2018 Reading Reflections

2018 has come and gone, and I realize now that I never posted my reading goals on the blog for 2018! I wrote them all down in my book bullet journal, but now I kind of wish I had made a post outlining what my yearly goals were. I have a post coming up this week about my goals for 2019! Since January 1 was in the middle of the week, I decided that my 2019 “goal year” would start this week.

These are the goals I wanted to reach in 2018:

  • Read 12 Star Wars books
  • Read 12 Star Trek books
  • Read 12 classics
  • Read 12 nonfiction books
  • Read 12 science fiction books
  • Read the first 80 Penguin Little Black Classics
  • Read 180 books total for the year

Here are the end results of those goals:

  • Read 4/12 Star Wars books
  • Read 0/12 Star Trek books
  • Read 8/12 classics (every 10 LBCs I read counted as one “classic”)
  • Read 12/12 nonfiction books
  • Read 8/12 science fiction books
  • Read 80/80 Penguin Little Black Classics
  • Read 180/180 books for the year

Overall, I think I did a really great job, and if I could redo the year, I’d make more of an effort to read more classics and nix the Star Trek list all together. And possibly reading all 80 of Penguin’s Little Black Classics. I’m going to do a post reviewing the entire box set, but honestly, I don’t think the entire box set is worth it unless you like having them look pretty in bookish photos or on your shelf. All that time I spent stressing over reaching a monthly quota of reading those Little Black Classics stressed me out and often put me off reading. I also realized that consistently being part of big marketing campaigns took a toll on my reading as well. I loved being part of them and wished I could have chosen more specific titles to feature and review, but ultimately, I felt like my blog and Instagram became advertising channels, and I know I lost a lot of engagement that way because who wants to deal with someone advertising at you all the time?? I’m not a hustler by nature, and it was draining and demotivating me more than I realized.

On the flip side, I did get to work with some amazing publishers and imprints, I read a lot of books out of my usual zone (a post on my attitude toward romance as a genre coming soon too!), and I learned a lot about myself, my reading styles and habits, my social media output and expectations, and the world. 2018 was definitely a year of turbulence and change socially and politically, and I have such good vibes already going into 2019.

What goals did you have for 2018? Did you reach them?