2024 Reading Challenge: Is It Too Late to Lower My Goal?

GoodReads Book Challenge Status 2024

Every year for the past few years, I've participated in the GoodReads reading challenge. This year is no different, but I'm struggling to keep up with my reading goal. I've read every day, but sometimes it's only a page or two. I initially set a goal of 25 books for 2024, but I'm only at 11 books with November almost over. It doesn't look promising that I'll finish 25 books by the end of December.

Last year, I was at 17 out of 25 books in early November and ultimately completed my 25-book challenge for 2023 (see post). I finished 2023 by listening to many audiobooks and reading shorter books. I'm not sure if I'll have enough time to catch up on my reading for 2024, especially being at only 11 out of 25 books.

I've enjoyed some great books this year. I recently finished "Goodbye, Butterfly: Murder, Faith and Forgiveness in a Small Kansas Town," which I found captivating. This book was written by my friend Ernie Webb III from Washburn University. It was Ernie's first book, and I think he did an excellent job. The book kept me engaged and interested until the end.

My plan is to find a few audiobooks to listen to and tackle a few more books from my target list. However, I don't think I can fit in 14 books between now and December 31st. We'll see, though, and I'll enjoy the process.

I hope you are enjoying a challenge of your own whether it be reading, exercise, or exploring the great outdoors. 

From Coffee to Cocktails: A Bookish Day Out

We had a fun time a week ago Saturday where Erin, Carrie, and I decided to try out a new coffee spot in Topeka called Higher Grounds. We took our books and hung out for a few hours reading, drinking coffee, and eating delicious food. We had a great time and even saw some of our neighbors from down the street that we spoke to for a few minutes. I believe the staff said Higher Grounds had been open for about a month. It is located on Topeka Blvd near the corner of 21 St. Food was delicious and coffee was too.

Reading and Drinks at The Spot

Following coffee and breakfast at Higher Grounds, we decided to stop by The Spot to continue reading and enjoy some adult beverages. We ended up meeting up Greg, Eddie, and Joan where we continued conversation and played card games. What a fun morning and afternoon.

I am trying to up my reading game as I have fallen behind my goal for the year. According to Goodreads, I am six books behind schedule of my 25 books for the year. The past few weeks, or months, I have not read as much as I had intended. I have read everyday, but often times I am reading as I am going to bed and only a page or two before falling asleep. I went out last week to find some "short" books that I can read quickly, but I am finding even those "short" books take me a while to read.

I am hoping to get some reading in today on a Sunday afternoon. No Royals playing today, so it would be a good day to catch up on my reading. 

Have a great rest of your weekend and a wonderful week! Until next time...

My Reading Journey from 2023 with a Goal of 25 Books and I Read 25 Books in 2023... Some of my Favorites in this Update

Goal was 25 and Made 25

I met my reading goal for 2023. The goal was 25 books and I read my last book on New Years Eve. On November 5, 2023, I was at 17 of 25 books (see post), so I had to pick up the pace and read every chance I could get. Even reading every chance I could get, it was close as I was juggling multiple books.

I had a fun time reading this year. The majority of the 25 books I read with my Kindle. Some of the books, I did listen to which I know is debated as whether they count or not in some social media circles. I did find that listening to novels does not work well for me unless I am in the car driving and can focus on the audio book. I decided that audio books I listen to in 2024 will be memoirs or autobiographies as they are easier to follow when around the house and doing other things. I did manage to fit in a few autobiographies this year, so that was fun. 

My 25 Books for 2023

 To the right are the 25 books I read during 2023. Here, I will highlight some of my favorites. Starting at the top which are the earliest books I read in 2023, I enjoyed Come Fly the World: The Jet-Age Story of Women of Pan AM by Julia Cooke. This book entered my queue from a bookclub I belong and I found this an interesting read. I was a good book to start my 2023 reading journey and I really enjoyed the history from the book with facts I had not heard previously.

My next favorite book was Devotion: An Epic Story of Heroism, Friendship, and Sacrifice by Adam Makos. My Uncle Charlie had told me about the movie that he saw and that it was good, but it also included a sequence in the movie that was exactly what my Dad went through when he served in the Navy. I really enjoyed the book and could feel what my Dad went through in that scary moment while reading the section of the book. I was able to watch the movie this past week and it went along exactly how I remember the book portrayed the story.

My first audio book of 2023 was The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl. This book was recommended to me by Carrie. Dave Grohl being the drummer from Nirvana and Foo Fighters. I loved this book! It was even better because I heard the book read by Dave Grohl. It was really good and highly recommend that if you want to read this book that you do the audio book so you can hear Dave Grohl tell his story. Excellent!

