Monthly Inventory: December 2020

December 2020

I think the month of December 2020 really encapsulated for me what a crap year it was for reading (and blogging). I only read 4 books the entire month (though I had 2 others “started” but sitting on my bedside table collecting dust) — I used to read that many books in a week just a year or two ago.

Life doesn’t always go the way you plan and I think 2020 did a good job reminding me of that. While I learned lots of new things (like crocheting and how important travel is to me), I also formed a lot of bad habits. Or maybe my priorities in life are just changing? It’s really hard to say. I just know that I don’t want to make any big decisions off a mentally taxing year for me where I didn’t feel like myself 70% of the time.

You can read all about my Reading Plan for 2021 here and learn how I hope to get back into reading everyday. Like many people, I have some New Year’s resolutions and reading is one of them.

Total for December 2020: 4 Books Read + 0 Novellas Read

DNF’d: 0 Books

Last December 2019: 13 Books Read + 1 Novellas Read + 0 DNFs

Grand Totals for 2020:

43 Books + 31 ARCs + 76 Audiobooks + 6 Novellas + 6 DNFs + 1 Reread = 177 Books

*Note some ARCs were audiobooks or novellas so they maybe have been counted twice

Standout Read (★★★★)

I’ve had this on my list for a while and I really enjoyed it! I love royalty so the allusions to various royals families was a lot of fun. It was a super long audiobook though and I think that is why my numbers for the month were lower as well.

Biggest Let Down (N/A)

I only read 4 books and I gave them all 4 stars so yay!

I became a Prime Member this fall and they had a special promotion to joining Kindle Unlimited. I really didn’t take advantage of it as I should and continued my subscription for another 2 months.

Like I always do when I resubscribe, I wanted to see if I got my money’s worth ($10/month) and so I will be keeping track of all the books I read via the service. (Just like I did when completing the free trial.)

Hook – $6.97

While not a great effort on my part, I’m hoping to make up some ground in January and finish up some series that are available.

Previously posted series reviews that got updates:

No updates this month 🙁

You can always get the full details on all my challenges on my dedicated page but here is a quick update:

5 Year 5 Book Challenge: 0 books added | 18 of 31 Titles Read – Short 13 Books!
Goodreads Challenge: 3 books added | 171/155 Books – Completed!
Tackling the TBR Challenge: 0 books added | 22/24 Books – So Close!

View my Challenge Progress Here!

Overall: By the summer my challenges had slipped my mind and my fall reading slump didn’t help. It’s great I accomplished my Goodreads Challenge considering I was short the number of books I went over by this year. I wish I had paid attention to my Tackling the TBR because I’m sure I could have found 2 books to quickly read to get that challenge done.

2021 Reading Challenges:

I’ve decided NOT to set any challenges this year. I will continue my Goodreads Goal and have it set again at 155 Books (if travel can safely resume, I have a lot of postponed trips to get to!).

I may go back to old challenges that are incomplete and finish them up in 2021. But I kind of want to see how January goes before I commit to that idea.

My Goodreads Goal this year is 155 Books.

My main mission for 2020 was bringing my “Want to Read” shelf (new to me books) on Goodreads to a number less than 400 and have my “Sequel” shelf to be below 200 titles.

How did I do?

	Currently	December 31, 2019
Want to Read (New)	362	422
To Read (Sequels)	205	238

Final thoughts: I’m really happy with my Want to Read numbers! I think it helps I didn’t really keep up with new releases this year so I wasn’t always adding titles but still, I made great progress there! The Sequel shelf is a great number as well. While I would have liked to have been below 200, it’s so close I really can’t complain.

Mission for 2021: I would love to decrease my Want to Read (New) to 325 and my To Read (Sequels) to 175.

I used to do a big Goodreads Purge twice a year but I like the idea of doing a little bit at a time and had great success last year doing this on a monthly basis. The idea is to go through 5-10 books on your Goodreads TBR list chronologically and decide if they should stay or go. My 10 titles consist of 7 “new to me” titles and 3 “previously started series” titles.

This month:

Pass	Pass	Keep	Pass	Pass
Keep	Keep	Keep	Pass	Keep

Pass: 5 | Keep: 5

Grand Total YTD: Pass: 55 | Keep: 65

Did I give up on any too soon? Let me know in the comments below!

While this is a monthly meme hosted by Avalinah’s Books, I usually only update every quarter.

My Progress for January to December, 2020:

ARCs Read: 31 | ARCs Overdue: 5+1* | Upcoming: 1

(September State: ARCs Read: 25 | ARCs Overdue: 2+1* | Upcoming: 4

*Titles given to me as a member of an author’s street team to read ASAP.

Going Forward:

In 2021 I’m limiting the amount of requests I accept through my blog. Instead, I want to focus on author’s I’ve worked with before or am a member of their street teams for. I’m not going to actively seek out any ARCs at this time until I get back into better reading habits.

January is all about relearning my reading habits and reintegrating it into my everyday life. I’d also love to finish up some of my overdue ARCs and finish those books that I’ve started but seem to struggle with picking up and finishing.