February Wrap-Up

March 1, 2021 Uncategorized 18

This is my first wrap-up post of 2021 and I’m realizing that I never really revisited my goals with the new year. I think I’m still happy with my goals for 2020, though as always the question is how to balance them. For now, I think my highest priority will be reading my own books. After I make more progress with that, I can pick up whatever books I want to meet my other goals.

Books Read

I have read quite a lot so far this year – 9 books in January and the 11 I’ll list below this month. That’s keeping me on track to meet my goal of reading at least 120 books this year, although I consider that my least important goal.

Top Post

Interestingly, my top post this past month was an older review of Golden Gulag, a book covering the fascinating topic of the California prison-industrial complex. Unfortunately, I found it dense and unpersuasive, but it gets good reviews on goodreads and people smarter than I have praised it, so it might be worth checking out other reviews.

Challenge Progress

  • Write more in-depth reviews – Since I established this goal, I’ve not done a good job of measuring this. I need to keep it in mind more when writing!
  • Write more discussion posts – I’ve not made this a priority this year, but I will try to do at least one discussion post next month.
  • Read more deeply on specific topics – This is one of several goals mostly on hold as I read my own books.
  • Read at least 40% nonfiction – Eight of the 20 of the books I’ve read have been nonfiction, so I’m just on track with this one!
  • Write 3 posts a week – Done 3 out of 4 weeks last month – not too bad.
  • Read my own damn books –  This is what I’m mostly focusing on right now and I feel pretty good about my progress – 12 of 20 of the books I read were ones I owned. The exceptions were all for book clubs or author events.
  • Read books by and about people from marginalized groups – I’d say 5 of the 20 books I read would could for this. I’d like to bump this percentage up a bit once I’m not so focused on reading my own books.

Preview

I don’t have any blogging events coming up, but I really enjoyed the first meeting of Roxane Gay’s book club and I can’t wait for the next one (coming up tonight!). She’s such a brilliant interviewer. I’m sure all the conversations she has with other authors will be pure gold.

I’ve also been participating in the Seasonal Reading Challenge on goodreads for the last three months. The tasks for the challenge help me pick a book to read from the many I own, when the possibilities can otherwise feel overwhelming.

18 Responses to “February Wrap-Up”

  1. Angela

    One of my goals is to read more of my own books, too, yet every time I go to the library I get a huge stack and mine fall by the wayside!

    Reply

    • DoingDewey

      It’s definitely helping me that I still can’t browse at my local library! Otherwise I have a hard time not going for whatever is new and shiny myself 🙂

      Reply

    • DoingDewey

      Thanks, Helen! It’s true. It really is nice to have something to look forward too with specific dates and to break up the monotony.

      Reply

    • DoingDewey

      I hope you’re able to get to your challenges more and/or cut yourself some slack. I’m definitely reading less than I’d like and am trying not to stress out about this month 🙂

      Reply

    • DoingDewey

      I have to admit that I didn’t love that one, but everyone else seems to and it does cover a fascinating topic, so it’s probably worth checking out 🙂

      Reply

    • DoingDewey

      Honestly, I’m not sure I’m likely to get to reviewing that one. It was really complex and I’m not sure how I felt about it or that I could do a good job talking about it. I also already did participate in the book club discussion, which makes me less likely to review a book. I may have to re-read this sometime to see if I can get a better handle on it 🙂

      Reply

  7. Audra (Unabridged Chick)

    Love your reading goals — casually I’ve been trying to be better about reviewing what I read, even if it’s more off-the-cuff than my typical reviews. I’ve also tried to shift how I review to create more conversation/discussion — I need to focus on that more!

    That’s so interesting abt Golden Gulag being popular right now — it makes me happy that maybe there’s more interest in prison abolition these days? (Hopefully…!)

    I hope your March has started off well!
    Audra (Unabridged Chick) recently posted…Top 10 Tuesday, March 2: Characters Whose Job I Wish I HadMy Profile

    Reply

    • DoingDewey

      Ooh, I like your point about trying to create more conversation around your reviews. I would love for that to be an outcome of my attempts to write more well considered, detailed reviews. I’ll have to think about how else I might try to accomplish that goal as well.

      It does seem like prison abolition might be having a moment. We’ll see if it goes anyhwere!

      March reading has been going a little slowly, but still not a bad month. I hope it’s going well for you too 🙂

      Reply

  8. Molly

    This is a great check in and congratulations on meeting so many of your goals! I really need to stop and take stock of how my goals are going but after the disaster that was February I am a little afraid to do so. Can’t wait to see what you read in March!
    Molly recently posted…WWW Wednesday: March 3, 2021My Profile

    Reply

    • DoingDewey

      Thanks Molly! I know some months are much better for me than others and I am also less likely to actually remember to track my goals on months that are going poorly, which may make it a less effective way of keeping up with my goals. I try to be pretty laid back about blogging and reading though, so maybe that’s alright 🙂

      Reply

    • DoingDewey

      Thanks, Liz! I do always find it hard to balance my different goals. For instance, the books I’ve owned for a long time don’t include as much nonfiction or as many books by authors of color as I’d be picking up today. I hope you’re having a good March too 🙂

      Reply

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