Category Archives: Reading Goals

Reading Goals, TBR

2024 Reading Goals and Top 10 TBR

Leave a comment

2024 has already started, and I’m technically 6 books deep in the new reading year, so I wanted to get this post done ASAP before I actually read any of the books I’m listing here. As usual, I have a priority TBR of 10 books for the year, which I’ve had varying success of actually accomplishing in the past. I’ve also been reflecting a bit on my reading last year and thinking about what kinds of things I want to prioritize in 2024.

Top 10 TBR for 2024:

RougeMasters of DeathDisorientationLand of Milk and Honey

Rouge by Mona Awad (fabulism/horror); Masters of Death by Olivie Blake (contemporary fantasy); Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou (literary fiction); Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang (science fiction)

What the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)Better Hate than Never (The Wilmot Sisters, #2)We Ride Upon Sticks

What the River Knows by Isabel Ibanez (YA historical fantasy); The Hurricane Wars by Thea Guanzon (fantasy/romantasy); Better Hate Than Never (contemporary romance); We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry (contemporary fantasy)

ChlorineOne Dark Window (The Shepherd King, #1)

Chlorine by Jade Song (contemporary fantasy); One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig (fantasy)

Reading Goals for 2024:

Read more short story collections. This is sort of always a goal for me, since short story collections are one of my favorite categories of books, but I only read 3 in 2023. I want AT LEAST 4 in 2024.

Spectral EvidenceBurning Girls and Other StoriesSelf-Portrait with Ghost: Short StoriesWhite Cat, Black Dog: Stories

Read an anthology. I’ve been purchasing anthologies for years, and I only ever seem to read the nonfiction ones. I want to actually read a short fiction anthology in 2024.

In These Hallowed Halls: A Dark Academia AnthologyThe Starlit WoodFuries: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed

Read more romantasy. This is definitely a current genre buzzword, and it’s helped me mentally categorize fantasy reads better. I realized that I’ve been adding a ton of romantasy to my TBR shelf, but rarely actually picking them up, so let’s change that.

The Hurricane Wars (The Hurricane Wars, #1)Half a Soul (Regency Faerie Tales, #1)A Study in DrowningThrone of the Fallen

Continue in one or more fantasy series. Lately I seem to be much better at starting new fantasy series than continuing in them, let alone finishing them. In 2024, I’d like to make sure I read some sequels.

The Atlas Complex (The Atlas, #3)Jade War (The Green Bone Saga, #2)Fevered Star (Between Earth and Sky, #2)All the Hidden Paths (The Tithenai Chronicles, #2)Hell Bent (Alex Stern, #2)Magic Claims (Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years, #2; Kate Daniels, #10.6)Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde, #2)

Complete the Book of the Month reading challenge. I wasn’t even close to completing the 2023 BOTM challenge, but I’m determined for 2024. I need to read 15 BOTM titles, including at least three from each of 6 different categories, such as  400+ pages, debut novel, and differing genres. I have a lot of backlist titles that came out last year that will qualify for this year’s challenge, so I’m much more optimistic.

You, AgainWhat the River Knows (Secrets of the Nile, #1)Check & MateThe Future

Discover new-to-me nonfiction writers. I love learning and getting obsessed with nonfiction books, but I’m not always very good at finding new titles and authors compared to fiction. I want to try out some books I’ve been hearing about, and get better at building out my nonfiction TBR.

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across AmericaHow Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea CreaturesBraiding SweetgrassCrying in H Mart

Read more diversely. This is always a goal for me, but I feel like I didn’t do as well in 2023 as I have in past years, so in 2024 I need to make up for that.

 

 

What are some of your reading goals for 2024?

Reading Goals

2022 Reading Goals Check-In

Leave a comment

Since we’re at the halfway point for the year, I like to take a look at the reading goals I set for myself back in January and see how I’m doing so far. Spoiler alert: not too bad!

  1. Read all 10 of the books on my Top 10 TBR/5 Star Predictions for 2022

So far, I’ve finished 4 books from my top 10 TBR list.

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole JohnsonLight from Uncommon Stars by Ryka AokiAll's Well by Mona AwadOranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

That means that I still have to finish 6 in the second half of the year, which isn’t ideal. I did already read the first few stories from Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea, technically my 5th book, so I have a bit of a head start there.

Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea

Although ideally I’d have reached the halfway point with this goal, reading the 6 remaining books is certainly something I can do.

