Reading Challenge 2018 ~ A look back

On this last day of the year, I was taking a look back over my reading year and the challenge I made for myself back in January.  While looking at only numbers I have to admit this wasn't my greatest reading year ever.  I hit a few slumps this year which affected those numbers bringing them down.  A lot of books that turned out disappointing compared to the expectation I had of them put the skids on my pace of reading while also taking up time until I either finished them or even set them aside as happened with a couple of them (one at 120 pages and the other at 275 pages!).  Which irks me because I don't like to not finish a book thinking at some point it will get better, but at the same time I'm getting tired of wasting my time with books I am not enjoying.  And so goes the struggle trying to decide.  So in a numbers sense it was a failure compared to other years but if I look at the challenge I set for myself, I'd say it wasn't too bad at all.  I read more review books than I challenged myself with, I only missed one month of knocking off books out of my library to read shelves, and I read a fair number out of my own piles at home.  Here's how it broke down:

1 Anne of Green Gables book    - didn't happen

 1 book per month off my library TBR (listed as I go)

      -January- "The Reluctant Midwife" by Patricia Harman
      -February - "The Illusionist's Apprentice" by Kristy Cambron
      -March - "Promise Me This" by Cathy Gohlke
     -April - "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent 
      -May - "A Time to Stand" by Robert Whitlow
      -June - "What Alice Forgot" by Liane Moriarty 
     -July - "No One Ever Asked" by Katie Genshert
      -August - "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry" Rachel Joyce 
      -September - "The Secret Keeper" by Kate Morton
      -October - "As Bright As Heaven" by Susan Meissner
      -November -
      -December - "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

 As many books as I can from my own pile at home (listed as I go) 

      "A Bridge Across the Ocean" by Susan Meissner
      "Left Neglected" by Lisa Genova
      "Full Disclosure" by Dee Henderson (DNF'd at 120 pgs)
      "The Abominable" by Dan Simmons
      "The Masterpiece" by Francine Rivers
      "The Girl in the Glass" by Susan Meissner
      "Summer of Joy" by Ann H. Gabhart
      "The Lost Art of Mixing" by Erica Bauermeister
      "Dangerous Crossing" by Rachel Rhys
      "The Little Old Lady Strikes Again" by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg
      "Under a Cloudless Sky" by Chris Fabry

 6 review books (at least one every other month) 

      "The View from Rainshadow Bay" by Colleen Coble
      "Hurricane Season" by Lauren K. Denton
      " Send Down the Rain" by Charles Martin
      "Where Hope Begins" by Catherine West
      "The House at Saltwater Point" by Colleen Coble
      "Becoming Mrs. Lewis" by Patti Callahan (set aside at pg 275/388)
      "Chosen People" by Robert Whitlow

 New Testament from Bibliotheca   - still working on it

 1 or 2 rereads   
      "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers



So there you have it.  My favorite read of the year was a tie between The Masterpiece, Send Down the Rain and Under A Clouldless Sky.  My least favorite was a toss up between The Abominable (though it had it's good parts that I enjoyed as a whole it was my least favorite), and Becoming Mrs. Lewis (described in my full review of the book why I didn't like it). 

If you want full reviews of the books you can find that by the search bar on this blog for individual reviews or going here to my book blog to find the complete list. 


What was your favorite read from 2018?