Book Update
This year, I have decided to keep a book journal. I'm keeping track of how many books I'm reading, from beginning to end. (A lot of the time, I will try to read just certain scenes in books, and not read the book from cover to cover.) For the month of January, I read 24 books. Seven of them were re-reads of old favorites, since I started the year re-reading the "Five Hundred Kingdoms" series by Mercedes Lackey. Thirteen were romances (either category romances or historical romances.) The seven re-reads were all fantasy. Three were YA, and one was a History non-fiction audiobook. My average rating for the books, on a five star scale based on Goodreads' rating, was 3.75. I enjoyed all of the books I read during January. The lowest ratings were 2 stars, which on Goodreads means that they were okay, but they weren't terrible.
I also decided to do the Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year. But I've had to keep upping it, which kind of makes me feel self-conscious (which is utterly ridiculous, I know, but I've always felt like I had to apologize for the things I was good at. o_O I'm crazy, what can I say?) I started with 100 books. It quickly became apparent that I was easily going to make that goal. So then I upped it to 150. That wasn't enough either. Then 200. Still not enough. I'm currently sitting at 260, which I think is a plausible goal for me, without making me feel like I have to rush around. The biggest reason why I'm able to read that much is because I only work a part-time job, and I don't have kids. So this is the final year to really see how many books I can read when given my druthers. (I'm hoping to have a child by early next year.)
One very odd thing that I noticed while I was looking at the books I read last month is that all but one was written by a woman. And even that one, The Redemption of Althalus, was co-written by a husband and wife team. I have absolutely no idea why that is. A large part probably has to do with the fact that I am utterly addicted to romance novels, and the vast majority of them are written by women. Most of the books I read are romances, especially category romances published under the "Harlequinn Presents" line of romances. And as far as I know, the majority of their authors are female (unless they write under pseudonyms, which is possible.)
It's not that I don't read male authors either. I love Stephen King, David Eddings, and have a love/hate thing for George R.R. Martin. But I do think the majority of the authors that I read and love are female. I have absolutely no idea why this is the case, lol. Even outside of romance, the majority of authors that I read are female. Mercedes Lackey, Kate Elliott, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, L.M. Montgomery, Margaret Mitchell. It's a little odd, lol.
I'm currently sitting at six books for the month of February. All but one are romances, and even that one could be considered fantasy/paranormal romance. One of them did get a one star rating. It had a lot of potential, but it didn't quite know what to do with that potential, so the book ended up being mixed and incredibly confused. (If I got with my personal star rating system on my library scale, the book would have gotten a half a star.)
I also decided to do the Goodreads Reading Challenge for this year. But I've had to keep upping it, which kind of makes me feel self-conscious (which is utterly ridiculous, I know, but I've always felt like I had to apologize for the things I was good at. o_O I'm crazy, what can I say?) I started with 100 books. It quickly became apparent that I was easily going to make that goal. So then I upped it to 150. That wasn't enough either. Then 200. Still not enough. I'm currently sitting at 260, which I think is a plausible goal for me, without making me feel like I have to rush around. The biggest reason why I'm able to read that much is because I only work a part-time job, and I don't have kids. So this is the final year to really see how many books I can read when given my druthers. (I'm hoping to have a child by early next year.)
One very odd thing that I noticed while I was looking at the books I read last month is that all but one was written by a woman. And even that one, The Redemption of Althalus, was co-written by a husband and wife team. I have absolutely no idea why that is. A large part probably has to do with the fact that I am utterly addicted to romance novels, and the vast majority of them are written by women. Most of the books I read are romances, especially category romances published under the "Harlequinn Presents" line of romances. And as far as I know, the majority of their authors are female (unless they write under pseudonyms, which is possible.)
It's not that I don't read male authors either. I love Stephen King, David Eddings, and have a love/hate thing for George R.R. Martin. But I do think the majority of the authors that I read and love are female. I have absolutely no idea why this is the case, lol. Even outside of romance, the majority of authors that I read are female. Mercedes Lackey, Kate Elliott, Louisa May Alcott, Mary Shelley, L.M. Montgomery, Margaret Mitchell. It's a little odd, lol.
I'm currently sitting at six books for the month of February. All but one are romances, and even that one could be considered fantasy/paranormal romance. One of them did get a one star rating. It had a lot of potential, but it didn't quite know what to do with that potential, so the book ended up being mixed and incredibly confused. (If I got with my personal star rating system on my library scale, the book would have gotten a half a star.)