2. Increase my ratio of 5 star reads from my Top 10 TBR – In 2021, 4 books from my Top 10 TBR/5 star predictions stack ended up being actual 5 star reads; so far in 2022, ALL 4 OF THE BOOKS FROM MY STACK HAVE BEEN 5 STAR READS! That’s pretty amazing, and it puts me in a good position to hit this goal–all I need is one more 5 star book out of my last 6 picks!

3. Buy more of my books from independent bookstores. I think I’ve been doing pretty well with this goal! I’ve visited my local indie bookstore a few times so far this year, and have also stopped by multiple indie bookstores while visiting family in Chicago.

4. Read a classic. I technically haven’t done this yet; the closest I have come would be Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson, a classic of queer literature that was published in 1985.

5. Finish (or decide to DNF) books I started in 2021 but didn’t finish. I’m doing really badly at this goal. I’ve only finished one of the books from my previous list of “paused” books, A Marvellous Light, and I really didn’t enjoy it. (I’ve also picked another one, The Spanish Love Deception, back up, and am enjoying it this time around.) Furthermore, I’ve expanded my list of paused reads to include even more titles, and yet I also haven’t decided to DNF any of them. Here are my current paused reads:

The Memory TheaterJust Last NightA ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)Half Sick of ShadowsThese Hollow Vows (These Hollow Vows, #1)LovelessThat Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon (Mead Mishaps, #1)

By the end of 2022, hopefully I’ll either have finished or DNF’d all of these, but I’m not sure how optimistic I am about that.

6. Read at least one poetry collection. I did this! I read and enjoyed I Hope This Finds You Well, a collection of found poems by Kate Baer.

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

7. Read more short story collections than last year. Since I read 4 short story collections in 2021, my goal is to read at least 5 in 2022; since we’re halfway through the year and I’ve already read 4, I’m ahead of schedule for this goal.

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole JohnsonWhatever Happened to Interracial Love? by Kathleen CollinsOf This New World by Allegra HydeNever Have I Ever by Isabel Yap

 

Reading Goals

2022 Reading Goals

4 Comments

 

  1. Read all 10 of the books on my Top 10 TBR/5 Star Predictions for 2022

 

We Ride Upon SticksSeed to Harvest (Patternmaster, #1-4)Oranges Are Not the Only FruitSooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry – field hockey and witchcraft in the Salem area in 1989

Wild Seed by Octavia Butler – first book in a scifi series from a past favorite author

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson – semi-autobiographical story of growing up and coming out in a strict religious household, from a past favorite author

Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker – fabulist short story collection from a favorite indie press

Or What You WillLight from Uncommon StarsIn the Night Garden (The Orphan's Tales, #1)All's Well

Or What You Will by Jo Walton – meta story about an author’s character who attains consciousness, from an author of a past favorite book (Among Others)

The Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki – unique debut science fiction that I have a great feeling about

In the Night Garden by Catherynne M. Valente – stories within a story from an all-time favorite author

All’s Well by Mona Awad – newest release from the author of my all-time favorite book (Bunny) involving Shakespeare and chronic pain

The Actual StarMy Monticello

The Actual Star by Monica Byrne – epic science fiction with a Cloud Atlas-like structure

My Monticello by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson – debut short story collection with themes surrounding racism

2. Increase my ratio of 5 star reads from my Top 10 TBR – In 2021, 4 books from my Top 10 TBR/5 star predictions stack ended up being actual 5 star reads, which is pretty good. And even though you can’t really control whether a book is a 5 star read or not, I’m hoping that my 2022 stack performs even better, with 5 or more 5-star reads. I have so many picks that I’m really excited for and many from past favorite authors that I think it’s a definite possibility.

3. Buy more of my books from independent bookstores. It’s not that I never shop at indie bookstores, but my book buying comes from many different areas, and I’d like a greater percentage of my new books to come from my local indie.

4. Read a classic, which has been an unaccomplished goal for the past several years. In 2022, I’d like to actually get this done. I used to read lots of classics when I was younger, but it’s tapered off significantly as I’ve gotten older.

The Tenant of Wildfell HallAnna Karenina

5. Finish (or decide to DNF) books I started in 2021 but didn’t finish. Normally, when I’m entering the new year I prefer to do so with a clean slate and to start an all-new currently reading shelf. This year, I’m still in the middle of 4 books I started last year, and I also have several books that I “paused” throughout the course of 2021.

The Memory TheaterRestless Slumber (Fortuna Sworn, #2)Just Last NightA Marvellous Light (The Last Binding, #1)A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)The Spanish Love Deception

6. Read at least one poetry collection. I’ve gotten more interested in poetry over the last few years, but I don’t actually pick up poetry collections as often as I want to.

