Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

Okay, here it goes. I'm going to focus on my 2020 reading, rather than attempt any backlog.

After almost 10 years on Goodreads, I only have about 50 reviews at the moment, so I'm going to make my (for me) ridiculously ambitious goal to double that this year to make it 100.

0%-10% - Failing Reviewer
11%-30% - Bare-Minimum Reviewer
31%-75% - Average Reviewer
76%-89% - Dedicated Reviewer
90%-99% - Overachieving Reviewer
100% - Grand Master Reviewer

January: 73% Average Reviewer (11/15)

1. Starsight - complete!
2. Defending Elysium -complete!
3. The Soldier's Scoundrel - complete!
4. The Magpie Lord - complete!
5. A Case of Possession - complete!
6. Interlude with Tattoos - complete!
7. The Smuggler and the Warlord -complete!
8. The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh - complete!
9. Lyra's Oxford - complete!
10. The Princess and the Penis - complete!
11. Dark Space -complete!
12. Ten Thousand Doors of January - Pending
13. A Seditious Affair - reread, pending
14. A Private Miscellany - reread, pending
15. A Gentleman's Position - reread, pending

So, I'm not sure how I feel about the short stories. On one hand, it's just kind of annoying, because I don't necessarily think they have enough meat to warrant a review, but on the other hand, at least I don't have to agonize over writing anything overlong.

OMG, okay, if I can bring myself to write a few sentences about The Princess and the Penis, I think I have overcome any inhibitions about advertising my ridiculous reading habits.

Okay, it was Ten Thousand Doors that did it - such mixed feelings. Then I went and binged a few romance re-reads... I don't know if those will be easier or harder to tackle.

February: 83% Dedicated Reviewer (5/6)
1. The Conqueror - complete
2. Kidnapped by the Pirate - complete
3. The Emperor's Wolf - complete
4. Wolfsong - pending
5. Suddenly You - complete
6. Spinning Silver - complete

Oh gosh... writing reviews late at night leads to embarrassing rambling. Late night hot takes = drunk texting?

March: 33% Average reviewer (1/3)

1. Wayside School Beneatht he Cloud of Doom - complete
2. Red, White, and Royal Blue - pending
3. Card Captor Sakura Clear Card #6 - pending

April: 80% Dedicated Reviewer (4/5)

1. Card Captor Sakura Clear Card #7 - complete
2. Card Captor Sakura Clear Card #8 - complete
3. The Sun is Also a Star - complete
4. The Duchess Deal - pending
5. The Secret Commonwealth - complete

May: 33% (3/9)

1. All Systems Red - finished
2. Artificial Condition
3. Home: Habitat, Range, Niche, Territory
4. Rogue Protocol
5. Exit Stategy - finished
6. Network Effect
7. Age of Myth
8. Age of Swords
9. Any Old Diamonds - finished

June: (6/14)

Finished:
Gilded Cage
A Gentleman's Position
The Prince's Consort
Dark Rain
高嶺の蘭さん６
アルテ１

TBReviewed:
高嶺の蘭さん１－５
Novae#9
Pride and Prejudice
Equal Rites

July:　0/16

Finished:


TBReviewed:
アルテ２
Orange #1-6
乙嫁語り１－９

August: 1/8

Finished:
Captive

TBReviewed:
乙嫁語り　１０－１２
The Alchemist
On a Sunbeam
The Prince and the Dressmaker
Frog and Toad are Friends

September: 2/3 ain't bad

Finished:
The Power of Habit
The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water

TBReviewed:
Him

October: (12/30)

Finished:
Top Secret
Human Omega 2-3
Cry Heart, But Never Break
An Unseen Attraction
An Unnatural Vice
Dear Ijeawele
The Power
Put the Cat in the Oven Before you Describe the Kitchen
Serpentine
Wanted, An Author
Song for a Viking

TBReviewed:
The Masque of the Red Death
Human Omega1
Wanted, A Gentleman
Zenobia
Sea Prayer
Earth Fathers are Weird
Galatea
The Velveteen Rabbit
An Unsuitable Heir
A Deadly Education
The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas
Perfect State
Herding Cats
Big Mushy Happy Lump
Hyperbole and a Half
This is How You Lose the Time War
Think of England
Band Sinister

