April 2021 Wrap Up

Hello

This month has been busy with assignments so my reading has been a bit slow but I still managed 5 books, even if some of those were a bit thin.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 608

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Maigret and the Calame Report by Georges Simenon

Pages: 176

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Maigret and the Saturday Caller by Georges Simenon

Pages: 150

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Maigret and the Wine Merchant by Georges Simenon

Pages: 160

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 377

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

19/70 Goodreads Challenge

So there is April. I can’t believe how quickly this year is going so far.

Happy Reading.

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March 2021 Wrap Up

Hello!

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone. I hope none of you have succumbed to an April Fool’s joke today.

March was a better month for me reading wise, which was good, but I fear April will not be so good due to assignments again but I live in hope.

Statistics

Books

Pages: 404

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 159

Format Read: Kindle

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 372

Format Read: Hardback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 543

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating: 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

Review

Pages: 324

Format Read: Paperback

Dragon Rating : 🐲🐲🐲

Review

14/70 Goodreads Challenge. Now 3 books behind, really need to work on catching up.

So there is March. Please drop me a comment if you want to chat.

Happy Reading.

2021 Reading Goals

Happy New Year!

I hope 2021 is a better year but to be honest I can’t see that it will dramatically change straight away. However, I still plan on having a good reading and blogging year.

My reading goals for 2021 are as follows…

My Goodreads reading challenge will be 70 books again as I only just managed 70 in 2020. I have to do a lot of reading for studying so need to factor that in.
I plan to do a few buddy reads in 2021. We are starting with Dissolution by C. J Sansom, hopefully if we enjoy the book we will carry on with the series.
The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey. I plan to read the series this year as I love the TV series and have just started reading the first book in the series and absolutely love it.
Agatha Christie. I have only ever read short stories by Agatha Christie so 2021 is my year to read more of Agatha Christie’s full novels. I won’t set a goal of how many but I plan on reading the books in order of publication.
Shakespeare Challenge. This challenge I started in 2020 so I hope to get a few more ticked off the list in 2021.

So there are my Reading Goals for 2021. Hopefully, I will get to tick them off as I don’t think they are too strict, after all I am a mood reader and reading should always be fun and not restrictive.

Please drop me a comment with your 2021 reading goals.

Happy Reading!

2020 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Hello everyone, and an especially big Hello to all my new followers! Welcome and thank you for joining me.

So it is usually around this time of year that I review how my reading challenge is going and to be honest it is usually going better than this. My aim this year was to read 70 books and usually this would be quite easy for me but it would appear not so this year as I am now 8 books behind! I only usually do the Goodreads yearly challenge as I don’t usually do very well with other challenges. I tried a summer one last year and failed massively so I just avoid other challenges even if I do love the idea of them.

Now just after Christmas I had a reading slump which obviously did not set me up well for the year and ever since I have been playing catch up and to be honest falling behind. Studying has also impacted as I have been doing lots of reading but not of entire books and I have also been reading a lot of journals and articles.

So what shall I do?

Firstly, I could read lots of small books and make up the total quite quickly, being as I have quite a few of the Penguin Little Black Books series left to read then this is a tempting proposition.

Secondly, I could admit defeat and lower my target, but I hate admitting defeat! This is also a downfall with me because I will read a book I’m not enjoying to the end because I won’t be beaten, but invariably I regret this at the end of the book and realise that the book has actually beaten me.

So which shall I choose?

Well at the moment I’m going to stick to my target and try to read some smaller books as I have been reading quite a few massive books recently. I will review my target again in September as I really hope to get more reading done over the summer.

Fingers crossed I get there.

Please drop me a comment with any advice you may have to hit my reading goal! How are you doing with your reading goals and challenges?

Happy Reading!

lady book dragon signature 250w

2020 Aims

Finally, I managed to sit down and think of my plan for 2020.

The first thing I have to consider is the extreme amount of reading my Masters is taking up. I am thoroughly enjoying it but it is taking its toll on my reading time so I have decided to take this into serious consideration on my reading plans for 2020.

My first thing I have decided to read some of my old favourites or books I have always wanted to reread and give a second chance. I started this year by starting to read Emma by Jane Austen. I first read this book in 2002 and hated it but now I can’t put it down. Also because of the amount of studying and work I am doing I always like the comfort of a reread, it is like a warm blanket that comforts and helps me through the day.

I have set my Goodreads goal as 70 books but I am not entirely sure how attainable that is. Fingers crossed I manage it. I have also decided to not take on any reading challenges this year because I just do not like being so confined to a certain list and never complete the list.