DearlyDon't Call Us DeadApocrypha

7. Read more short story collections than last year. I love short story collections, but I tend to read them slowly, which means that I don’t always pick up that many over the course of a year. In 2021 I read 4 short story collections; I’d like to read at least 5 in 2022.

My MonticelloSooner or Later Everything Falls Into the SeaOf This New WorldA Guide to Being BornI'm Waiting for You and Other StoriesFive Tuesdays in Winter

Reading Goals

2021 Reading Goals

4 Comments

Last year, I set reading goals for myself that were intentional as well as accessible, so I’m going to try to do that in 2021 as well. Let’s get started!

Read all of the books on my Top 10 TBR for 2021/5-Star predictions list.

I tried to be thoughtful in curating this list and included books in a lot of different genres and formats; I’m hoping that the variety will help make it easier for me to stick to this stack despite my mood-reading tendencies.

Shorter backlist novels I’m intrigued by:

The Stone GodsHow the Blessed LiveAll the Birds, Singing

Short story collections:

What is Not Yours is Not YoursThe Office of Historical Corrections: A Novella and Stories

Critically acclaimed books I keep meaning to read:

Fates and FuriesThe Vanishing Half

YA:

When the Moon Was Ours

Longer books:

Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)Plain Bad Heroines

 

Read a classic or modern classic. I didn’t read any classics at all in 2020; I actually started Anna Karenina and was really enjoying it before lockdown started in my area, but then I abandoned it due to stress and a need for more comforting reads. I’d really like to read at least one classic in 2021 (and modern classics would count too!) although I’m not yet sure which one I’m gravitating towards.

Read some lesser-known or independently published books. This sort of goes along with my selections for my Top 10 TBR for the year. I do like to keep up with new releases, and to a certain degree I can also get caught up in the hype with popular books. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I also want to make sure that I’m picking up plenty of less popular or less talked-about titles as well.

Re-read the Court of Thorns and Roses series. I’m not going to lie, this is probably my favorite ongoing series. I have re-read the first three books in the past, but not for quite awhile, and with book 4 finally coming out in Feb, I’m thinking that I’ll either want to do a re-read of the series in the lead-up to the newest book’s release or after I read the newest book when I’ll likely be in a book hangover and wanting more from that world.

A Court of Thorns and Roses (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #1)A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)A Court of Wings and Ruin (A Court of Thorns and Roses #3)A ​Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4)

In the past, I’ve almost felt guilty about doing re-reads when I have so many books on my TBR shelf, but in the last two years I started forcing myself to abandon the guilt and go back to enjoying re-reads the way I did when I was younger. I want to keep doing that in 2021–if I’m in the mood for a re-read, I should just do it.

 

Reading Goals

2020 Reading Goals

7 Comments

It’s that time of year again (or, more accurately, slightly after that time of year, as is my brand)–the time to set yearly reading goals. I don’t know that I tend to stick very well to reading goals when I set them, but I do think that it’s a nice way to kick off the year and set intentions for my reading. I would like to do a better job of checking in with these goals this time around, after a mediocre performance in 2019, especially since this time I’m going to try to set fewer goals and focus them more accurately on the books I want to be prioritizing.

Goals:

Read this stack of my top 10 books to read in 2020: a goal I always set, and traditionally do really poorly at. This time around, all 10 of these books are 5-star predictions, and I really want to read all 10 of them and see how accurate my choices are for my ratings. I tried to put together a good mix of favorite authors and new-to-me authors, as well as a variety of genres, and I think I’m going to try to pick up at least one of these per month until I’ve read them all.

The Seas by Samantha Hunt – author of Mr. Splitfoot, which I loved

Kindred by Octavia Butler – one of my all-time favorite authors, this is perhaps her best-known book, and although I’ve read 5 or 6 books from her in the past, I have yet to read this one

Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente – another favorite author; I’ve previously loved The Refrigerator Monologues, Space Opera, and Deathless

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki – new-to-me author, literary fiction from dual perspectives

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire – I’ve read McGuire’s October Daye, Indexing, and Wayward Children series in the past; this one is a standalone fantasy that’s getting amazing reviews

Melmoth by Sarah Perry – new-to-me author, historical fiction with mythology (I think?)

