've been on the judging panel for the NZ Post Book Awards, which is New Zealand's national book awards. Keeping up with all that reading has been such a mission I haven't got near any of the international books. (I think it was 187 books to read) I'm going to go on an international fiction reading bender after next week when we complete our judging!

    ReplyDelete

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