Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week's topic is Bookish Goals for 2024.
Last year was the first year I have given a lot of thought to reading and blogging goals over the next year. The goals for this year are similar to last year, and informed by my experiences in 2023.
My goals for the year:
- Aim at reading mostly books that I owned before January 1st of 2024. I have signed up for Bev Hankin's Mount TBR Challenge 2024 on Goodreads in order to track the number of books I read that fit that criteria. My goal is 48 books. This ties in with my next goal...
- My husband and I have a joint goal to not buy any books before the Planned Parenthood book sale in September. That effectively means almost 9 months of not buying books. One exception: We can buy ebooks.
- Read more graphic novels. I read a total of 4 graphic novels last year, which was an improvement. I will aim for 8 this year.
- Read more science fiction and fantasy, novels or short stories. In 2023 I read 3 science fiction novels and 1 fantasy novel. I read a few science fiction short stories from 4 different books. My aim is to improve on that, the more the better.
- Read more espionage novels. In 2023, I met my goal of at least 10 novels in that genre. I would like to read more than that this year, maybe 15. I will also aim at reading more spy fiction by authors that I haven't read but are on my shelves, virtual or otherwise.
- Read more ebooks. I buy a lot of ebooks but have a hard time reading them. I read one novel on my Kindle in 2023 and some short stories from a few collections.
- Read at least one classic a month, preferably from my Classics Club List, since I have been working on my Classics list for over 5 years, and still have a lot left on the list. But any classic reads would be good.
- Increase my short story reading. Last year I lamented the fact that I start short story anthologies or collections but often take months or years to finish them. However, I have decided that enjoying reading short stories is more important than completed books. Instead I will aim at reading more short stories per month (which will require tracking them in some way, which I am not good at).
- Share my thoughts on every book I read. I borrowed this goal from Jana's list from 2023. I try to do this already, even if it is only in my monthly book lists, but sometimes I only provide a summary. I may start putting shorter reviews in Goodreads. This will be a work in progress, and I don't expect to succeed at it overnight. It goes along with my last goal...
- Write shorter book reviews. This has been a goal for several years but I have had little success. Last year, when I tried to write short reviews, they turned into long reviews. I don't necessarily want to write only brief reviews, but I would like to master that art.
Addendum:
I have some authors I want to read more books by. This is not something I could do in one year, but I want to use this post as a reminder to read more by these authors:
- Raymond Chandler (4 remaining books in the Philip Marlowe series)
- Ross Macdonald (14 remaining books in the Lew Archer series)
- Ross Thomas (He wrote mostly standalone books; I have only read 3 of his books. I have 10 on my shelves.)
- Victor Canning (4 remaining books in the Birdcage series)
- Anthony Price (13 remaining books in the David Audley series)
- Reginald Hill (10 remaining books in the Dalziel and Pascal series)
- Rex Stout (Reread any books in the Nero Wolfe series that I have not read since I started blogging. Around 24 books.)
26 comments:
Don't rush toward Chandler's PLAYBACK. Good luck with all the goals, and if others can be helpful in any way...and don't wear one's self out!
Good luck with your goals!
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
"One exception: We can buy ebooks. " Ebooks are my downfall. 😁
Great list! Hope you achieve your goals.
Good luck with the book buying ban! Never works for me, haha! I hope you achieve your goals but more importantly I hope you have fun trying...
Good luck with your goals, Tracy! They seem well suited to you. I did laugh about the 'can buy ebooks' - yes, like Rebecca above ebooks are most of what I buy. To each his or her own though. Look forward to hearing about what you've read. :-)
Todd, do you dislike Chandler's PLAYBACK? I don't know much about it. I am more interested in reading all of Ross Macdonald's books but there are more there and I don't know which ones I have on hand. There are a lot of goals there and, realistically, I don't expect to reach them all.
Thanks, Lydia. I enjoyed reading your goals too.
Rebecca, I wish I enjoyed reading ebooks. I read mostly in the evening before I go to bed, and I cannot sleep if I read ebooks at that time of day. I want to read more in the day, and I can read ebooks then. I have a lot of them on my Kindle unread.
Excellent goals. Espionage books! I barely read those, I may have to add some to my TBR. Good luck with these.
I really like your goals, Tracy. I especially like that you're planning to read not just different genres, but also different formats and lengths. I think that broadens one's perspective.
I don't enjoy ebooks either. I have so many that I have never even opened. Just download and forget.
FictionFan, I have only stopped buying books for three months before (January - March), three times that will be a challenge. But we think we can do it. I have at least 1000 physical books on my TBR shelves and in boxes and probably much more than that.
I do expect to have fun reading and I won't worry if I don't meet all of these goals this year.
I read more graphic novels last year than I think I ever have. It helped that I read all five Heartstopper volumes last year. I hope to read more spy/espionage books in 2024. It's a genre I used to love but stopped reading for some reason. I've got a few on my physical TBR now, so there are no more excuses!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/goals-for-2024-book-and-blog-goals/
Kay, I probably already have bought a good number of ebooks this year already. I stick to inexpensive ones. Of all my goals, reading more ebooks may be the hardest.
Good luck with your goals! Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
I haven't done a post, and perhaps I will, but I actually share quite a few of your goals. Especially the classics - I want to read around 6 this year as opposed to none last year - and sci-fi and fantasy, although did fairly well with that last year. Also reading my 'old' books. I haven't embarked on a book buying ban but that's because most of the books I buy and read these days tend to be ebooks. What I need to get read is some of my physical books that have been unread on my shelves for years. Anway, good luck with all your aims, Tracy!
Good luck with your goals! A couple years ago I made a goal to get more comfortable with writing mini reviews and once I got used to it, it was so much easier. Good luck, happy reading!
I have a goal to buy fewer books this year, too, and I'd also love to read more sci fi and fantasy this year. And I wish you luck with your Mount TBR reading challenge! :D
Thanks, Margot, it was easier this year since I had a base set of goals from last year. I hope I am not planning too much of my reading, and leave some time for serendipitous reading.
Cath, I thought I had read more science fiction last year. I really want to work on that area more. I have so many unread science fiction and fantasy novels, and they are usually fun to read.
I think we were motivated to ban book buying for most of 2024 because we felt like we overdid buying paper books last year. And it will keep me focusing on my list for the book sale instead.
Someone did Haiku reviews of the books she read (I guess it was only on one occasion). That met the requirement of short and they were amusing but if one goal (as I suppose is one of yours and mine) is to give a reader a sense of whether they would enjoy a book or not, it did not really achieve that objective.
I'm doing the Mount TBR challenge, too, to encourage me to read more of my own books. My bookshelves are literally bending from all of the unread books on my shelves! LOL. Good luck with all of your goals.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Good luck! I'm also trying to buy fewer books and read more classics. I have enough unread books sitting around! I don't need to add more.
These are all good goals, and I particularly like #7 try to read one classic each month. Someday I'd like to try that goal. But I will settle for every once in awhile a classic. It's nice to mix them in. Good luck!
I very much enjoyed reading your goals, and wish you luck.
They are ambitious, but should bring you pleasure?!
My only goal is - always these days - to try to reduce the number of books in my house!
I am trying to pass on more of the books in my house to other homes also, Moira.
My goals are very ambitious but I am realistic about what I can accomplish and know I won't do that well at all of them. I don't want to stress about reading. Reading is for pleasure and fun.
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