I have also decided to try and seriously curb my book buying this year as I have now got a lot of books on my TBR pile, in fact I have many piles all over my house and my parents’ so I think it is high time I got reading. So I might set myself a rule of reading 10 books before I buy one. I say might because I know I will not have the will power to resist a pretty book!

All in all 2020 is all about working hard on my Masters and getting the best mark I can and using reading as my way to relax. Fingers crossed it all goes to plan!

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge: Reflection

Summer is officially over so I thought it high time to reflect on my Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge. Sadly I did not complete it but I did learn a few things. Here is the result.

Good as gold:- The Casual Vacancy by J. K Rowling

~~The Book is Better:- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt~~

~~On the bandwagon:- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood~~

~~Short and sweet:- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James~~

~~Actually want to read:- Jaws by Peter Benchley~~

Not from around here:- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In a friend zone:- The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

~~Wheel of format:- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare~~

~~Past love:- Matilda by Roald Dahl~~

Armchair Traveler:- A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

First of all I spent way too much time on a book I really regret reading which was The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, I really wish I had just stopped reading it because I did not enjoy it and wasted a great deal of my free time reading a book I found tiresome. This is a lesson I keep telling myself to learn from but sadly I don’t, maybe this time I will.

The second thing I learned was I hated having a reading list! I want to read these books eventually and I had options but I found myself regretting the choices and wanting to read other books which I did and so did not complete the challenge in the allotted time. I think from now on I will avoid challenges and just choose whatever I want to read when I want because I really did not enjoy the challenge. I loved choosing the books but not feeling like I had to read them.

However, doing the challenge has taken a few books off my enormous TBR list, so it wasn’t all bad.

What does everyone think of reading challenges? Yes or No? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Happy reading.

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge: Update 3

Hello my fellow Book Dragons!

Well as I’m accelerating towards my deadline of 21st September it is looking less and less likely that I will complete the challenge in the time limit. However, I do intend on finishing all the books on the list this year because it will make my TBR list smaller as they have been sat on the list for a very long time. If I had not been so distracted by other books I might have got further.

So here is the list so far. As usual the crossed out books are also links to the reviews.

Good as gold:- The Casual Vacancy by J. K Rowling

~~The Book is Better:- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt~~

On the bandwagon:- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood

~~Short and sweet:- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James~~

~~Actually want to read:- Jaws by Peter Benchley~~

Not from around here:- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In a friend zone:- The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

~~Wheel of format:- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare~~

~~Past love:- Matilda by Roald Dahl~~

Armchair Traveler:- A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

Anyway, I will keep trying to get a few more ticked off before the deadline.

Happy reading.

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge: Update 2

Another update and as you will see still not much progress made. However, over the last few weeks I have been busy writing my first assignment for my Diet and Nutrition Level 3 Diploma and this evening I am pleased to report that I have passed! Now to complete the second and final assignment. Fingers crossed it goes well.

I am still reading The Goldfinch and I am enjoying it but I do find it very long winded at times and frustrating, I am looking forward to seeing how it ends.

So here is the list, the crossed out books are also links to take you to the reviews.

Good as gold:- The Casual Vacancy by J. K Rowling

The Book is Better:- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

On the bandwagon:- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood

~~Short and sweet:- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James~~

~~Actually want to read:- Jaws by Peter Benchley~~

Not from around here:- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In a friend zone:- The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Wheel of format:- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

~~Past love:- Matilda by Roald Dahl~~

Armchair Traveler:- A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

I hope everyone who is also doing challenges is getting on better than myself.

Happy Reading.

Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge: Update

I thought it was high time for an update on the reading challenge, and all I can say is Oh dear!

I am very far behind and it is not because I haven’t been reading, it is because I have been distracted by other books! I must be more focused!

So here is the list with the books I have read crossed out, if you click on the crossed out book it will take you to the book review.

Good as gold:- The Casual Vacancy by J. K Rowling

The Book is Better:- The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

On the bandwagon:- The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood

~~Short and sweet:- The Turn of the Screw by Henry James~~

~~Actually want to read:- Jaws by Peter Benchley~~

Not from around here:- Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

In a friend zone:- The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell

Wheel of format:- Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Past love:- Matilda by Roald Dahl

Armchair Traveler:- A Room with a View by E. M. Forster

As you can see only two down so far, I am currently trying to finish The Goldfinch.

Wish me luck! If anybody has any advice on how to complete a reading challenge and not get completely distracted by other books please feel free to drop me a comment.