In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado – memoir from the author of one of my favorite short story collections

Bunny by Mona Awad – new-to-me author, fabulist/horror

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao – new-to-me author, literary fiction about friendship and tragedy

Normal People by Sally Rooney – new-to-me author, literary fiction about first love

Read more than 9 five-star reads – I have this strange trend where I tend to only read 8 or 9 five-star reads over the course of a year. I don’t know why it happens, and that doesn’t discount all of the amazing 4, 4.25, and 4.5 star reads I generally find, but in 2020, I’d like to somehow read 10 full five-star reads. I don’t know how to make this happen, since luck will have more to do with it than anything else, but I’m going to give it a shot.

Focus on backlist books: last year, in 2019, I made new releases my focus, since there were SO MANY new releases I was interested in; in 2020, I still want to read new releases that I’m excited about, but I also want to make backlist titles my primary focus.

Read some books on writing: I have several writing projects in the works, but I haven’t been as focused on them lately as I’d like to be. In 2020, I’d like to pick up some books on writing, and also try to go on a writing retreat.

Letters to a Young PoetThe Artist's Way

Re-reads: There are four specific books I want to re-read in 2020, as all of them have sequels either out now or upcoming that I want to pick up, and I loved the originals enough that I want to experience those again first. I really got back into re-reading books during the latter half of 2019, and found the experience to be a really positive one, so I’d like to keep the re-reading momentum going in 2020. Here are the originals and sequels I’m eyeing:

Carry On (Simon Snow, #1) .    Wayward Son (Simon Snow, #2)

The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1) .    The Testaments

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) .      Harrow the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #2)

Sapphire Flames (Hidden Legacy, #4) .       Emerald Blaze (Hidden Legacy, #5)

 

What are your reading goals for 2020?

Reading Goals

2019 Reading Goals

4 Comments

 

It’s 2019! And the year has already started, but it’s never too late for setting goals. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of resolutions; I prefer goals, because to me goals are things to realistically work towards and help you organize your priorities for the coming year. Resolutions always sound to me like the things you give up on February 2nd; goals are fun and you can check them off on lists, so they’re here to stay. So that being said, here are my reading goals for 2019!

Read all 10 books on my Top 10 TBR for 2019 list. This one’s pretty self-explanatory; every year, I make a stack of ten books that I’m really looking forward to reading over the coming year, and in the past, I’ve always done absolutely terribly at actually reading them. But not this year! This year, I’m going 10 for 10 on these books:

  • Passage by Connie Wilis
  • Severance by Ling Ma
  • Radiance by Catherynne M. Valente
  • How Long Til Black Future Month by N.K. Jemisin
  • The Mother of All Questions by Rebecca Solnit
  • A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
  • The Pisces by Melissa Broder
  • Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton
  • Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
  • Our Hearts Will Burn Us Down by Anne Valente

Read more new releases, and read them closer to their release dates. In past years, I’ve set goals about reading more older books, but I’m calling it now–2019 is the year of the new release. There are SO MANY amazing-sounding books coming out this year (check out my most anticipated new releases guides here and here) and I don’t want to miss out on any of them if I can help it. When the Goodreads Choice Awards roll around in 2019, I’m going to have a bunch of options for every category, mark my words.

In an Absent Dream (Wayward Children, #4)The Last RomanticsIt Happened One Doomsday (Dru Jasper, #1)The Fall (Thieves of Fate, #2)

Read and review ARCs and finished copies sent from publishers ahead of their release dates. In the past few months, I’ve been lucky enough to have had a few review copies sent to me from publishers or to have won them in giveaways, so a key goal this year is to absolutely to stay on top of reading and reviewing them in a timely manner.

MilkmanA Little LifeA Tale for the Time BeingFates and Furies

Read more literary fiction. I’m generally a reader who tends to lean towards fantasy and/or genre-bending books, but that also means that there are so many great literary/realistic fiction titles that I’ve been missing out on. I’d like to catch up a bit in 2019.

How Long 'til Black Future Month?A Cathedral of Myth and BoneA Guide to Being BornWhat is Not Yours is Not Yours

Read more short story collections. I love short story collections, and at least one always makes it to my favorite reads of the year list. Last year I read 5; I’d like to top that in 2019, especially since I have quite a few on my physical TBR.

You Play the Girl: On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, Train Wrecks, & Other Mixed MessagesGood and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women's AngerWhen They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter MemoirCall Them by Their True Names: American Crises (and Essays)

Read more nonfiction. I was actually really surprised that nonfiction didn’t comprise a larger portion of my genre pie chart for 2018, since I’ve discovered over the past few years that I love listening to nonfiction on audiobook. So 2019 is going to be the year that I learn all the things.

