Well we’re past the half way point of 2020. Congratulations, it’s been quite a year so far.

Like many book lovers I decided to take part in the Goodreads reading challenge. It’s the first year I’ve ever participated with the challenge, I’m slightly ashamed to say that until December, Goodreads wasn’t even on my radar (not sure how I managed to miss it).

I set myself the goal to read 20 books this year. I fully understand that this may seen low for a book blogger and to start off with I was pretty ashamed about it. I’ve seen many bloggers who have 50-70 books as their goal, and then there’s me with a measly 20. However, over the year I’ve began to lessen some of the insecurity of it. At the end of the day I’m dyslexic and have Irlens… I can’t exactly read fast.

Anyway, with us past the mid year mark now is a good time to reflect on how I’d doing reading and if I’m on track.

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What I’ve read so far

As of writing this post I’m bang on track with 10 books done and dusted. Do I think I’ll make it to 20? Sure I’ll get there but I do need to get a little bit ahead before I go back to University. If you’re new then I’m going into my second year in September, studying creative and professional writing… basically I do a stupid amount of reading. Sadly I can’t include over half of what I read into the challenge because I tend to read extracts so I’m not often getting through full books. This means I’m going to have to try and get ahead in the next two/ three months before I get back into the swing of Uni work.

The Books I’ve read are:

1. The Saviours champion by Jenna Moreci
2. This book will make you sleep by Jessamy Hibberd and Jo Usmar
3. What if? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randall Munroe
4. Parent Yourself Again: Love Yourself The Way You Have Always Wanted to Be Loved by Yong Kang Chan
5. Artemis Fowl #1 by Eoin Colfer
6. How To:Absurd Scientific Advice for Common Real- World Problems by Randall Munroe
7. Sleeping Giants (Themis Files, #1) by Sylvain Neuvel
8. The Fear bubble: Harness Fear and Live Without Limits by Ant Middleton
9. Surrounded by Idiots by Thomas Erikson
10. Doing it! Let’s Talk About Sex by Hannah Witton

What I’m currently reading

I always have a few book on the go at the same time, usually about 2 or 3. These books are The Back Up Plan: Giving up? Or moving on? by Elsie McArthur and The Arctic Incident (Artemis Fowl #2) by Eoin Colfer.

The Back Up Plan is a good old romance where I’m super invested in the main character. It’s based in Scotland, so it has a special place in my heart because I used to live in Scotland when I was tiny and spend many holidays in the Highlands.

The Arctic Incident is the second book in the Artemis Fowl series. I never read this series as a kid (no idea why) but my boyfriend insisted that I needed to give it a go at some point. So at 21 years old I’m enjoying the series for the first time. After reading the first book, I am so mad about the movie trailer… like what on earth are they doing?

What I’ve learned about my reading

Out of the ten books of this year, 7 of them are non-fiction, something I really didn’t expect. For someone who’s stuck by fiction all my life, I honestly thought I’d read more than 3 fiction books. Maybe this is what personal development looks like?

In all seriousness though, at this point I’m really enjoying non-fiction. Maybe I’m at the point in my life where I no longer need the escape from reality that fiction stories give me. Has anyone else found that as they got older then drifted from fiction more and delved into the world of non fiction?

To conclude

I’m pretty chuffed that I’m on track at the moment, do I think I’ll get over 20 reads in this year? Nah, I think I’m going to be pushing myself to get to the goal with Uni starting up in September. I guess it doesn’t help that I’m reading some pretty chunky books, but I don’t want to compromise on book length for the sake of getting that goal in.

I’ve also become more relaxed about my own reading pace. No matter how hard I try, I simply can not read as fast as other people, being neurodivergent sucks sometimes. But, I’m coming to terms with reading should be fun and if it’s not, then I’m doing something wrong.

How about you? Are you taking part in the Goodreads challenge and if so how is it going so far? If there’s any books you’ve loved reading this year feel free to let me know, I’d love to check them out.