#038 | Midyear Madness: Where we're at 6 months into 2020

Midyear Madness: Where we're at 6 months into 2020

Time for a mid-year update! In this episode of rants and reviews, we take a look at 2020 so far and chat about how our Goodreads challenge is coming along, the 5 books on our Vow to Read list, the 5 books on our Vow to Reread list, and which books have been our favourite books so far!

Currently Reading 

Each episode of Rants and Reviews we share what we’re currently reading, so you can discover our favourite genes, add some books to your TBR pile, and hear us rave and rage about characters, plot, setting and more.

Sophie is currently reading:

• Nothing.

The shame! No, not really. But Sophie has just finished reading Chamber of Secrets but has yet to pick up another one. She's thinking she'll either read We Were On a Break by Lindsey Kelk or All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.

Anjali is currently reading: 

• The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
• Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Main feature 

(05:00) Anjali kicks us off by telling us that her Goodreads Challenge number is 60, and she's up to book number 33. Which means she's about 53% through and is on track to finish all 60 by the end of the year.

(06:20) Sophie wants to read 50 books this year, and she's just finished book 28. So she too is over halfway through the challenge, and when we recorded this we were in mid-July. We talk about how, if we took off graphic novels form our Have Read lists, then our numbers would drop significantly this year.

(08:15) Sophie read Chamber of Secrets in the illustrated version, and we talk about how pretty the pictures are, and how Anjali just looks through every single page as soon as she gets it, while Sophie waits until she reads it for the first time. We're very different.

(09:30) Every year with Blogger's Bookshelf we choose 5 books at the start of the year that we Vow to Read. You can find our 5 picks here on our Twenty Twenty episode. How well is Sophie going with her VTR? Tune in to find out!

(11:50) Sophie applauds Anjali's efforts at her VTR this year. You guys, she's going well. Remarkably well, compared to other years.

"We're all going to be disappointed you if you can't [finish your Vow to Read list]."

(13:45) As well as the 5 we pick to Vow To Read each year, we pick 5 books that we Vow to REread. These are books that we've really enjoyed in the past that we want to pick up again. Anjali shares which books she's read on her VTRR list ... and it's not as good as it should be.

(17:48) We take a moment to complain (here are the 'rants' in Rants and Reviews) about how to track your reading if you're reading a Kindle book collection. Anjali is reading Shadow of Night on Kindle, but it's 3 books in one, and she's reading the middle one ... how do you track this?!

"Oh good, Sophie is reading! We will have things to talk about on our podcast!"

(19:50) Once again, we talk about Goodreads and it's frustrations and limitations. And to be fair, we don't really know how it works. 

But you can find us here if you want to follow along with what we're reading: Anjali | Sophie.

(21:00) We've read some great books so far this year, and we share with you our favourite reads for the first half of 2020.

(27:25) "Anything fun?" asks Sophie. And we talk for a minute or so about how Sophie should start a webcomic and how great that would be! We also talk about Lore Olympus, a webcomic which follows Greek gods and goddess and their antics. It's great; you should check it out!

Outro

How far are through are you with your Reading Challenge? Did you make a Vow To Read list with us at the start of the year? How are you going with those? Update us on Social Media! 

Books mentioned in this episode

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by unknown author, We Were On a Break by Lindsey Kelk, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel by Deborah Moggach, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare, Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak, Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth, A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab, Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell and Faith Erin Hicks, Mythos by Stephen Fry, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon, Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert, Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, The Switch by Beth O'Lery, The Hand on the Wall by Mauren Johnson, The Heartstopper Series by Alice Oseman, The Toll by Neal Shusterman, The Vanishing Deep by Astrid Scholte, Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid.