Greetings to my readers. After a very unusually long break, a post on this blog. I hope some of you still check in on ABWM! I’d like to think you do! My 2020 started out on a great note both personally and reading-related, but then the pandemic took over and well, reviewing on the site took a backseat unfortunately. I’m someone who is in front of a screen through my day job as well, so sitting in front of the screen at home felt a chore rather than a passion.
Here’s a quick summary of my 2020 reading…
Books read: 135
I started out 2020 aiming to read 125 books, and delighted to say I managed that and then 10 more. This is thanks in no small part to reading a lot of comics (Amar Chitra Katha) but as my book group rightly said, they all count.
Average number of pages read: 184
My shortest book on Goodreads was 10 pages, while the largest was my reread of A Game of Thrones which is 912 pages. Around 44% of my books were less than 100 pages long.
I read books across genres, from a single short-story to Children’s Fiction, and even a few non fiction. The genre with the most books was Mythology, with around 35 books. I liked my non-fiction foray, and hope to continue it this year.
Challenges Completed: 4
I set out to complete around 7 challenges. I completed 4, which isn’t bad. I finished two editions of Book Challenge by Erin, Indian Reads (held in August by Shalini) and the Goodreads Challenge. I’m limiting myself to 4 challenges this year, so hopefully can complete all.
Reading Targets for 2020
I’m trying to read more of the books on my shelf rather than buying new books, but not going on a book buying ban because I cannot. I have tried, and it just does not work that way. I am hosting one reading challenge, and taking part in four including my own challenge. I’m looking to read a book a week at least (to begin with), so if I read 50 good books this year, I would consider the challenge conquered.
Fiction – NonFiction Challenge (#FNFReads2021 with @VinayLeoReads)
Well, this is the local challenge, hosted by me on this blog and via my Instagram handle @VinayLeoReads. The challenge is simple. There are 20 prompts. You’ve to read 20 books for the year, fitting those prompts, 10 fiction and 10 non fiction, with no more than 1 non fiction and 1 fiction for any one prompt. Click on the badge to see the prompts for the challenge.
Goodreads Challenge 2021
Like I mentioned earlier, I am looking to read at least 50 books to begin with. If I reach the mark before June 2021, I will increase it to 100 and pursue that as the target. I like this challenge because it pushes me to read.
BCBE 14.0 and 15.0
I’m co-admin for this challenge which happens in both the Goodreads group and the Facebook group. It offers 10 prompts to match books with. BCBE 14.0 happens between Jan and Apr 2021. BCBE 15.0 happens between Jul and Oct 2021.
I hope you have a great reading year to come. Over the next few days, I hope to also update this site on its content, which has been pending for a long time now. My first reads of the year are The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, and The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak.