The Handmaid's Tale

Re-read The Handmaid’s Tale. I’m not generally a big re-reader nowadays. When I was a kid, I re-read books constantly; now I’ll occasionally re-read a fun book if I’m stressed, but even then I’ll probably just go back to favorite parts. But it’s been quite awhile since I’ve read Margaret Atwood’s most famous novel (more than 10 years, I think) and with the sequel being released this fall, it’s time for me to revisit it.

A Little LifePassage

Read more big books. This is pretty much an every year goal. I count “big” as 500+ pages, and there are always some of those giant books sitting on my TBR shelf, mocking me.

Storm of Locusts (The Sixth World, #2)The Gilded Wolves (The Gilded Wolves, #1)Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha, #1)Gingerbread

Read more diversely. Another constant goal. I always try to read more diversely than I have in the past year, and make more of a conscious effort to pick up books from diverse authors.

Read a classic. I didn’t read any classics in 2018; I’d like to set a goal to pick up at least one in 2019.

 

What are your reading goals for 2019?

Reading Goals

2018 Reading Goals Check-In: How did I do?

7 Comments

I love doing end of the year/beginning of the new year blog posts. I always find it really interesting to think about what I predicted I would read over the course of a year versus what I actually did read, and I like seeing what I can learn from that to read more widely/more enjoyably in the future. I’ve already posted my most anticipated books for the first half of 2019 (here and here if you missed them; I ended up doing two posts since I left out a bunch in my initial post), and today we’re going to delve into the reading goals that I set for 2018 and whether or not those turned out to influence my reading over the course of the year.

Before we get started, I will say that I may have forgotten about my reading goals post for a good portion of the year, and definitely did not continue to refer back to it over the course of 2018. So, um, that didn’t exactly help.

Read at least one Catherynne M. Valente book. I did this! I read Space Opera in November and absolutely loved it. I will say that Space Opera was NOT the Valente book I had in mind when I set this goal, though; I specifically mentioned Radiance, Deathless, and Palimpsest. Spoiler alert: they’re on my 2019 TBR. But technically, I did accomplish this goal.

Read at least one Octavia Butler book. Failure. I mean, over the course of my reading life, I’ve read 5 Octavia Butler books, so it’s not like she was an author I’ve never read before, but I didn’t read any new-to-me books by her in 2018. This is one of the goals that I completely forgot I set for myself. That being said, I’ll absolutely continue to read more from Octavia Butler in the future; I just didn’t this year.

Read at least one Margaret Atwood book. See Octavia Butler. I’ve read a ton of her books, but in 2018 I specifically had wanted to pick up Stone Mattress and/or Hag-Seed, and I didn’t. Those are both books that I know I’ll absolutely read, but haven’t been in the right mood for yet.

Get in Trouble: StoriesThe Color MasterChildren of the New WorldThe Dark and Other Love Stories

Read more short story collections. I read 5 short story collections in 2018: Get in Trouble by Kelly Link, The Color Master by Aimee Bender, The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis, Children of the New World by Alexander Weinstein, and The Merry Spinster by Mallory (who now prefers to be called Daniel) Ortberg. I think this is around the same amount that I read last year, but I don’t really count it as a fail, since I still read a decent number of short story collections. And I also read 2 nonfiction essay collections, which I place into a similar category.

The Haunting of Hill House

Read more than one classic. Fail. I read one book that I think would be considered a modern classic (The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson, pub 1959), which I really didn’t enjoy. Besides that, the oldest book I read in 2018 was Bellwether by Connie Willis, which was published in 1996.

House of LeavesThe Bone ClocksObsidio (The Illuminae Files, #3)

Read big books. This is a continuing goal, mainly because I really enjoy giant novels but struggle to put them on TBRs because I’m worried I’ll somehow miss out on reading other, shorter books. In 2018, the biggest books I read were House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski (709 pages; this book has been on my TBR for literally ever, so I was really glad to finally read it) (and then I ended up really disliking it, but oh well), The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (624 pages), and Obsidio by Jay Kristoff and Amy Kaufman (615 pages). I did read a bunch of books that were between 400 and 500 pages, though, which sort of counts. Ideally, I’d like to have read more big books in 2018, but I did OK.

Read more diversely. This is sort of an ongoing goal that you can’t really pass or fail at, since there is always room for improvement. In 2018, I did consider carefully what books and authors I was picking up, and tried to read more from authors of color while maintaining my mostly-female author ratio.

