Did I Fulfill My Reading Plan for 2019?

Earlier this month I posted about 10 Reading Regrets of 2019, a list of 10 particular books that I’m sorry I didn’t get to this year.

But how did I do in terms of my overall reading plan for 2019, which I composed back in January?

Let’s take a look. Here are the sections of my plan, with my summary comments highlighted in purple.

First, because I read so many books last year, I’m boldly going to increase my annual Goodreads challenge to 50 books for 2019.

I’ve already exceeded that goal. Since I still may finish another book or two, I’ll wait and include the exact number in my 2019 year-in-reading wrap-up.

Second, I’m going to avoid any other particular reading challenges and instead just encourage myself to read in the following categories:

1. translations

I didn’t do as well as I had hoped in this category.

• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu  
• A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles

2. science fiction

I’m satisfied with this number, though it’s really nothing to brag about.

• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu   
• The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton   
• Recursion by Blake Crouch

3. speculative fiction

Again, I’m satisfied here.

• Watership Down by Richard Adams 
• The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton   

4. memoir

I had hoped to read a lot more in this category, some of which have been on my TBR shelf for years.

• Becoming by Michelle Obama 
• Darkness Visible by William Styron

5. biography

Really? Only one?

• Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

6. general nonfiction

This result qualifies as an epic failure.

• The Great Pretender by Susannah Cahalan

7. plays

I think I should just give up on this category. I honestly don’t enjoy reading plays anymore.

• The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill    

8. poetry

Ditto.

9. books by local authors

I can live with this result.

• The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
• No Exit by Taylor Adams 
• My Sister’s Grave by Robert Dugoni 
• Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple  
• The Eighth Sister by Robert Dugoni  
• The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison 

10. books by people of color or about other cultures

This is another epic failure.

• The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin, translated by Ken Liu   
• A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson, translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles

Third, I’m going to make the effort to cross off at least four titles from my Classics Club list.

I just made my minimum.

• Watership Down by Richard Adams 
• The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill  
• Mrs. Stevens Hears the Mermaids Singing by May Sarton
• Darkness Visible by William Styron

© 2019 by Mary Daniels Brown