November: 5/12 Total 49/120

Finished:
Of Bright Stars and Burning Hearts
The Conqueror
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Bryony and Roses
Clockwork Boys

TBReviewed:
Until My Feet Bleed and My Heart Aches
Fence Vol 4
Proper English
A Fashionable Indulgence
カードキャプターさくらクリアカード編９
The Violet and the Tom
The Raven and the Reindeer

December: 7/10 Total: 56/130

Finished:
What a Gentleman Wants
A Rake's Guide to Seduction
Any Old Diamonds
The Duke and I
The Humans
The Viscount Who Loved Me
Murder on the Orient Express


TBReviewed:
The Wonder Engine
Windrose Volume 3
Swordheart

Bonus Reviews from previous years:

Good Luck! I shall be staking this thread~

Good luck! :)

Thanks guys! I think that although in my head I claim reviews are just for me, I still have hangups of needing to say something meaningful. As if I had a reputation to maintain. As if should someone choose to dig, my embarrassing prattle would be unearthed, and all book cred instantly vanish. So to get past that block, I go the opposite direction and go for the immediate hot take.

*cracks knuckles* Yuuuuup! MM Romance hot takes. If anything, there are a few coworkers and acquaintances on Goodreads who I can make uncomfortable. :P

Good luck!! Amazing job so far. ^_^

I have that hang up too. So much pressure that I feel like if I don’t spend hours on the review and make it perfect, it’s not worth publishing. Even when I do take that time, I often feel presumptuous, like why do I think my opinion matters at all. It takes a bit of effort to overcome lol. I fair better when I consider it an ongoing reading journal. I’ve always been good at talking to myself lol.

Thanks for motivation to get my tracker going?

Thanks, and good luck to you too!

I like that idea as well, as thinking of it as just a reading journal. And just like journals, it's okay to go back and cringe a little at what you wrote in the past; it's natural. It can also be incredibly interesting and satisfying to have that personal history, being able to flip back through an album of memories.

As a side tangent on memories, I've been thinking lately about Memory Keepers, and how some people are blessed with friends and family of long acquaintance who can say, "Remember when?" While others of us have none. Anyway, I figure that while buddy reads are social, reading itself is mostly solitary, so these thoughts and memories are mine alone to proactively record.

If it helps, I have enough reviews to do that most of what I say are ramblling thoughts typed out in 10-20 minutes. I have more elaborate review formats, but I usually end up deciding they take far more time than warranted.

aaaaand now that I've written that I've been struggling with the same review fro half an hour. joy.

So, after disappearing in June, I finally came back to update my books. I may be merely an Average Reviewer, But I have achieved my goal of doubling my total reviews to over 100! Even if I only review around half of the books I read, it has helped to lessen the mental block of writing anything at all, if only my hot take impressions. So, Progress.

That IS a lot of progress! YAY!

Goodbye 2020!
While I may come back to review some of these at a later date, the grand total stand at 56/130 books reviewed.

This is a bit off from my Goodreads stats, since I didn't count my DNFs, and also didn't count my TBR "reviews."

I think as a challenge this went really well. I achieved my goal of reaching over 100 reviews, averaging 43%, or just under half.

The most telling result was when I went to fill in the last few months, being surprised at how many I had actually written something for. I hardly remembered, because there wasn't the same huge mental roadblock and anxiety surrounding each one. I used to write only 1 or 2 all year. Turns out, when I allow myself to half-ass it instead of stressing over perfectionism, I can be more productive.

Perhaps at a later date I can think about quality, but for now, the Just Write Something philosophy seems to be working. Of course, I still have to re-remind myself to treat it like a personal memo. I really wish the private memos allowed the same character lengths as reviews, so I could distinguish between Reviews for Recommendation and Review of My Personal Experience and Related Associations. In the end the audience can get a bit muddled.

I'll be signing up for this Challenge again, if anything, to keep a tracker for motivation. :)

Hurray for half-assing!
No really that's how I managed to do most of my reviews last year too.