In Other Lands by Sarah Rees BrennanI Crawl Through It by A.S. KingFuryborn by Claire LegrandEliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Find some new great YA authors/books. Definitely a success! Several of my favorite YA series were ending this year, so I had wanted to find new YA favorites to take their place. And I found a bunch! In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, I Crawl Through It by A.S. King, and Furyborn by Claire Legrand were my favorite YA reads this year, but I also read first-in-series Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody and The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and I’m planning to read the sequels to both in 2019. I also enjoyed standalones Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia and Neverworld Wake by Marisha Pessl. Overall, it was a great reading year for me YA-wise.

An Unkindness of GhostsThe Bone ClocksThe Lonely Hearts Hotel

Read the ten books from my “Top 10 2018 TBR” list. This is probably the worst of my goal failures. I had chosen 10 books that I definitely wanted to read in 2018, and I only ended up reading 3 of them (An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, and The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill). I was also hoping that the books on my top 10 TBR list would be 5-star reads, wheres the three that I read ended up being 4 or 4.25 star reads instead.

#readmyowndamnbooks. A success! The vast majority of my reading this year was from books on my physical TBR shelf (around 68 out of 98 books, according to my rough count, since I haven’t done my stats post yet).

 

Overall, I didn’t do too badly, but there’s definite room for improvement in 2019. How did you do on your reading goals for 2018?

Reading Goals

2018 Reading Goals

2 Comments

It’s a new year, and we bookish people know what that means–it’s time to set our reading goals! I won’t say that I always do a wonderful job sticking to my reading goals (my post about how I’ve done with my 2017 goals is upcoming), but I do like setting some ambitions to kick off my reading year. This year, I’m trying to make my goals realistic, but still push myself to read some great books.

So here are my 2018 reading goals!

Read at least one Catherynne M. Valente book. I recently finished The Refrigerator Monologues, and it was one of my favorite books of 2017. It made me want to read lots more from Valente, so in 2018 I’m hoping to pick up either Radiance, Deathless, or Palimpsest. I own all three, because BookOutlet.

Read at least one Octavia Butler book. I have an ongoing goal to read everything that Octavia Butler has ever written; I’m currently only at 5, so I have a ways to go. I have a few options on hand: I own a copy of Kindred and a bind-up of the Lilith’s Brood trilogy (I’ve only read the first book, Dawn), and I also have the ebook of Unexpected Stories, which is a bind-up of two previously unreleased stories. I’ve also made a deal with myself that I can’t buy the bind-up of her Patternmaster series, Seed to Harvest, unless I read one of the books of hers I already own, so hopefully that will give me some motivation.

Read at least one Margaret Atwood book. Again, one of my favorite authors and I would ideally like to read all of her books. I’m at 8 so far, and I have two on my TBR shelf: Stone Mattress and Hag-Seed. I meant to read both in 2017 and didn’t (oops). At least one of these is getting read this year.

Read more short story collections. This was a goal that I failed at in 2017. It’s not that I didn’t read any short story collections (I think I read 6), it’s just that I tend to absolutely love short story collections and give them super high ratings, but I rarely gravitate towards them when I’m browsing my shelf. I also own a ton of unread short story collections that have been on my self for awhile that I really need to read.

Read more than one classic. This is another repeat goal from last year, and I think is a good yearly goal in general. I don’t read a ton of classics nowadays, but reading a few every year is a good way to try to stay in touch with the classics even if I’m reading mostly contemporary literature. The two I’m most interested in getting to this year are Persuasion by Jane Austen and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.

Read big books. There’s nothing better than reading a giant book that you’re able to get sucked into. I have a bunch of these chunksters on my physical TBR shelf, and I’m hoping to read several in 2018. Particularly, I’m looking at reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanigahara, The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell, The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber, The Tiger’s Daughter by K. Arsenault Rivera, and/or Little, Big by John Crowley.

Read more diversely. This is an ongoing goal; essentially, I want to keep trying to read more and more LGBTQIA+ authors and authors of color in 2018.

Find some new great YA authors/books. I tend to be really picky with YA and DNF books a lot due to my pickiness. However, I also have a lot of love for YA, and get super excited when I find a new great book or series. Lately, however, I feel like I’ve been sticking to a few key authors and not branching out enough with my YA reading, and in 2018 I’m hoping to find some new gems. Books I have high hopes for include The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis and The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco.

