Reading Challenge 100 Books in One Year




In January I set myself a challenge to read 100 books this year. It's a challenge that Good Reads suggested and this is where I track which books I've read. I'm not sure now why I picked 100 books.
I read a lot and I often glibly say that I read hundreds of books a year. It turns out that I don't. I'm just over half way through the challenge and quite a way behind.





January
1. Follow You Home Mark Edwards
2. Dark Places Gillian Flynn
3. Cyber Terry Schott
4. Sleep Tight Rachel Abbot
5. Finding Ultra Rich Roll
6. Born To Run Christopher McDougal

I started out quite well picking titles from the Kindle best seller list.
I read Terry Schott's Game Is Life series last year and thought it was brilliant but I'm a bit frustrated that his recent offerings don't seem to have an ending.
I'm not a runner or even a jogger but I really enjoy books about ultra running. Both Finding Ultra and Born to run are really inspiring. I'm still not a runner but I am in awe.
Then the Omnivore's Dilemma really slowed me down. It was thought provoking and made me question where my food comes from. It was well researched and filled with a lot of factual detail which made it quite a slow read. I didn't finish it until well into February. I read a food focused book every other month for my YouTube foodie book club.


February
7. Omnivores Dilemma Michael Pollan
In February I was daily vlogging which meant each evening I had a video to edit and subtitle, this ate into my reading time.

March
8. Swallow This Joanna Blythman

March was the month I discovered Stardew Valley, an awesome computer game but a total time drain. Fortunately, I soon burn out from over playing it.
Swallow This was utterly horrifying and haunted me long after I finished reading it. I went on to double my efforts at the allotment to avoid having to buy supermarket produce.

April
9.   Conscious Capitalism John Mackey and Raj Sisodia
10. Appleby Farm Cathy Bramley
11. Follow Me Angela Clark
12. Behind Closed Doors BA Paris

At the start of April I'd only read 8 books in total which seemed a really low number for me but it did highlight just how much of my time I was frittering away on YouTube in the evening when I would usually be reading. I thought I could still pull things back but I really needed to make more of an effort. Time to step things up.
Conscious Capitalism is written by the founders of Whole Foods but it's more of a business book than a food one so it doesn't fill the brief for the Foodie Book Club and it takes a long time to get through it.
Behind Closed Doors was on the kindle bestsellers list so I thought I'd give it a go. Another psychological thriller. "Psycho spouse" seems to be becoming a genre all of it's own, this one doesn't bring anything new but it is a page turner and I quickly finish the book.

May
13. Coming Home To Eat Gary Paul Nabhan
14. Ivy Lane Cathy Bramley
15. Conditional Love Cathy Bramley

Coming Home To Eat, the pleasure and politics of local food was a great read and I tried to linger over it to make it last longer. It's a book that I'd like to go back to and read again.
I thought Appleby Farm was just lovely. I picked out Ivy Lane from the same author. I read the books in the wrong order so had a bit of a spoiler. I adored a the idea of a romance on an allotment.
I wasn't as keen on Conditional Love so decide to leave the Cathy Bramley books for now.

June
16. The Potion Diaries Amy Alward
16-20. Idiom Episodes 1-4 Terry Schott

Zoella launched a book club so I give it a look. I realise part way into We Were Liars by E Lockhart that I've read it before and abandon that one and try the Potion Dairies. It's aimed at too young of an audience even for me and with my penchant for young adult fiction. I finish it but decide to skip the rest of Zoella's recommendations.
The Idiom books are a bit of cheat, the books were released in a serial format each week. They're very short and all of them together only make up the length of one standard novel. But I need all the help I can get, Good Reads counts them separately and for the sake of the challenge so am I.  I keep going back to Terry Schott because I love his style but was expecting a follow on from Cyber, Shadows or even Blight. More open endings to drive me crazy.

July
21. Kill Me Again Rachel Abbot
22. Idiom Episode 5 Terry Schott
23. Miracle Morning Hal Elrod
24. Finding Flow Mihaly Csikszentmihaly (Audio Book)
25. Fat Man to Green Man (Audio Book)
26. Rants and Recipes Chris Bland
27. The Obstacle Is the Way (Audio Book)

In July I got an email from Good Reads reminding me I was 30 books behind where I should be to hit my hundred book target. I need to read more.
The Miracle Morning which I read at the start of the month recommend making reading part of your morning routine. I usually read at night but skip reading if I'm tired. I've struggled to get into the morning reading.
I listened to an interview with Ryan Holiday on the Rich Roll podcast and discovered his books and recommended reading list and now I feel like there's no stopping me, there's so much I want to read.

Reading challenge banner

I know I won't be able to complete the year with reading alone, I just don't have the time and I actually do spend a fair chunk of time reading, my schedule is very relaxed and I read everyday. 100 books is a lot of books. I've decided to include audio books. Technically, I'm not going to have read the books so I failed the challenge already but if it's about consuming the information (I decided it is) then this could be they way to get back on track.

Currently Reading
You Are The Placebo Dr Joe Dispenza
Walden Henry David Thoreau
The Sister Louise Jensen
I've got a couple of different books on the go at the moment, the book I pick up to read depends what mood I'm in but I'll definitely finish these before the end of the year.

How many books have you read this year?

You can follow my progress on my Good Reads challenge page and I'll be back with another update at the end of the year.

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