Last year I didn't make my goal. THIS year, I'm doing a Rocky IV, Hearts on Fire montage run up a damn mountain.

January 3rd: I'm on track. Let it be known. This is probably the last day I'll be on track.

January 5th: I'm now one book behind schedule. Damn, those first 4 days of 2024 sure were sweet.

What's the record for falling flat on a resolution? 5 days seems like the time to beat.

January 12: I am now 2 books behind schedule.
Technically, shouldn't I be ALL the books behind schedule? It's not like we can assume, after falling two books behind, that I'm going to rally and keep up with the pace I should have originally.

I've gotta ask: how short are these books?!

So far this year they’ve been pretty short. But throughout the year, I read all different lengths of books. It ends up varying wildly, and I don’t have the energy to game the system or whatever. Last year I read The Walking Dead in the huge omnibus editions, and I counted them as one book each, even though they probably had like…7 individual trade paperbacks in one volume? So what I counted as 3 or 4 was more like 20 or 30 in some ways, but after failing most of my goodreads challenges and doing several years where I set my goal at the highest number (5000?), it’s all become a joke for me.

Well, I'd be happy to read 20 books! Fair play to you.

You can totally do it. Just don’t get demoralized when goodreads is like “You’re 2 books behind.” I have to say, being 200 books behind in the first month of the year made me totally immune to being behind in future challenges!

January 18: I am now one book ahead. You all really should start a betting pool based on whether or not I make the goal. The stupidest, slowest sports bet of all time.

January 31: I was up by a couple books, now I'm down by a couple books. What a rollercoaster! No wonder people spend so much time on the goodreads.com website and mobile application!

March 1st: I am 10 books ahead, baby! Nobody thought I could do it. And they still may be totally right. Time will tell. Time and laziness. And this could be it, the year I give up reading forever. Think of all I could do if I wasn't reading!

March 11: I am 22 books ahead of schedule. It will, officially, never rain again. There is absolutely no way I'll be knocked off this high horse. I'm to great to fail. Whoops, I meant "too" great to fail. Well, okay, there was that one minor failure, which I thought I'd be too great for, but surely this cannot foreshadow doom. Surely.

June 5th: I was down to only one book ahead of schedule, but after adding the weekend's reads, I'm back up to SEVEN ahead. You cannot beat me, Goodreads. Perhaps I only got that close to failure to let you see what it might be like to taste victory. You're never really in hell until you've got a view of heaven, right?

Peter... How long are these books?! How are you reading so many?! Genuine questions.
Peace.

Lots are pretty short. A manga probably only takes me about a half hour to 45 minutes to read, so that makes the numbers a lot bigger.
I didn't track comics/manga previously, but I started finding it useful because it helped me keep track of where I left off on one series or another. And once I started tracking comics, tracking them every year made sense to me.
I'm also reading a bunch of Goosebumps books this year for a project in October, and those are really short, like 120 pages most times, with pretty big type. I wouldn't put myself up there among super readers or anything, only trying to best my past self. The smug bastard...
If I was reading only grownup, all-text novels, the number here would be pretty ridiculous. It's already pretty ridiculous, but I am a ridiculous person, so there's good alignment here.

I've now fallen 1 book behind. This is the endgame, people. While I have been fighting valiantly, there's a point when you are laid low, and you have to imagine that when it's the end, you know. Perhaps not right away, but as the darkness approaches, you feel its cold, yet comforting, grip on your soul.

Back on top, one book ahead. This is the danger zone, though. Where just a couple of days of no reading puts you back on your heels. Do I have the bravery, the stamina to keep up this fight another six months!?

19 books behind schedule. There is no heaven for people like me. No reprieve from my horrid acts.