Last year I decided to set a reading goal through Goodreads to read 24 books. I read 33. This year I decided to set my goal for 30 because, honestly, I'm just not that ambitious and I don't like disappointment. Anyway, it is now August 4th and I've read 42 books. I've amended my goal to 52 because if I can't read 10 more books before December 31st what am I doing with my life? Focus: What are some arbitrary goals you set for yourself that you ended up blowing out of the water? Alt-Focus: In what areas are you super disciplined, so much that you set goals and accomplish them? Alt-Alt-Focus: What are some of the best books you've read this year?
Alt Alt Focus - A Little Life. I "read" it on Audible while I exercised and found myself meandering around for hours because I couldn't put it down. BUT at the same time, I can't really recommend it to others. Anybody else read it? I won't say any more because I don't want to spoil it for those that haven't.
I'm a terrible goal setter. I have too much happening at any one point to know what to do with myself.
I never set goals. I probably should. Alt-alt focus: I've been traveling for the year so my reading has been alternately voracious and non-existant depending on how much downtime I have. I have thoroughly enjoyed The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay by Michael Chabon, The Shipping News by Annie Proulx and In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O'Brien. I've found myself piling through just about everything that Alistair MacLean wrote, too - not especially great books, but fun to read, especially if you're not in the mood for something too heavy. I've liked them on trains and busses where I'm often distracted by the scenery. On a side note, I've re-read a couple books I thought I remembered enjoying in high school only to find out that they're utter crap. The Cobra Event by Richard Preston? Maybe some of the worst writing I've read. It's like adult fiction at a 10-year old reading level.
Alt-Alt-Focus: My favorite books I read this year are Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher, God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo, You by Caroline Kepnes, City of Mirrors (3rd in the Passage Trilogy) by Justin Cronin, and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. No, I hadn't read To Kill a Mockingbird until this year. I'm scared to reread Catcher in the Rye for that reason. I remember loving Holden Caulfield when I read it junior year of high school. Now I'm afraid I'll think he's just a punk kid.