Read the ten books from my “Top 10 2018 TBR” list. I went through my physical bookshelves and picked out 10 books that I’m super excited to read in 2018 (pictured at the top of this post), and my goal is to actually get to all of them. I’ve done this the past two years and somehow never made it through more than half of my picks, but this year I aim to break that pattern.

#readmyowndamnbooks. This one’s pretty self-explanatory; I’d like the majority of my reading to be from the books I actually have on my bookshelves, since I am a book buying fiend and really need to read what I’ve purchased.

 

And I think that’s it! Wish me luck on my 2018 goals; I’m hoping to start strong with a lot of great books in January.

 

Do you have any reading goals for 2018? Let me know!

Reading Goals

Halfway Through 2017: Reading Goals Check-In

2 Comments

So, at the beginning of 2017 I set a whole bunch of reading goals to help myself stay on track to read lots of different types of books and find new favorites. Since we’re halfway through the year (what?!) and I just met my Goodreads goal of reading 50 books (yay!), I thought I’d do a progress check-in for myself to see which goals I’ve actually been accomplishing and which I need to give a little more love to in the second half of 2017.

 

Reading Goal #1: Read more than one classic, including one longer classic

How am I doing? Not too shabby! Thanks to the help of the Serial Reader app, which I discovered on Litsy, I’ve finished 2 classics so far in 2017 (which is 2 more than I read in 2016), North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and one of those is what I’d call a “longer classic;” North and South was 531 pages long.

Reading Goal #2: Read more diversely

How am I doing? I could be doing a lot better; I definitely need to read more books by diverse authors in the second half of 2017. Right now I’m in the middle of listening to The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas on audiobook, and I’m also currently reading Hunger by Roxane Gay, but looking through the 50 completed books on my Goodreads shelf, very few are by #ownvoices authors.

Reading Goal #3: #readmyowndamnbooks

How am I doing? According to my Goodreads shelves, which I think are up-to-date, so far 28 of the 50 books I’ve read have been from my physical TBR shelf. I honestly don’t know if that’s a good ratio or not; it does seem like I’ve been reading a lot of physical books vs. library books, but library audiobooks are throwing off my ratio.

Reading Goal #4: Read more big books

How am I doing? OK, but not great. I’ve read four 500+ page books so far this year: North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley, Replica by Lauren Oliver, and The Queen of the Night by Alexander Chee. The amount of big books I finished isn’t bad, but there are so many really long books on my TBR that have been there for so long that I’d really like to tackle.

Reading Goal #5: Read more lesser-known and/or independently published books

How am I doing? On one hand, I have read some lesser-known books and I did pick up a bunch of books from indie publishers at BookCon, but on the other hand, I do feel like a lot of my reading this year has unintentionally focused on popular 2016 and 2017 releases.

Reading Goal #6: Discover new favorite authors

How am I doing? Hmmm. To be honest, I’m not sure that I can honestly say that any author I’ve discovered so far this year has become a new favorite. I’ve found new authors that I’ve really liked, but I can’t really say that there have been any that I’ve necessarily loved. So that’s a bit unfortunate. I guess that’s something I really need to address in the next six months.

Reading Goal #7: Read more books from authors I love

How am I doing? Well, so far I’ve read another book from only three already-loved authors: Jeff Vandermeer (Borne), Roxane Gay (Difficult Women), and Ilona Andrews (Magic Binds). So, not very well.

Reading Goal #8: Relax, and enjoy what you read

How am I doing? Pretty well! I’m trying not to let myself feel guilty for picking up “fun” reads rather than more highbrow literature when I’m in the mood for it.

Secret Goals

So, in addition to my stated goals from the beginning of the year, I also have a few “secret goals,” which are reading goals that either seem silly or unrealistic so I didn’t write them down. The first of these goals was to read 100 books, which I’ve never before been able to accomplish in a year. I didn’t want to make this an “official” reading goal, because I didn’t want to put pressure on myself and dissuade myself from picking up longer reads when I’m in the mood for them. Since I’m already at 50 books, though, I may just make it.

My second “secret goal” is to win a giveaway on Goodreads. I’ve been entering giveaways for books I’m interested in since I joined Goodreads and have yet to win one. I’m definitely picky about what giveaways I enter, since I only want to win a book if I’m genuinely excited about wanting to read it, which means that I do enter a lot of the more popular ones. This is the one goal I really have no control over, but I’m going to keep trying!

 

How are you all doing on your reading goals? Let me know in the comments!

