reading challenge

52 Books Reading Challenge: End of Year Review

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A year ago I set myself the fairly ambitious challenge of reading 52 books in a year. The decision to do this challenge was driven mainly by the knowledge that I wasn’t reading as much as I used to; I’ve always been a bookworm and during university I burned through more than three books a week through sheer necessity, but in the last few years online distractions have pulled me further away from my bookshelves. I wanted to change that, and pay a little more attention to the variety of books I was choosing to read.

I came nowhere near hitting my 52 books target – the count currently sits at 36 and going by the size of my current read I’m only going to finish one more by the end of the year. But I have read significantly more than last year, and been more active in seeking out new authors and reading a more diverse range of literature. I’ve also loved recording my progress on Goodreads and reviewing the books, and plan to continue next year with a more manageable target. In the meantime, these are the books I’ve loved most over the last three months of the year. Continue reading →

52 Books in 52 Weeks Reading Challenge

52 Books Reading Challenge: 9-Month Review

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I’m now nine months into my ‘read 52 books in 52 weeks’ challenge, and I’m still a million miles behind reaching my target but I am so happy that it’s pushed me to dedicate more of my spare time to reading. I’m also really pleased with the book choices I made in the past three months; in my 6-month review I felt like I struggled to find even five books to talk about that I’d really enjoyed, but recently I’ve loved almost everything I’ve picked up. Here are my thoughts on some of my favourite books from the past three months. Continue reading →

52 Books Reading Challenge: 6-Month Review

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At the beginning of the year I challenged myself to read 52 books in a year, and I’ve now hit the halfway mark on that challenge. To be honest it’s got away from me a bit – 3 months in I was practically bang on target, but since then the numbers have slipped and I’m a shameful 8 books behind. I’m trying not to let it get to me too much; in the past month I’ve been on a solo holiday and moved house, and a lot of my free time before that was spent organising those things rather than relaxing with a book.

Hopefully I’ll be able to make some ground up in the coming months, but even if I don’t  I’ll still be happy that I committed more time to reading, and expanded the range of books I’m reading. Here are a few of my most notable reads from April to June. Continue reading →

52 Books Reading Challenge: 3-Month Review

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At the start of the year I was determined to kick start my reading habits, and set myself a challenge to read 52 books in 2016. Rather than being a target that I’ll race to hit, I’m treating the challenge as a way of reminding myself to always have a book on the go, and to read more widely.

As we reach the 3-month mark, I’m looking back at how I’m doing and what my favourite books have been. I’m currently 2 books behind schedule due to one long and challenging read, but I’m catching up fast and am feeling much better about the amount of time I’m committing to reading instead of aimlessly scrolling Twitter or watching Netflix. These are the books I’ve most enjoyed in the first 3 months. Continue reading →

A Reading Challenge: 52 Books in 52 Weeks

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This year, I’ve decided to take on a reading challenge, with the simple purpose of pushing myself to read more. I can’t believe it’s come to this. Really, I’m pretty ashamed. In my uni days I used to read at least 3 books a week for my English course, and even after I graduated there was a long period of time when I still devoured books, revelling in the joy of being able to read whatever I wanted instead of every choice being dictated by a required reading list. In the 7 months I was travelling I took huge advantage of hostel book swaps and never began a long-distance bus journey without a chunky novel in my bag, and when I first returned to the UK I had a 90-minute each way daily commute that I only survived with my head buried in a book.

Reading challenge-book collection Continue reading →