Overview: June 2015

June saw a slow-down in reading for me. I only completed 6 books, which is way below the number I’ve been averaging over the past year. I attribute this to work and general lethargy. I’ve also been training more regularly as the 2015/16 leagues are approaching for me. In some ways, I saw this coming even at the beginning of the year. That’s why I set my reading goal at 85. Since that still put me 17 books ahead at the half-year mark, I increased it to 100.

Books Read

Statistics

Amount Read

As I’ve already stated, I finished 6 books altogether. I read 1416 pages and listened 16 hours and 27 minutes. If I convert the listening hours to pages, then I would’ve read a grand total of 2027 pages.

The books I read had an average of 354 pages and the audiobooks I listened to were on average 8 hours and 14 minutes long. This means the books were of average length; as were the audiobooks.

Were it not for audiobooks, I might only have finished three books. Even All the Bright Places, which intrigued me might not have kept me reading if not for the audiobooks. Clean alone took me three weeks. That’s quite unusual for me when it comes to fiction. I’ve seen this trend continue into July as I’ve been stuck on Days of Blood and Starlight for a few weeks as well.

Formats

Of the physical copies I read 3 paperbacks. I listened to 2 audiobooks and alternated 1 book. For the book that I alternated, I switched between the ARC (a paperback review copy) and the audiobook.

Targets and Genres

I read 1 adult fiction book and 5 YA fiction books. Can’t say there was much diversity among those books — 2 fantasy and 4 contemporary. Evidently, I still find solace in contemporary books, even as I’ve been venturing more into fantasy.

Sources

The sources of these books were very varied:

• Bought from Book Depository
• Bought from Audible
• Borrowed from the library
• Won in a giveaway from publisher
• Received from publisher via Netgalley
• Overdrive

Basically, I hardly did anything about the books that I already own. This is something I want to rectify because I own a lot of amazing titles that I’m exceedingly keen to read.

Acquisitions

I bought six of the seven books pictured above. It was supposed to be seven but due to a mix-up in my Book Depository order, I received the hardcover of P.S. I Still Love You at no charge. I also received Masculinity and Men’s Lifestyle Magazines for free from The Sociological Review in a Twitter giveaway. In terms of review copies, I got approved for Muslim Fashion via Netgalley.

Here’s the complete list of books I acquired in June, ordered according to the days I received them. These books include the ebooks that aren’t present in my book haul photo:

Reading Challenges

Since half the year has passed, I should technically be at 50% for all of my goals. Evidently, that’s not the case. I actually had no idea how I was doing until I decided to update my spreadsheet over the past week. This is a good case for why we should always know our progress if we want to achieve our goals.

Goodreads

Tally: 59/100 (Upped the goal)

My original goal was 85 books, which actually put me 17 books ahead. Since I made the decision yesterday to increase the goal to 100 books, that means at the end of June I was 9 books ahead of the new goal. Despite my below average reading month of June, I’m probably going to reach that goal this year. Looking at my progress, even if I were to read zero books in July, I would still be on track.

Non-Fiction

Tally: 4/20

Seeing how I’m currently reading three non-fiction books I should seriously get on with them. I plan to set aside a day or two this month so that I will be able to finish reading at least two of them.

Adult Fiction

Tally: 10/12

This one surprised me. I didn’t actively reach for adult books in order to reach this goal. I’ve pretty much been reading books as and when they struck my mood. In fact, I’ve several more adult fiction books lined up to read this year. Perhaps my reading tastes are finally expanding beyond YA.

Classics

Tally: 2/6

Six months left to read four classics is doable. Well, except that I have every intention to read Anna Karenina this year. We’ll see how this plan goes.

German Books

Tally: 2/12

The difficulty of accessing audiobooks is a mighty barrier for this one. I don’t own a Windows computer, which means I can’t download audiobooks from Onleihe, even though I have a library membership at a German library. Being fully locked into Apple’s operating systems and devices means I can only stream and streaming is a fickle endeavour. Either way, I also own some German books that I definitely want to get to this year. Plus, I want to finish the Ruby Red trilogy by Kerstin Gier.

Popsugar Reading Challenge

Tally: 32/50 (Upped the goal)

My original goal was to complete 30 prompts. I thought that that was a reasonable goal. Since I managed to that even before half the year was up I decided to go for all 50 prompts. It’s proving to be more difficult for the second half of the year. Even though I’m only left with 18 prompts, those are the ones that I might actually struggle with in terms of picking suitable titles. Still, I’m up for that struggle because really, the fun is in being challenged and expanding my reading horizons.

---

How did the first half of 2015 go for you?