On today's episode Anne helps Courtney Wallace, a Cincinnati reader, with a reading practice we hear surprisingly little about—her recent mid-year checkup on her reading goals. Lots of people talk about goals for the reading life—both numerical and content goals—at the start of every year. And we all see plenty of year-in-review summaries from readers. But when Courtney's guest submission mentioned her mid-year assessment we realized how rarely we stop to take stock of how our reading life has been thus far, while there’s still plenty of time to work on those reading goals before years’ end.

So today we review Courtney’s reading year so far and discuss what she hopes the rest of the year holds, giving you plenty of reading reflection inspiration along the way. We also discuss the importance of the book community, and particularly in-person events, as well as one simple thing she’s doing to slow down and appreciate what she’s reading.

Back-to-school season is similar to the New Year for many of us; it’s a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Hopefully you'll pull some inspiration from Courtney’s mid-year checkup to evaluate your own reading year so far and make any course corrections you need heading into this new season.

Connect with Courtney on Instagram @IncessantBookworm.

Speaking of back-to-school, as we're turning our attention to fall we want to look head to what books are coming out this fall. And this fall is loaded with great titles. September 1st we'll be giving our patreon community a little preview of the top 40 titles I've loved, the ones I'm looking forward to, and the titles that have the book industry abuzz. Join our community to take part in the Fall Book Preview live on September 1st.

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