The Picky Pledge 2020

The Picky Pledge 2020

• Jan 15, 2020

Today, Alexa from Alexa Loves Books and I are talking all things Picky Pledge! We're taking a minute to look back at some stats from 2019, reflecting on what we accomplished the past year, and sharing our plan for 2020. The Picky Pledge was born out of lots of chats about our reading choices and book buying habits. We wanted to be more intentional and decided to hold each other accountable. Here's how it got started.

When we originally started The Picky Pledge, Alexa and I would share a long post with charts and graphics and stats. We'd use them to identify what we needed to change in the year to come, which was so helpful. But over time, it started to make more sense to simplify! Today, we're focusing on the same stats we shared last year.

Alexa and I always laugh at how some things change over time, but we still basically have to same "problem areas" as the day we created this project. I buy too many books, and Alexa could always pare down on review books. However, we have seen positive changes through the years. We're both more aware now, so we're more intentional. The only stat we are sharing ties in to entire focus of Picky Pledge: the source of what we read in 2019.

In 2019, I read 210 books. Here's where they came from:

BOUGHT/GIFTED (2019) • 46 Books • 22%

BORROWED • 34 Books • 16%

OWNED (PRE-2019) • 38 Books • 18%

REREAD • 64 Books • 31%

REVIEW • 28 Books • 13%

This was a really interesting reading year in comparison to 2018! I read more review books (up from 8%), borrowed less (down from 23%), and read a little more from my TBR (up from 15%). Looking back to 2017, it's been interesting to see how reading what books bought/gifted in that respective year has trended down over time (47% in 2017, 34% in 2018, and 22% in 2019). I'm pretty sure this is lower because I'm not buying as much. That's a HUGE win! 

The most interesting change this year is how much I re-read (up from 20%). It wasn't shocking since I did a few challenges this year focused on re-reading, which I'll talk about more on Friday. I'm always in the mood to re-read, but it's nice to make it a priority every few years. There are so many books coming out in 2020 that I'm excited to read, so I'm expecting to re-read a little less. It's nice to see this fluctuate based on what season of life I'm in.

The way Alexa and I set Picky Pledge goals has changed since we first started this project. Since 2018, we've set out to complete The Picky Pledge Reading Challenge. We have 12 categories, enough for one book per month, to help us read more from our TBR. The categories are all tied to reasons that we bought the books on our TBR, which makes is easy to find something that fits for each one. It's simplified but still accomplishes our purpose.

Ten of these books were on my TBR prior to 2019. Two were re-reads, but they still counted for our project because they'd been on my Audible TBR for a while. Here are the categories and what I read for each one:

FOR THE COVER: Foolish Hearts by Emma Mills

BASED ON A RECOMMENDATION: We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter

FOR THE HOOK: Love á la Mode by Stephanie Kate Strohm

ON SALE: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee

NEXT IN SERIES: China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwavn

IN A DIFFERENT FORMAT: Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (Audio)



BECAUSE OF THE AUTHOR: Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

GIFTED: The Clockmaker's Daughter by Kate Morton

PRE-ORDERED, HAVEN'T READ YET: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (Audio)



BOUGHT 3+ YEARS AGO: Jane of Lantern Hill by L.M. Montgomery

BECAUSE OF THE HYPE: The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

BECAUSE OF THE TOPIC: House of Dreams by Liz Rosenberg

Now, let's talk about 2020. We're continuing The Picky Pledge Reading Challenge! We kept all the categories the same this year, so it's the same graphic, too. Is that simplifying or simply laziness? Haha! We'll share a recap just like this one next January, but I'll track my progress throughout the year. If you're interested, feel free to join in and complete the challenge, too! We don't do any official check-ins or link-ups, so there's no big commitment. 

Here's to being intentional in 2020!

What are your reading goals for the year?