Today I’m participating in Top Ten Tuesday, which was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Each week there is a new theme/topic, and participants choose ten books that fit it.
This week’s theme is Bookish Goals for 2024. Last year, I set all sorts of reading goals and participated in quite a few challenges. I’m a bit burnt out on it all. I plan to do things differently this year and mostly set vague goals for the types of vibes I want to achieve instead of picking specific books/series/prompts/etc.
- Goodreads Challenge: Every year I always set my Goodreads Challenge to the same goal, 100 books. I’ve done the same again this year. It is an easily achievable number for me, which means it won’t be something I need to stress over.
- Reading Journal: I want to keep up with my physical reading journal. I started using it a couple of months ago, and I’m enjoying it so far. I like that it is something just for me and my private thoughts about the books I read. I also really enjoy decorating it with stickers and using the planner in it to track stuff.
- StoryGraph Pages Challenge: This is another pretty easy challenge that only lasts through January. I need to read at least one page every day this month and log it on StoryGraph.
- Buy Fewer Books: I’m out of space, and I have so many books on my shelves needing to be read. I love buying books, but I need to do it less. I’m not going to go on a book buying ban because those never work for me. I’d just like to be a bit more mindful about what I’m adding to my shelves.
- Read from My Shelves: I have hundreds of unread books on my shelves at this point. I just get obsessed with the new shiny thing and need to have it in my hands even if there’s no chance I’ll read it anytime soon. lol. I really want to make a concerted effort to read the books I own. There’s so many of them I’m excited to read. They just keep getting bumped for ARCs and library holds. NO MORE!!! (hopefully)
- Unhaul More Books: I am a book dragon. I hoard them even when I know deep down inside that there is no way I’ll ever read them again. I made some progress on this problem last year by starting a Pango shop. I’d like to get rid of way more books on there, which will hopefully be assisted by my previous goal. I hope to read more books from my shelves and unhaul the ones I don’t love.
- Request/Accept Fewer ARCs: I want to be super picky this year about what ARCs I spend my time reading. If it isn’t a book I’m really excited about (favorite author, series I love, etc.), I’m going to try to stay away from it. I’ve been really bad about requesting and accepting anything that catches my eye, and it leads to me putting all the books I buy on the back-burner. Too many ARCs also makes reading feel too much like work, which I do not enjoy.
- Read All Pre-2024 ARCs: I don’t have a ton of overdue ARCs, but I’d really like to finish up those that are hanging over my head from 2022 and 2023.
- Mood Read: I really want to make 2024 a year of mood reading. If you follow my blog, you know I always have a pretty extensive monthly TBR. I’ve decided to stop making them this year. There will be no more TBRs on this blog. While I love planning, I also just want to read whatever feels right in the moment, with the exception of ARCs, of course. So, no more TBRs for me. It feels kind of freeing. 🙂
- Comic Books: My comics library is A FUCKING MESS. I have so many to read it is likely in the thousands at this point. I don’t have a particular goal in mind when it comes to comics other than wanting to actually read some. I keep buying them, but I cannot remember the last time I actually picked one up to read. I really should just stop purchasing them, but I cannot bring myself to do it. ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ So, maybe a goal of reading 100 floppies this year to match my Goodreads goal of 100 books? Let’s go with that and hope for the best…
There you have it! My bookish goals for this year. What are you hoping to accomplish? Let me know down in the comments!
You’ve got some pretty hefty goals! I didn’t set any for myself, except for one. I want to review every book I read, regardless of whether I loved it or not. I’m not setting a book or page goal, I just want to review them all.
With that said, I’m already behind, lol. But I’ll get there. Slowly and Surely.
Good luck with your goal! I don’t write long reviews for everything I read, but I do write down my thoughts for each one in my WWWWednesday posts and my reading journal. I just really enjoy reflecting on the stuff I read. I hope you enjoy it over the course of the year, too! 🙂
The Storygraph pages challenge is one that I love doing every year! It only lasts a month and I feel so accomplished.
I used to do a TBR every month for years. I was terrible at keeping to them because I’m a huge mood reader. I stopped doing TBR’s a couple years ago and it’s been amazing. It sucks that I’m only a mood reader but I think you will love the freedom of not having a TBR anymore. Obviously, this doesn’t go for ARC schedules but still a great feeling! Good luck with all of these goals!
This is my first time doing the pages challenge, and I’m enjoying it so far. It has really helped me stay on top of updating my StoryGraph. I’m hoping it will set up a habit that continues throughout the year.
I’ve always enjoyed having a TBR. I’m very much a list person. lol. I’ve noticed the last several months that I’ve followed them less and less while enjoying doing more mood reading. So, I’m determined this year to just go with the flow. 🙂
Yeah, I did so well last year until about May. I didn’t even go back and update the rest of the year. I’m going to try and do better with using it more regularly.
I’m really impressed that you are able to go with the flow for the whole year! Especially, since you are such a list person. I think 2024 is the perfect year, to follow your mood. I think we all need a more relaxing year. 🙂
What does one do with a book journal? I admit my aunt got me one a while ago that’s very simple, but he only times I’ve used it have been for travel (so I can jot some thought vomit down) or during BBNYA.
I am also a book dragon, though I try really hard (most of the time) to not purchase so many books. I ignore all the Book Outlet stuff now. 😛
I’m using one of the Owlcrate reading planners, and I love it. It’s a combination planner/journal. It has places for weekly to do lists, monthly calendars, weekly calendars, tbr lists, upcoming release trackers, book reviews, monthly wrap-ups, and other stuff. I mostly use it for the book review section and write out my rough thoughts, but I’m also having fun decorating some of the pages with stickers. Mostly I just wanted something tangible to put my thoughts in that wasn’t reliant on the interwebs. 🙂
I feel you on book buying bans not working; I think they make me worse, sometimes! So I’m just trying (trying!) to read slightly more than I acquire, so the backlog keeps slowly going down… Good luck with these goals!
My TTT.
That’s a great way to set up that goal. I may do something similar. The bans definitely make me worse because I end up rewarding myself with extra stuff for holding off, even if I don’t make it to the end of the ban. lol.
I am doing the Storygraph page challenge too! I wish it was all year long lol.
I’m hoping it will start me in the habit of actually remembering to update my Storygraph. It would definitely be helpful if it was all year long.
Yeah I don’t update it as often as Goodreads lol.
I’m with you on buying fewer books and concentrating on reading from my own shelves. My bookcases are literally bending under the weight of all my unread books, so it’s clearly past time to take on this challenge! Good luck to both of us 🙂
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Yeah. I’ve been implementing the ‘buy more shelves’ approach for years, and now I’m out of space for bookcases. lol. Good luck! I hope we are both successful.
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