A few books later and I was reading another biography The Woman All Spies Fear: Code Breaker Elizabeth Smith Friedman and Her Hidden Life by Amy Butler Greenfield. Once again, an interesting book about the code breakers, women, of WWI and WWII that I found so interesting. This was one of the books I read during 2023 that I found hard to put down. Interesting facts throughout that I had not heard about before. I believe this was another book from the book club I belong, but I do not recall for sure. It was good nonetheless.

I went back and picked up two books by C.J. Box as I continue to enjoy reading the series. I read Out of Range and In Plain Sight. The story continues with about 25 books in the series of game warden Joe Pickett. I will probably read a few more from this series during 2024. Easy reads that move quickly and hard to put down.

Finally after many years and multiple friends colleagues telling me I should read the book, I finally read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Nope! It did not disappoint. I could not put it down and read it fairly quickly for my reading routine. I am so glad that I finally checked it out from the library (e-book of course), waited for it to arrive as there was a wait, and read it thoroughly enjoying the book.

Carrie recommended I listen to the audio book of The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. Once again, hearing the book read by the author was a good way to "read" the book. Once again, I recommend if you want to read this book that you do the audio book to hear Britney Spears tell her story. Worth it!

My final book of the year which also happened to be an audio book was Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. Hearing Matthew Perry read after passing away not long ago (October 28, 2023) was a bit eerie but again it was good to hear it in the authors voice. To start out the book, Matthew Perry says "Hi, my name is Matthew Perry, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty. And I should be dead." Eerie feeling as I listened to Matthew Perry speak this on the audiobook. If you have the chance and can get on the waiting list, be sure to listen to the audiobook of Matthew Perry.

Those are the highlights of my books from 2023. I barely made my goal of 25 books for the year. For 2024, I did another goal of 25 books although I hope to be closer to 30 books on the year as it comes to a close a year from now. I make it a point to read every day and so far I have been able to keep that streak going for two years straight. Even on days where I listen to an audio book, I still make sure to open my Kindle and read a page or two from one of my many books on my shelf.

If you have a recommendation for a book based on those I read or referenced above that I said I enjoyed, I would be interested to hear from you in the comments of those post. Of course you can also reach out via social media to share with me too.

Enjoy your reading journey and if we have not connected on GoodReads, please follow me on GoodReads. 

The GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge is Almost Over and I am Behind Schedule for My Goal of 25 Books

Status in GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge

The GoodReads 2023 Reading Challenge started and I was doing really well about halfway through the year. I was ahead of schedule on books read, but the past few months I have not read as much. My goal is to read each day which I have done, but some days I was only reading a few pages. The past three or four weeks I am trying to read a chapter a day and most days I have been meeting that goal. 

Books Read for 2023

Currently, I am four books behind schedule to complete 25 books for the year. I am at 17 of 25. I have read some good books this year. My favorite series remains the C.J. Box author. I started reading the series last year and I was reading one after the other, so I decided to mix it up and read some other books this year too.

I am juggling four books currently although spending most of my time reading Malibu Burning which was a free book from Amazon that Carrie got. I am almost done with it at 80%, so I should finish it this week. I hope to get another book or two read before Thanksgiving, but I might have to find some short reads to catch up to my planned schedule.

For someone who used to hardly read at all, the past few years have been a big change for me. Reading daily for enjoyment and not because I have to but because I want to is new for me. I read when I was little, but I would not read for long periods of time; instead, I would tend to read a book and then not read for a while until I found another book sounds interesting. This could be a few months to a few years between when I would read when I was little. This changed about three years ago when I started reading daily. There have been times when I have finished a book that I could easily have stopped reading and moved on to something else, but I kept up and got through the book. 

My list of books that I want to read continues to grow. I am up to 31 on GoodReads I have marked that I want to read and I know I have almost that many on my library app too. I continue to have fun and I enjoy the process of reading where I make the movie in my head. I love it when I am reading and become completely lost in the story where time seems to stand still while I read but as I finish the chapter, thirty minutes has gone by.

I better get back to reading so I can meet my goal. Have a great rest of your Sunday and a wonderful week! I hope you are able to enjoy some good reading time where you become lost in the book. If you have a good book to recommend, I am always open to suggestions, so feel free to comment on this post or send me a message.

Finished Reading News of the World and Watched the Movie Along with Books I am Reading

I continue my reading journey. I have read four books so far in 2022. Probably the most books I have read in a short amount of time in my life. Right now I am going back through my GoodReads to finish books that I started in the past. I am down to three books remaining in my “reading” list. More on this later as right now I want to talk about News of the World that I recently finished. I started reading this book back on March 12, 2021. Carrie had recommended the book to me to read and so I started the book. The book uses a unique process of writing compared to what I am used to reading in books. It does not use quotes to show what the characters are saying. It took me a little while to get use to the writing style, but I enjoyed how it all came together. At a certain point reading the book, I did not notice it was not written like other books. So, it took me a few months to read the book, but there were months between March and January where I did not read the book, or any book, at all.

