Mid Year Challenge Stats Update

2018 Books I Already Own Challenge

All right, so since we've finished the first half of the year, I thought I'd check in stats-wise to see how I was doing with my challenge versus overall reading...

My Challenge Status in Stats:
Total books read to date - 85

Books read for work/review - 23
Percent of total books exempt from challenge because they were for work/review - 27%

New total of books to consider for challenge - 62

Books read from my personal collections (physical, ebook, audiobook) - 44
Percent of total books applicable for my challenge - 71%

Books read as "cheats" that I then bought and added to my home collections - 10
Percent of total books "cheat to own" - 16%

Books read as complete "cheat" books - 8
Percent of total books are "cheat" books - 13%

So, overall, not counting the books I was required to read for either work or professional reviewing, I didn't do too badly so far! I read 44 books purely for the challenge from my collections at home.  I read another 10 books as "cheats" that I then decided to add to my own collections... and lastly, I've read 8 books purely as "cheats." Not too bad for the first half of the year, especially with a month and a half as pure "cheat" time!

Here's the list of titles that meet the full parameters of my challenge (AKA I owned them before the challenge began): 
Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer
Blood Rose by Andrea Cremer
Winterspell by Claire Legrand
Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Princess and the Stableboy by Rebecca Rynecki (reread)
Dark Descendant by Jenna Black
Something Strange and Deadly by Susan Dennard
Darker Days by Jus Accardo
Defiance by C.J. Redwine
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
Mothership by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal
Talon by Julie Kagawa
Rogue by Julie Kagawa
Rebel Heart by Moira Young
Raging Star by Moira Young
The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken
Prudence by Gail Carriger
Imprudence by Gail Carriger
Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier
Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Never Fade by Alexandra Bracken
Claimed by the Gods by Eva Chase
Night of Cake and Puppets by Laini Taylor
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Goliath by Scott Westerfeld
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J.K. Rowling
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Power of Five by Alex Lidell
Nevernight by Jay Kristoff
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Mistake of Magic by Alex Lidell
Aquicorn Cove by Katie O'Neill
Furyborn by Claire Legrand
My Wish for You by Kathryn Hahn
Escaping from Houdini by Kerri Maniscalco
You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero
The Bookshop Girl by Sylvia Bishop
The Plastic Magician by Charlie Holmberg

The "Read from My PERSONAL Library" Challenge

So, I'm a lifetime, avid reader - a blogger, a professional reviewer, and of course, a Librarian.  This means that my life is FILLED with books.  They are everywhere. At home, at work, in the mail, lent out to friends, on my ereader...they are everywhere. I get books all the time. More than I can ever keep up with - in fact, I have a problem with NOT getting new books. I truly am one of those people who's afraid of running out of things to read!

Part of one shelf on ONE of my bookcases.
See the double stacking?

I'm pretty sure at least one or two of you know exactly what I'm talking about. I know I'm not alone in this. *grins*

BUT...I've decided I need to get things a little more under control.  How, you ask? I'm issuing myself a READ FROM MY PERSONAL LIBRARY challenge. I'm setting out to start reading all those books that I've bought, either in traditional paper format or as ebooks, and never gotten around to reading! Really. I want to make a dent in MY OWN Library before seeking out new books.

An old photo, but one that shows two of my
bookcases in the back...they still look like this,
if not even fuller!

Now, this is not to say that I can resist every new book that's coming out. I'm going to be realistic about this. Sometimes the shiny-new just ends up winning out. There's also those sequels that I just cannot wait for...and the books that I'm already on blog tours for...and the ones I have to read for the Book Clubs I lead at work...and the ones I professionally review.  SO.  What I'm actually proposing is that I am going to read AS MANY of my own books as I can in the near future. My realistic goal is going to be to read 3 personally owned books for every 1 that I read from the Library, etc.  

How am I going to keep track?  Well, in a couple of ways. First, I track all of my reading on Shelfari, so that means I'll be able to see the ratio of personal books to borrowed/gifted. Second, when I post blog reviews I always mention where I got the book from (full disclosure on the bottom of the review) so YOU all will be able to see whether or not I'm maintaining my challenge ratio or not.  Third, I plan to check in every once in a while here on the blog with a post updating you all officially on my progress.

How am I going to start this challenge?  Well, this is it...
 
I currently have out from the Library:
3 fun reading books (Ever After High: A Wonderlandiful World, Landry Park, and Wild Things)
3 non-fiction books*
1 book for work (our next book club read Bella Fortuna) from the Library.
*Note - for the purposes of this challenge, I decided that I'm going skip counting non-fiction books as they are either for work or  are lifestyle books that I tend to just skim through. I don't read them the same way as I do fiction.*

From those, that means that I will be reading at least 9 of my own personal books along the way!

My "display" book case with nicely arranged
series and knick-knacks. I look much less like a
book hoarder here! 

Then, I have 4 books on hold at the Library that I'm dying to read (Winner's Crime, The Heir, The Orphan Queen, and Wicked Charms) so when I get each of those, I'll make sure to read 3 of my own.

I also have 3 blog tour posts coming up for The Traveling Tea Shop, Shadow Scale, and Sophomore Year is Greek to Me. So, again for each of these titles, I'm aiming to read 3 personally owned books.

I'm not promising I can read them all in exactly that order (1 Borrowed, then 3 Owned, then 1 Borrowed, then 3 Owned, etc.), but I'm going to strive to loosely maintain that ratio over the next few months. I'd like to make a really nice dent in my Library by this summer! In fact, as I read things, I'm also going to be trying to free up some space on my shelves so that they look more like the ONE really nicely maintained "display" shelf that I keep out where guests can see it.