I’m linking up with The Monthly Wrap-Up Round-Up, hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction and Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight.
Goings-On
April has been a mess, work got very busy so I fell behind on everything else, and tried to get in all the blog posts I’d put off in this past week. It’s been intense, but long weekend now for Easter and I’m ready to just read, blog and rest.
Goals check-in
Back in January I made a Top Ten Tuesday post of my 10 bookish goals for 2021. I thought it might be fun to check in on them quarterly.
Start a note page when I start reading a book and take notes as a I go. I know this is gonna be a hard one for me, but it’s so much easier for me to write a review when I’ve got some notes to start from I really want to try to stick to it.
Yeah, this lasted about 2 weeks. I did find that even if I haven’t taken the notes in advance it’s easier for me to brainstorm on paper so still a little win.
Non-sff books – at least 6. I only managed 5 last year but I’m confident I can work my way up from there.
Read: Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford, The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel by Erin McDonald and started The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, so that’s pretty on track!
At least 50% books by authors of color. 25% last year
Currently at 17/35, so 48%, with the 2 current ones I’m reading also fitting this goal, so on track I’d say.
At least 50% books by women, this one I should hit pretty easily I think I’ve cleared that mark for the past 2 years.
Yup, well over 50%
As many queer books as I can. I’m not gonna track numbers for queer authors cause it feels so invasive trying to figure out if people are queer/out or nice human beings that write inclusive books.
Looks like about a third of my books have had some LBGT+ characters, I think that’s alright.
Books in translation – at least 6, only managed 2 last year,
Read 1, currently reading one, while that’s not a lot it’s on track for my goal at least.
Reviews: don’t fall so behind. I was constantly 16 reviews behind last year. My fix is to plan sequels and novellas a mini-reviews, and stand-alone, first in series and ARCs as full reviews.
I managed to catch up with reviews by the end of each month, so that’s a big win for me, looks like saving a mini-review post for the end of the month works.
Get a good Netgalley ratio
Currently at 67% 6 approved, 4 reviewed, not too bad, I think I’ve been pretty good about not over requesting at least.
Romanian books – at least 6 – again only 2 last year. Romanian SFF books I’ve tried have either been great or really not my thing, and the ones I picked up last year ended up being a few too many DNFs, but gonna try again, I’ve got some sequels to read.
Read one, well about half of it, this goal is not going well.
Finish some series – already started on this and it’s going pretty well. Since I set this goal at the end of November I’ve made progress on 8 series, feeling pretty good about that.
8 sequels read since the beginning of the year, which sounds alright, I think that balances out with the first in series books I’ve read, though some books I’m not sure if they’re going to stay standalones or become a series.
Books read
- The Sound of Stars by Alechia Dow
- Fugitive Telemetry (The Murderbot Diaries, #6) by Martha Wells
- The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg
- Imaro by Charles R. Saunders
- Elemental (Shadows of Otherside #1) by Whitney Hill
- Voltaire in Love by Nancy Mitford
- Exit Westby Mohsin Hamid
- Amari and the Night Brothers (Supernatural Investigations, #1)by B.B. Alston
- The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
For April I’m taking part in the Asian Readathon and Wyrd and Wonder, so I’ve got a packed TBR. PACKED. I about wrote my TBR here, and I’m planning to post my Wyrd and Wonder plans soon, as soon as I finish the plans.
Blog Posts
Reviews:
- Soulstar by C.L. Polk
- The Midnight Bargain by C.L. Polk
- Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston
- Mini reviews – April – Fugitive Telemetry, Imaro, The Four Profound Weaves, Elemental
- Mini reviews: Fuzzy Nation, The Science of Sci-Fi, Voltaire in Love, Exit West
Looks really good for you. Would you mind explaining how you started making a TBR Pile Blog Post? I have been thinking of doing this but I do a Book haul post maybe that could be a TBR pile blog post.
check my wrap up post here: https://bit.ly/3t2jxS5
I hope you are able to get some rest in. April was a very busy month for me work-wise as well. I am hoping with May there will be some slow down, but I am not holding out much hope. You are doing great with your goals this year! I told myself I wouldn’t fall so behind on reviews like I did last year, but here I am with over 10 reviews I need to write. 🙁 I need to carve out some time to get them done.
I really want to read the Murderbot Diaries. I think I have the first one. I keep hearing such good things about Martha Wells.
I hope you have a great week and month of May!
My Netgalley rating is slowly going up. But I’m still working on it. The best I do with taking notes as I read is when I make a comment on Goodreads when I post an update on how far I’ve read. I wish I did better with that myself. Like you, last month got busier with work for me, we had our students back in the building and that meant less time to just get stuff done in my library. Oh well. Hope you have a great May!
Lisa Loves Literature
It’s fun to check in with your goals every once in a while. This year, I was lazy and basically didn’t make any, but that’s a me problem. 🙂
It’s neat that you read “Voltaire In Love” by Nancy Mitford. I’ve read a couple of her novels and several of her popular histories and humor books. I think “Voltaire In Love” is historical fiction, but her histories about the 18th century are fascinating. I think the first thing I read of hers was an article about French 18th-century “salonistes” in an old issue of Horizon magazine (that hardback 1960s arts magazine) when I was in middle school.
I admire your reading goals. I was actually surprised with how many books I have read with women authors and authors of color. Most of the time I just pick books I want to read and this year and last, most of my favorites were in these author categories. Sound of Stars is still a book I think about and I read it last year right after publication.
I don’t usually do TBR posts, but this month a lot of my book clubs and reading challenges added up, so I guess that’s how I do it, I really love reading challenges, and I participate in a lot of book clubs, mostly on reddit.fantasy.com, and I love themed months like Wyrd and Wonder and Asian Readathon, so when I have a lot of specific books I want to read in a month I can do a post. And that’s usually followed by a mood reading month.
Thank you! I ended up spending a lot of May tidying up, which was oddly both restful and tiring!
For me goals help a lot with indecision about what books to read when, and that’s working well so far!
I really loved her style, I’m looking forward to Frederick the Great next!
That’s great! When I first checked I had about 70% books by white men and only 6 books by authors of color in a year, I’ve found so many new favorites since then! I think now since I’ve expanded where I get my TBR so much I would probably not fall back into my old patterns even without tracking goals.