Mid Year Assessment and August List

Usually, I do a kind of informal assessment at the halfway point of the year to see how I'm doing and make plans to catch up if I'm behind. That should have been at the beginning of July, however I was a bit busy at the time trekking across the country and back. As a result, I'm assessing now. 

It's not a surprise to find that I'm a little over a month behind overall and about three months behind in my YA goals. It sounds dire, but it actually works out great for a catch up month of reading. It works out that I need to read about 30 books in August to get entirely back on track. Coincidently, I need about 30 books to get back on track in my YA sub-goal.  This is great. I tend to read YA at a much faster clip than other things and while 30 books in a month is still a pretty steep order, it's not impossible either. Even if I don't quite make it, I'm sure I can certainly make up ground by focusing on YA. Anything over 15 means that I'm catching up. (I will worry about my other sub goals in September). 

As a result, I have here a list of 35 YA books and series to work through. I'll be using my random number selection to keep motivated with a bit of a twist. There's a second list of 15 books that are not YA to use to cut the YA with. I love YA, but after a while it gets a little mind numbing. That second list is only open after every 5 YA books read. I don't have to pick from the second list, but it's there if I need it to cut the YA with.

Cross your fingers for me.

1. Kids of Appetite by David Arnold (YA)
2. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (YA)
3. The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (YA)
4. The Second Chance of Benjamin Waterfalls by James Bird (YA)
5. The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall (YA)
6. Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Classic, YA)
7. The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco (Finished 8/21/2022)
8. Kill All Happies by Rachel Cohn (YA, Library)
9. The Rope Maker by Peter Dickinson (YA)
10. Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow (YA)
11. The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (YA)
12. The Silver Arrow by Lev Grossman (YA)
13. Quest For A Kelpie by Frances Hendry (Finished 8/16/2022)
14. The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani (Finished 8/27/2022)
15. Doctor Dolittle Vol 1 by Hugh Lofting
1. The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
2. The Story of Doctor Dolittle
3. Doctor Dolittle's Post Office
16. The Casket of Time by Andri Snaer Magnason (YA)
17. Sparrow Hill Road by Seanan McGuire (YA)
18. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern (YA?)
19. Dragonwatch by Brandon Mull (YA)
20. Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri (YA, Library)
21. Avatar the Last Airbender: Smoke and Shadow by Nickelodeon (Finished 8/2/2022)
22. The Borrowers by Mary Norton (series YA)
1. The Borrowers
2. The Borrowers Afield
3. The Borrowers Afloat
4. The Borrowers Aloft
5. The Borrowers Avenged
23. Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer (YA, Library)
24. The End and Other Beginnings by Veronica Roth (Finished 8/25/2022)
25. The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski (Finished 8/11/2022)
26. Maximillian Fly by Angie Sage (YA, Library)
27. I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez (YA) 
28. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett by Chelsea Sedoti  (YA)
29. What Goes Around by Courtney Summers (Series YA)
1. Cracked Up to Be
2. Some Girls Are
30. Fruits Basket Another by Natsuki  Takaya (Series YA)
1. Vol 1 (Finished 8/2/2022)
2. Vol 2 (Finished 8/13/2022)
3. Vol 3 (Finished 8/17/2022)
31. Songs to Make You Smile by Natsuki Takaya  (finish 8/3/2022)
32. Tsubasa by Natsuki Takaya
1. Vol 1  (Finished 8/09/2022)
2. Vol 2 (Finished 8/30/2022)
3. Vol 3
33. Twinkle Stars Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya  (Finished 8/19/2022)
34. The Gap of Time by Jeanette Winterson (YA)
35. The Magic Three of Solatia by Jane Yolen (Finished 8/5/2022)

Non YA for Sanity's Sake Cut List:

1. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (borrowed)
2. Abaddon's Gate by James S. A. Corey 
3. Circuit of Heaven by Dennis Danvers (Ryan Pick)
4. Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
5. The Devil & Sherlock Holmes by David Grann (NF)
6. The Fireman by Joe Hill
7. Star Mother by Charlie N. Holmberg (Library)
8. Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li (TBR)
9. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu
10. Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
11. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny
12. The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade (TBR)
13. Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci (NF)
14. No Gods, No Monster by Cadwell Turnbull (Library)
15. The Science of Murder: The Forensics of Agatha Christie by Carla Valentine (NF)