Bookish Musings, Reading Goals

Short Story Collections: Thoughts, Goals, and TBR

Leave a comment

img_2955

I love short stories. I really do. I’m continuously impressed by how much plot and emotion can be packed into such a small number of pages, and to me it really speaks to the skill of an author. I’ve recently started to recognize my love of short story collections and have been attempting to pick up more of them (and buy A LOT more of them), but when I gathered all of the short story collections I’ve read together on a Goodreads shelf, I was really not impressed by the number. It inspired me to want to pick up short story collections more often, and to set a solid reading goal for myself (as I laugh at myself for thinking I can actually stick to a reading goal) (No, but for real this time, I actually want to stick to this one) : to read one short story collection per month in 2017.

I already missed January, but that’s OK. This month I’m currently reading Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue, which is a collection of feminist fairytale retellings (is there anything more in my wheelhouse than that phrase?), but I need to keep this going strong throughout the year. Short story collections are great because you don’t necessarily have to read straight through them; you can read one or two stories per day and get through one in a week or so that way. Because of that, I feel like one short story collection per month is actually a pretty attainable goal, and I’m going to hold myself accountable this time.

Here is the (embarassingly low) number of short story collections I’ve completed so far (it’s possible I’m missing a few? But I don’t think so): 10

Interpreter of MaladiesFragile Things: Short Fictions and WondersStranger Things HappenSmoke and Mirrors: Short Fictions and IllusionsMagic for Beginners: StoriesThe Bloody Chamber and Other StoriesTrigger Warning: Short Fictions and DisturbancesThe Girl Wakes: StoriesUnaccustomed EarthGutshot

As you can see, there are a lot of repeat authors here: the vast majority of short story collections I’ve read have been from Jhumpa Lahiri, Neil Gaiman, and Kelly Link. Because they are awesome. But this also does point to the fact that I really need to branch out to new authors in my short story reading. Amelia Gray’s Gutshot was one of my favorite books of 2016, and it was a total gamble on a new-to-me author who I ended up loving, going to see speak, and buying another book from. Carmen Lau’s The Girl Wakes was my absolute favorite read of 2016 and I found it at a local small press book fair. Branching out in reading always pays off.

My short story TBR list contains a lot of books that I already have on my physical TBR shelf, so this works well with the #readmyownbooks challenge. A lot of my picks are well-within my wheelhouse: female authors, magical realism, weird fiction.

Short story collections from authors I’ve already read and enjoyed:

Pretty Monsters: StoriesStone Mattress: Nine Wicked TalesWhat is Not Yours is Not YoursGet in Trouble: Stories

I have all four of these on my physical TBR shelf (yes, I have two unread Kelly Link short story collections on my TBR shelf. Oops.) and I keep meaning to pick all of them up and then not doing it. I actually did start Pretty Monsters at one point, but after the first story I never returned to it, and I felt like it was just sitting on my bedside table judging me, so I put it back on the shelf. As far as Stone Mattress goes, Margaret Atwood is one of my absolute favorite authors and I have no excuse whatsoever for not reading it yet. I’ve only read one book by Helen Oyeyemi (Boy, Snow, Bird, which I really enjoyed) and I have FOUR unread books of hers on my physical TBR shelf, one of which is a short story collection–What is Not Yours is Not Yours. I’m planning on saving White is for Witching for an October read, but I really have no excuse for not yet picking up the other ones.

Short story collections from new-to-me authors: The Other World, it Whispers by Stephanie Victoire, The Unfinished World by Amber Sparks, By Light We Knew Our Names by Anne Valente, and A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel. I own physical copies of all of these except By Light We Knew Our Names.

The Other World, It WhispersThe Unfinished World: And Other StoriesBy Light We Knew Our NamesA Guide to Being Born: Stories

Apparently short story collections get the most beautiful covers in the world. I can’t even with these lovely rainbow situations.

And here are a bunch more! There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister’s Husband and He Hanged Himself by Ludmilla Petrushevskaya (what an amazing title, btw), Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill, Can’t and Won’t by Lydia Davis, North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud, The Color Master by Aimee Bender, The Last Animal by Abby Geni, Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls by Alissa Nutting, and And Yet They Were Happy by Helen Phillips.

There Once Lived a Girl Who Seduced Her Sister's Husband, and He Hanged Himself: Love StoriesBad BehaviorCan't and Won't: StoriesNorth American Lake Monsters: Stories

The Color MasterThe Last AnimalUnclean Jobs for Women and GirlsAnd Yet They Were Happy

 

I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this–what are some of your favorite short story collections? Have you read any of these? Do you ever set goals for yourself for reading short stories? Let me know!