10 January, 2012

Goals - Looking Back at 2011

This is the update post looking back at 2011 goals and later this week I'll put up my goals for this year. I didn't do the best this year at achieving my goals, so I'll be doing things a little different this year.

In bold are the goals from last year, followed by a non-bold number or update on the goal and then some thoughts.

Read 60 books in 2011 - 58 (not completed)

To be honest, I didn't think I could even get this close. I'm actually pretty proud of this. I projected 5 books a month, but then I started reading some rather long books and that set me back a bit. To compensate, I cheated a bit by throwing in some novellas at the end, but what with the couple thousand-pagers I read throughout the year, I don't feel too bad. :)

Read at least two of these authors (Tad Williams, Stephen R. Donaldson, Glen Cook) - Songs of the Dying Earth (completed)

This was a bit of a cop-out since all three authors wrote short stories in Songs of the Dying Earth, but then again, I didn't specify. :)

Read one of these books by Melanie Rawn (The Golden Key, Stronghold) - Neither read. (not completed)

I read a page or two of The Golden Key, but got side-tracked and didn't pick it up again. Whoops.

Read at least one of these trilogies (Coldfire, Rai Kirah) - Neither read. (not completed)

Yep, almost started Rai Kirah by Carol Berg, but no dice.

Read further in the Dark Tower series - The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands (completed)

My goal was only to read one more and I read two. I'm excited to get back into this series and hopefully finish it this year.

Read further in the Dresden Files - Summer Knight, Book 4 (completed)

Yay, I need to get some more read this year. Great series.

Added Goal:
Finish the Malazan Book of the Fallen series - Dust of Dreams, Book 9 (not completed)

I thought I could finish the series, but I just didn't get there. I better read The Crippled God before the new Forge of Darkness (Kharkanas book 1) comes out this year.


Final Thoughts:

Out of 7 goals, I only completed 3, although I was very close with completing my 60 books goal. I'm not too proud of this, but it's caused me to rethink how I make my goals.

I've learned I don't do well with a set list of books I have to read. For some reason being locked into certain books gives me absolutely no desire to read them, so I won't be doing that again.

Here's to 2012, Happy New Year!

8 comments:

Ryan said...

For some reason I had it in my head that you DID finish the Malazan series, which made me feel like a slacker...which lead me to read Dust of Dreams over the holidays. Now it turns out I coulda held out a but longer.

The DoD review is pending, the books is sitting in the review queue, which is terribly backed up at the moment. I blame Skyrim.

Bibliotropic said...

Not too bad, really. I signed up for a bunch of reading challenges last year that I didn't end up completing, so I'm a bit disappointed by that, but the ones that I did finish I very often exceeded my goal by a large amount, so maybe it balances out in the end.

Happy reading in 2012!

Bryce L. said...

@Ryan - Haha, I got you good. :) I was on track to finish TCG, but got 150 pages in and realized I just wasn't ready. I want to enjoy it and not feel like a chore, and that soon after DoD, was on the wrong end.

I, too, am far behind on my reviews. The cruise screwed everything up, I know, it's hard the life I live.

@Bibliotropic - Thanks. :) Yeah, it's tough to do everything and I always have such high hopes early in the year. :D

Joshua Lowe said...

Reading should be a pleasure and not a chore, so while there may be certain books you really want to get around to, don't beat yourself up if you feel like reading something else! I have to tell myself this to not feel guilty about the 30 or so books I've owned for years and never read.

Ryan said...

Dude, DoD felt like a chore at times. I don't want to give too many nuggets from my review away, but I struggled mightily at times to carry on.

It may take me a while to muster up the courage and energy to read TCG.

As both you and Josh mentioned, books should be a pleasure, not a chore...I find that the Malazan books have been walking that tightrope for me.

Really, your one and only goal for 2012 should be reading more Dark Tower books.

Bryce L. said...

@Josh - Well put, I sadly learned it the hard way this year. Although I did already get past the whole "finish every book you start" thing. That took a while, but it's just not worth wasting that much time on something you don't like.

@Ryan - It really did, especially when EVERY character had to philosophize, even the kids. And yes, that's actually about the only goal I have. I almost picked up Wizard and Glass when I got back from vacation, but decided to finish a couple things first so's I can really enjoy it.

Ryan said...

Wizard and Glass is a really good one! I wasn't such a huge fan of it when I initially read it, but with the whole series behind me, I really appreciate what that volume did for the series, and it might be my favorite installment in the series.

Bryce L. said...

That's good to hear. My favorite parts of The Gunslinger were Roland's past, so I'm really excited to find out more.