This year I decided to do my Goodreads reading target a bit differently. I read a lot but instead of setting myself higher and higher targets I decided to set myself a different challenge. So 2016 is the year of reading at least 100 books by women. I was going to make it easy and just read whatever took my fancy and I’d made a good start reading the Vera series by Anne Cleeves. Crime novels are my usual choice. But today I read about a new book by Mary Beard on Ancient Rome that I really want to read. I also bought MyNigel Clare Wright’s The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka which I want to read too. So I decided to extend my reading experience. So rather than just read 100 books I am going to read at least:
10 non-fiction books
10 young adult fiction books
10 books by Women Of Colour
10 books by Australian and New Zealand authors (for the AWWC 2016)
10 books by new to me women authors
10 books by transgender women
10 books by women who write or wrote under male nom de plume
Edited to add:
10 books by disabled women
I am pinching Megpie’s idea of keeping track of all this on an Excel spreadsheet.
I am going to try and not double up on categories and What I mean is that I will only count each book in one category, even if it fits into more than one. (end edit) I plan to blog about some of my reading list through the year. If you’ve read something that you have loved that fits with the list let me know. (Or even if it doesn’t but it’s a must read)
I am also keen to know if you have set yourself a reading challenge for 2016 and what you are going to read?
Categories: arts & entertainment, fun & hobbies, Miscellaneous
Vale David Bowie 
Mega Doctor Who Snog, Marry, Avoid. 
Otterday! And Open Thread 
My reading challenge for 2016 is basically “keep track of all the fiction I read between 25 DEC 2015 and 24 DEC 2016”, because I was curious about how much I was going through. Turns out I read a lot – I managed over 200 items within the first month alone (most of them shorter works of fan fiction, because I have a lot of that and it’s
cheapfree). Also turns out that tracking my reading means I wind up doing a bit less of it, because I start getting all meta about things (there’s “oh gods, I have to track this” and “oh gods, this will Look Bad on the tracking list[1]” to start with, then there’s “do I have to track re-reads?[2]” and other such questions; plus there’s the whole “oh gods, that’s a LOT of reading; why don’t I do something else with my time?” thing). I’ll be interested in seeing how it plays out over the rest of the year – I know things definitely slowed down when I shifted from a text file (unnumbered) to a spreadsheet (numbered rows) as a way of tracking things.So first I want to track what I’m reading, then I’ll do the analysis.
[1] My tracking list is a spreadsheet on my computer. I have no plans to show it to anyone. My brain, as I’ve mentioned elsewhere, hates me and wants me to be miserable.
[2] Yes. Mostly because I’m never sure whether I’ve re-read something inside this period or not.
I suspect if I tried to track my reading I’d end up exactly the same – especially with the ‘I can’t put this on my tracking list!’
I didn’t really think through how I would track this, but an excel spreadsheet sounds like a good idea so I’m going to pinch that idea. Thanks :)
Anything by Frances Hardinge, if you haven’t already. Beautiful children’s/YA fantasy.
Thanks Julie, I will check her out.