I’m not ashamed of my complete reading goal failure this year. Well, maybe a little ashamed. But it’s not like I didn’t read. I did. A lot. To the tune of 87 books. It’s no 2017, but still a very respectable number. Here were my 2018 reading goals and how reality stacked up against them:

1. Read the World – I did this…but only with England. I never moved beyond that country. But I am—finally—done with it. Not that I didn’t enjoy it; it did (and I read far more about England than any other country), but I feel it’s time to move on. So many other countries out there.
2. World War II – This I did. It was very casual. To my World War II list, I added (for a total of 41 WWII books):
   1. Mr. Churchill’s Secretary
   2. The War that Saved My Life
   3. The Nightingale
3. Classics – I did okay in my classics goal. I didn’t read the collected works of anybody, but I did read several Shakespeare plays and other literature:
   1. The Hobbit
   2. King John
   3. Richard II
   4. King Henry IV, Part 1 & 2
   5. Ivanhoe
   6. As I Lay Dying
   7. The Turn of the Screw
   8. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
   9. North and South
4. Must-Read List – So I didn’t read all the books on my must-read list. Not even close. I have 46 books on my must-read list. Of those 46, I read 16.
5. Bookshelf – Nope.

So you’re probably wondering what I did read. A lot of series that weren’t on my immediate radar. A lot of old favorites. A lot of new favorites. Sometimes you forget to account for all the good new book coming out. I may not have reached all my goals, but that’s okay. Reading should be fun and educational, not something you have to force yourself to do.

Here’s to a new year of reading! New reading goals to come.