2015 Reading Challenge: 1 Month Down, 11 More To Go
2015 will be my third year participating in the annual Goodreads Reading Challenge, with a goal of reading 50 books by the end of the year. Admittedly, it’s a fairly easy goal for me: in 2013 I read 52 books, and last year I read 86.
Now that January is over, here’s a run-down of the New Year’s first month of reads.
Books read: 9
Pages read: 2, 393
Longest read: The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly (515 pages)
My ratings and reviews:
Two 5-star titles
Gemini Cell by Myke Cole
Atlanta Burns by Chuck Wendig
Four 4-star titles
Afterburn by Tim Curran
Island of the Forbidden by Hunter Shea
Blockbuster by Lisa von Biela
The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
Two 3-star titles
The Lurking Season by Kristopher Rufty
Winter at the Door by Sarah Graves
One 2-star title
It’s Only Death by Lee Thompson
I doubt I’ll be doing a monthly update on the reading challenge. I might only toss in an update around some particular benchmarks, like a six-month check-up, but we’ll see. All in all, I think January was a fairly strong month of reads and I was mostly happy with the titles I read.
It’s Only Death came close to going in the Did Not Finish pile, but I hate not finishing a book, regardless of its appeal to me. It was short, so I mustered on, and the ending was good enough despite how little I enjoyed getting there. So, a whole extra star to that title just for the fun gun-filled finish.
I’m hoping February treats me well, and maybe even a little bit better. I’d love to spend the month rolling around in nothing but 4 or 5 star titles! As far as the 3-star reads went, as well as all the others, I’m going by the Goodreads metric, so 3-stars means I Liked It and should not be construed as a negative. Frankly, I found The Lurking Season to be far more compelling and encouraging enough that I want to check out more of Rufty’s works. Winter At The Door was solid enough, but flawed and I probably won’t check out more of Graves’ work in the future. So, take that for what it’s worth…
How did your January reads stack up? Are you doing the Goodread Challenge, and if so, share your stats below!
