Mid Year Book Report 2015

I would say my reading dramatically increased the year I got my Nook and Joined Goodreads.

Guess what year I'm talking about...in 2008 I actually ready 15 books but that was also the year I started grad school.  So at the end of 2009 I bought my first of many nooks and joined Goodreads in the Summer of 2010.

But this isn't about my Goodreads love affair which I'm sure I've talked about before...but my book reading this year a little past the half way point. And I will kinda compare it to previous years...

So every year I set a reading challenge. For a few years it was 50+ and I hit it but these last two years I've brought it down a little. Last year just to 30 (which was a very surprising sprint for me at the end I didn't think I'd make it) and this year back up a little to 40.  As you can see I'm behind. Why am I so behind? It's driving me nuts! But I'm in a book rut. I can't find things I want to read. I can't find as many book that I can just read in 2-3 days because they're than enrapturing.  I remember in 2012 and 2013 I would just put books away! I could devour two books a weekend and I just found so much I really wanted to read.  This year that just has not been the case.  I'll start a book get about 50-75 pages into it and just give up, can't finish it, it refuses to hold my attention.  I feel like the few books I have read have taken me very little time because they were fast paced and fairly easy.  So lets break down what I've read so far.

Out of 13 books only two 5 Star books.  BOTH non-fiction. And one I didn't even read I listened to the audio book of. It was an amazing audio book, but an audio book non the less.  Next we have a good number of 4 Star books. We have a leadership book, 4 alien/dystopian/other worldy books, a crime fiction book and then a general fiction.  None of these books were 5 star material but they all were good and I enjoyed them for what they were. Oooh one of those kinda alien books in that group is totally a short story that doesn't belong here but is here because I finished it...ooops. If I hit my goal I'll figure out a way to remove it later. 3 Star books are just average to me, I didn't hate them and I don't regret reading them but they're just like eh they're there.  I have a Liane Moriarty fun not-yo-mama's chick lit style book and then a YouTube personalities book...both were delightful and I think of them both fondly but just 3 stars.  The the last book is a 2 star. I hated this book. I'm upset I wasted a week reading it. Everyone else in the world loves this book but I did not. A Girl on a Train...uhhg.

Three out of these 13 are audio books and that's okay. I like audio books when I drive back and forth to San Antonio and I have done that A LOT this year. I'm surprised there isn't another one in there... oh there is 4 audio books- good job. So that helps, I'll probably knock out another 2-3 books via audio book before the year is through.

Looking at the books like this none of them seem to go together, I don't have a cohesive theme or trend. I don't every year but some years I do- some years I read a lot of Mysteries or a lot of Sci-Fi and some years it's just all over the place. I think if I had one theme that I just was really enjoying at the moment I could read book after book like that but I'm not.  There has actually only been one book that I just had to get back to and needed to know the ending of and I was pretty bummed when it was over.  But I usually look forward to reading and starting new books and this year I'm just blah. I choose to vedge and watch TV or YouTube instead of reading...hopefully it's just a half year funk...and I'll snap out of it soon.

PS Something I'll probably write about a little more at the end of the year is how I remember books a few months after reading them.  I've been looking back on how I rated books last year or the year before and wonder why I gave it such a lot rating when I remember it so fondly and recommend it to everyone! I think sometimes when I review a book immediately after I finish it I'm more critical vs if I let it sit a while and then think back on how the book made me feel.  Anyways more to come on that.