I did finish everything on my IRL TBR, although that is a goal I will not be completing again. Sometimes I pick up a book that sounds interesting at the moment, but later I just go "Um, no this is not interesting." So I've slowly come to the Kondo theory when it comes to books- if it doesn't bring me joy, it goes.* Once I completed this goal and had more freedom with my choices, my reading life became much more enjoyable.
*Eh joy is kind of simplistic- but if it doesn't make me want to read it, I'm not gonna force it. It doesn't have to make me happy- there are fantastic books about dark subjects. It just has to feel like I am not wasting my time with something I get nothing out of.
I also completed my Diversity Ready Challenge, which I am so thankful for because it lead me to some wonderful books I may not have found without it. I don't have a strict list this year, but I definitely want to continue to read about experiences that are different than my own.
I did not even start John & Hank Green's Reading Lists...but oh well. Lots of them just didn't appeal much (see above about Kondo theory...).
I surpassed my overall goal of 30 books and actually read 55! That is huge for me and I'm kinda proud of myself. It helps that I finally came around to audio & ebooks ;)
Statistics:
Genre:
I was pretty surprised by this, actually. I didn't think I had read so much Nonfiction (probably partly thanks to my diversity focus) or so much YA (also heavily influenced by diversity, as it's often more willing to tackle difficult subjects IMO).
Diversity:
This one is a little tricky. I count diversity if it includes any race or sexual orientation other than mine. I also included it if involved mental or physical difficulties (for example, Delirium looks at love as mental illness and "vaccinates" against it...I think that speaks to mental health and emotions and the reliance on medication and genetics). I could have included more if I included feminist books, but since I am one that's not diverse. Basically if any of the characters would come with and adjective (black, mentally ill, gay, etc) instead of the standard "man/woman"- which our society does ALL THE TIME, I counted it as diverse. But I don't want to seem like I'm pushing for diversity points...I am happy with these numbers, especially since I continued naturally after finishing my specific diversity challenge.
Overall I am pretty happy with my 2016 reading experience. Reading everything on IRL TBR definitely lead to some time on the struggle bus, since I didn't end up enjoying several of them. However, it made me really focus more on how I choose books. Thanks to the Show Us Your Books link-up and watching a few BookTubers, I've been more open to trying new genres and giving myself less guilt about DNFing and making reading an enjoyable experience.