After finishing News of the World, we decided to watch the movie. We watched News of the World on HBO Max. News of the World movie features Tom Hanks as Captain Kidd. The movie was very well done. It captured what I had in my mind as I read the book. The casting was perfect with Tom Hanks as the Captain and then Helena Zengel as Johanna. The movie had been in our queue to watch for a few months since it was released, so it was good to be able to watch it last evening. The movie stuck close to the book from what I could tell. Obviously, going from book to movie there are going to be changes, items left out, or modified, but I thought it stuck well to how the story went and matched what I had visioned in my mind as I read the book. 

The three books I have remaining in my reading list of GoodReads include Fortune’s Rising, Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King, and then Dark Light. I started Fortune’s Rising back in 2019 while I was waiting for a library book at the time to become available. I do not believe I have started Sleeping Beauties or if I have, I will need to restart it as I do not remember anything about the book. I also have not started reading Dark Light which I see is a series and it is book #13. So, I might end that book and start at #1 in the series as I do not believe I have read any of the books by Randy Wayne White.

I have found that for the past month I find time to read whenever I can fit it into the day. I head home for lunch and instead of watching television I grab my Kindle and read. When I get home in the evenings from work, I will grab my book to read. Or, at night when it is bedtime, instead of grabbing my phone, I will grab my Kindle and read a chapter or two. I have a tendency to fall asleep while reading, so it is perfect for the evenings, but when I want to read over lunch or when I get home in the evenings, it is frustrating as I will read the same passage multiple times as I drift off to sleep. While it is kind of nice and mind plays tricks on me over the passage I just read, it does not help with finishing the book. The time I get most of my reading completed happens to be on the weekends when I read a lot on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

I continue to be well ahead of my goal of twenty books for the year. I am hoping by the end of 2022 that I will be way past 20 books and set a new record for myself on reading. Carrie set her reading challenge to 80 books. Carrie has already read eight books and the month is not over. I am sure she will go way past her target of 80 books and if I could do half that number, I will be happy.

So, back to reading for me. Enjoy your weekend and your reading.

Reading Books, Goodreads, and Goal for End of Summer Reading

I am in no way an avid reader. I go through spurts where I read a lot and then other times where I read very little. I might go months without picking up a book to read. When I am taking classes and reading textbooks, I typically do not read at all. My summer class recently ended and I told myself I am going to try and read as much as I can between now and when the fall semester class starts which will be in the middle of October. So, I should have a chance to read a lot between now and then.


My Goodread profile was created back in 2013. During that time, I have not read many books at only 63. I think my most productive year of reading was last year. I pick up books that look interesting from the cover or a brief read of the info about the book from Goodreads. I have started a few books and then end up abandoning because I do not find it interesting. I need to rely more on the recommendations of other Goodreads friends as it seems that when I do find a book that sounds interesting it sometimes is not great and it takes a while to get through those as it is difficult to keep focus on the book.

Carrie has recommended a few books to me and one that I loved was Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime Discovery. It was a book I could not set down and found it inspiring to read about a true story of life in space. If you have not read the book, I highly recommend picking it up and enjoy the read.

I am always looking for new books to add to my read list, so if you have a recommendation, please feel free to comment on this post or friend me on Goodread profile to recommend a book.

My current book is Say You're Sorry (Morgan Dane #1) which I think I got for free through Amazon and being a Prime member. It is one of those books I started back in December, my spring class started, I did not read at all, summer class started, and I did not read, so I picked it back up the middle of July and continued reading. The book has been entertaining and I am almost done with it. In fact, I should finish it today as I am at 93% complete. Overall, I am enjoying this book that I found for free on Amazon.

Other than the books I get through Amazon, I typically get books from our local library through Overdrive. I only read electronic books and only on my Kindle. I sometimes will read with the Kindle app on my iPhone if I do not have my Kindle reader. Makes it nice as it syncs up from both devices including the computer. I know my mom, and others, enjoy the feel of a book in their hands while they are reading, but I prefer the e-book to a real book.

My goal is to finish two books before the fall semester begins in the middle of August. Not my semester, as my semester does not start until the second eight weeks of the fall semester as I mentioned earlier. But, I want to finish two books before the semester begins. If I give myself a goal, it helps to be able to stay on track and motivate for reading at least a chapter each day.

Please post a comment if you have book recommendations or connect with me on Goodread profile to share book recommendations. I would love to hear from you or connect with others on discussion of books.