Reading Goals for 2015

So 2014 is almost over, and I'm about done with my 2014 goal of reading 129 books (I'm on the 129th right now, which is the finale to the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor!!). I'm going to finish Dreams of Gods and Monsters right after I finish this post, so yeah; stay tuned.

A Little Reflection on 2014:

2014 was a really big year for me in terms of not only books, but also youtube. This was the year that I truly became an avid watcher of both youtube and also booktube, and whilst I'm not a creator, being a viewer is a huge part of my life. It's a way to stay connected to the world as a person who hasn't been out of her little township area in more than three years. It's a way to formulate opinions and get educated on modern events and things like feminism and activist movements. I connect through youtube, and I guess in  way, I'm living my life by watching others live their lives. I'm so deeply connected to all these youtubers who for the most part don't even know I exist, and that's wonderful. The internet is a wonderful thing.

I became vegetarian on August 9th of 2014, because I watched a ten minute video on Youtube. That sole video changed my ENTIRE view on vegetarianism as well as animal rights and slaughterhouses, which I'm not going to get into because I know people get really touchy and annoyed about this subject. I just want to say that 2014 is the year that I finally got connected, and it was the year that I realized exactly how awful ignorance is. Anyway. Back to books.

Without booktube and Goodreads, I'm absolutely certain I never would've read the ginormous amount of books that I did. I think it's a feat, and I think I'm obligated to bragging rights simply because holy shit I read a lot. I found so many universes and I cried over fictional characters and their sorrows and I discovered tons of new authors. Reading is so beautiful, and while I've been actively reading for almost a decade now, I think 2014 is the year that I really pushed my limits.

Reading Goals for 2015:

1) Read 125 books in 2015. I was really pushing it in 2014 with 129 books, and while for the majority of 2014 I was around 10 books ahead of schedule, I helplessly fell behind in the latter years due to school. I was transitioning into a new school in which the workload was maybe double (which was as expected) but then I immersed myself in many extracurricular activities that I felt like I was drowning and burning out at exactly the same time. 

I medicated this with Youtube, procrastinating work and trying to convince myself that OF COURSE I had tons of time (in which I didn't, and then I would just sleep less and be more cranky and stressed out and the cycle would continue) I avoided booktubing videos for over three months simply because I hated the pressure that I put upon myself to read. And that's going to change. I still want to read  lot, and I'm not certain how the four book difference is really going to have that large of an impact, but I hope that I can pace myself better.

2) Read at least 38 books by authors of color (around 30% of the books I'm planning on reading) (Basically, read more diversely!!) I'm just starting to notice quite how non-diversely I read, and that's a problem. I want to change that, but I'm not certain just how drastically that's going to happen. I have many books on my tbr that I want to read in 2015, and which I've wanted to read for a long while and are not by people of color, and that's okay. I just want to read more diversely, so that's a goal that I'm setting that I can hopefully accomplish.

3) Read at least 10 non-manga graphic novels. In the whole of 2014, I think I've read probably less than three graphic novels, which is a huge source of shame for me. Graphic novels are awesome, and I can't believe I've barely picked up any. That's needs to change!

4) Attempt to read all the books in A Song of Ice and Fire that are released (A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, etc) It's a huge regret that I never got to finish A Game of Thrones in 2014 (I'm around halfway through), and I really want to rectify that. I desperately want to watch the TV series, but I've vowed to myself that I wouldn't until I finished all the books that have been released so far in the series. So yeah. This goal's a stretch, but hopefully I can do it.

5) Reread the entire Percy Jackson series. I loved these when I was a kid, and I want to read the Heroes of Olympus, but I can't do that when I don't even truly remember any of the characters. I still remember some of it (jogged by the many Percabeth tumblr posts that roam my feed) but I need to become better acquainted with the whole thing.

So that's all for now. Hopefully I'll be updating and adding more goals as 2015 goes on, but that's all for now!