Mid-Year Reading Update

Sunday, July 05, 2020
How are we half way through the year already! It has felt like no time has passed and we've all been stuck in March for a while but the one positive of lockdown has been more time for reading. Whenever I post my reading wrap-ups, I aways receive comments about how much I am able to read and where do I find the time so I'll let you in on a couple of secrets: always take a book or audiobook wherever you go, make time for reading instead of watching TV (for example) and DNF books if you're not enjoying them to make time for other reads you may love. 

Statistics
As of the 5th July, I've managed to read 67 books and as I passed by 50 book target a month or so ago, I have upped it to 100. Currently I'm 17 books ahead of my target so I'm very happy with my statistics for the year so far. I'm also happy with the number of LGBT books I've finished in the first half of the year which was definitely helped by pride in June. The only general reading number I'm not overly happy with is the low number of classics and longer books I've finished which is something I need to change for the second half of 2020. 

Best Books
I'll start by mentioning a few of my favourite books of the year which are a mixture of non-fiction, translated fiction and fantasy, three of my current favourite genres. My favourites are listed below but I also wanted to give an honourable mention to a few other great reads: Heartstopper (Volume 3), Floriography, The Scottish Boy, The Life of Leonardo da Vinci and The Guest List, all of which I'd recommend. 

  • City of Light, City of Poison by Holly Tucker
  • The Black Hawks by David Wragg 
  • The Poppy War by R.F Kuang 
  • Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlin Doughty 
  • Battle Royale by Koushun Takami 

Disappointing Books
Moving onto the not so pleasant task of listing some of the books that I was sadly disappointed by this year. Here are a few more disappointing reads: The Seven - The Lost Tale of Dellerin, Halloween Tales and Pure by Andrew Miller. I have read quite a few good books as well as average reads in 2020 but thankfully there aren't too many that I DNF'd or were disappointing. 

  • Pines by Blake Crouch 
  • Ghosts of the Citadel by Jen Williams
  • The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
  • Queer: A Graphic History by Meg-John Barker
  • The House of the Vampire by George Viereck 

Reading Goals & TBR
My reading goals for the second half of the year are to meet my goal of finishing 100 books and to read more classics as well as longer reads over 500 pages. I have quite a few books I want to get to such as Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and quite a few reads by Stephen King that I'm saving until the autumn months. 

Follow me on GoodReads (Heather Nixon) for all of my book ratings, TBR and reading progress!

Have you read any of the books I've mentioned? Do you have any favourite books of 2020 so far? 

6 comments

  1. I will check out your best reads xx

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  2. Wow! You have read so much. You're inspiring me to try and read more. How do you do it? I don't think I've read any of the books you've listed here but I will definitely give them a try as I want to try new genres.

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  3. Its great that you've checked in to see how you are doing. I haven't read any of the books you've mentioned so I'm definitely going to check out some of your recommendations.

    www.thekellydianereport.co.uk

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  4. Sounds like you’ve had a great year for books so far! x

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  5. Sounds like your year in books is going well so far! I haven't read any of the ones you've mentioned here. I might need to up my goal as well, it was 50 this year but I'm on about 40 now x

    Sophie
    www.glowsteady.co.uk

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  6. Loved your mid year update! Well done on reading so many already xx

    Tiffany x www.foodandotherloves.co.uk

    ReplyDelete

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