This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl is about goals for 2024. I always think a lot about goals, given I work for two goal-tracking apps (and it used to be three!), so I’ve already given this some thought. Here we go!
- I’d like to push myself to read plenty this year. If it doesn’t work out, that’s fine — it’s the effort that matters. So provisionally I’m aiming to read 400 books this year, with fallbacks to 365, 300, and “anything you can” if things go wrong.
- I’d like to slowly decrease my TBR pile this year. It’s huge, and I like it that way, but it’s perhaps a bit much. I’m just trying to steadily read more than I acquire, and I have a Beeminder goal for the purpose! (Short version: that means I pay a little fine if I overindulge and buy more books than I actually read. It’s not for everyone, I know, but it works for me!)
- I’d like to read longer books this year. There are loads of really great short books, but sometimes I find myself turning to them because I know I’ll be done with them sooner. That’s the dark side of goals to read as many books as possible in a year, so I’ve paired my goals with the aim of averaging a few more pages per book. Just 230 pages per book, so it’s not a big increase, but many books I love (like the British Library Crime Classics) fall around that length. I can mix in shorter novellas, longer fantasy doorstoppers, non-fiction, etc… all that matters is stretching myself a little bit and not falling too prey to “I should finish books as quickly as possible, so I should choose short books”.
- I’d like to read some of those books that I’ve been waiting to read “someday”. Maybe even [that book you personally want me to read], Mum/Lisa/Adam/etc. Maybe! Things like Gideon the Ninth and Republic of Thieves.
- I want to thoughtfully review most of the books I read. I already do, but it can be tempting with short books or manga not to take the time to reflect too much. I want to keep those one-line reviews that I only post to StoryGraph or Litsy to a minimum. Sometimes it’s the right thing to do, of course, so I’m not going to say I’ll never do it.
- I want to finish the series I start. Because I tend to wait until later books are out in a series, catching up sometimes feels really daunting. Plus, I worry that people will get bored if my blog just churns out the reviews of each book in a series (see how widely I split up the Shady Hollow reviews, even though I read the books practically all in the same weekend).
- I want to spend more time talking about books! I want to participate a bit more on Litsy and especially on other people’s blogs. I had difficulty keeping up with everything in 2022-2023, but it feels like a good time to start fresh, meet new people, and spend more time on it.
- I want to keep up with the books I receive to review via Netgalley. Once upon a time I’d reviewed 80% of the books I received, but I’ve slipped down to 67%. It’s time to get back to it!
- I want to keep reading plenty of non-fiction. This one probably isn’t hard, since I’ve stocked up on a lot of exciting new non-fiction recently, but I don’t see a lot of reviews out there for non-fiction, so it’s not always easy to know about what’s coming up. Regular trips to the bookshop are what keeps me in the loop for non-fiction.
- Follow more blogs. That’s related to the last one! I’d love to follow more people reviewing non-fiction. I know you must be out there, I’ve seen the non-fiction readers challenge etc. So it’s time to explore! I’d also love to find more classic crime aficionados and… well, everybody!
So that’s me and my somewhat disorganised, no-priority-order list. How about everyone else?
I hope to continue my laissez faire reading next year.
Sounds nice! I do a lot of just following whatever my whims are, and then using challenges and such to guide me when I can’t decide…
400 books is such a big and impressive goal. Good luck with it! 🙂
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
Thank you! I hit 400 books exactly last year, so I’m hopeful for the year ahead. 😀
Great list! I’ve enjoyed getting to know you recently through our Sunday Salon posts, so I think you’re already making progress on goal 7.
I’ve definitely enjoyed getting out there again and getting to talk to new folks, too!
I have been making the rounds and a lot of us have very similar goals! I want to try and read more classics this year. I read a decent amount of nonfiction, most of it is Christian nonfiction, or self-help, which isn’t everyone’s jam. I did read several memoirs last year and one this year as well. I am also working on getting that TBR down, reading more on my shelves etc 😉 Good luck to us all, LOL!
I read a lot of classics when I did my first degree, so I’m ahead of the curve there. 😀 Though there are still some odd gaps that I should pick up someday…
I definitely want to get to some of the “someday” books this year! And there are so many fascinating non fictions I never seem to get to lol.
Haha, for sure; I have some that have been on my shelves for years! Part of the problem with my rather random interests, I suppose…
Good luck! Reading bigger books is my goal too. I finished Crime & Punishment yesterday after avoiding it for years.
Ooh, good job! I struggled with that one, I admit; really didn’t love it as much as others seem to.
FOUR HUNDRED books? That’s incredible! That’s about double what I read in a year and I feel like I read non-stop. Good luck on all these.
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Haha, there’s usually a fair number of short/easy reads in there (novellas and graphic novels), but I am also a fast reader! But it’s enjoying it that counts in the end, not the number of books. 😀
More talking about books? A perfect place is a book club! Check your local library. They may have one.
Thanks for visiting.
Happy New Year and good luck on your bookish goals. My 2024 Bookish Goals
-Anne
They may also have COVID, so I avoid like the literal plague, alas. 🙂 Until such time as the British government mandates air filtration etc, at least.
These are all great goals and I wish you luck! Litsy!! I had totally forgotten about it and tried to log on two days ago. Nothing worked! I finally deleted it and re-downloaded it and it’s working. I need to be more active on there as well!
It feels like Litsy never gets updates or love from the owners these days, but the community can be so good. And some really fun challenges!
These are great goals! I have a too long list of books I hope to get to someday and I keep telling myself “this will be the year!” And then it never is. I need to work on that. Catching up on my series reading is similar to your series goal. I am a series junkie and am reading so many. Good luck with your goals, Nicky!
Haha, yeah, my family are so impatient for me to read some of these, too… Oops!
I’ve seen a lot of people mention that they want to read more nonfiction this year. (I’m one of them!) I like your idea of setting an average page count goal, also! I too enjoy shorter books like novellas and graphic novels, but it does mean I have a habit of ignoring my longer books.
Happy reading and happy 2024!
I guess I just want to read the same amount, really, since I already read quite a bit of non-fic (a bit over 25% of my reading is non-fiction). I don’t want to forget about reading fiction, too, haha.
Good luck with your goals!
These are some awesome goals! My goals this year are all about stepping back and taking it easy, so seeing these makes me feel especially impressed. One of my goals, however, is to read more nonfiction – I started reading some last year and discovered that I enjoy it. I’m also looking forward to being more engaged with other blogs this year, even though I didn’t put that down as a formal goal. Here’s to reaching our goals in 2024!
Mine are only a little ambitious for me, really! I hope you find lots of non-fic to enjoy; I find such a wide range of things fascinating that it’s been pretty easy for me to find books I’m interested in. XD
These look like some great calls to help you focus more on reading and blogging in a meaningful way. A big one for myself is also reviewing most of the books I’ve read. For me, the “thoughtfully” part will be a stretch goal, haha – I’m still just focused on getting some thoughts out into world rather than none.
Getting something out there is a start! I’m trying to scale up some of my manga/graphic novel reviews from a single line, haha.