Hello everyone! I wanted to check in with my yearly reading goals progress as we close the first month of the year. I’m off to a promising start, but as with many resolutions, the first month tends to be the easiest.
Read a little every day: 31/31 days
Finish 2 series per month: Themis Files completed (technically completed end of December because I got too excited and started early). Empyrean series completed (at least caught up to current publications). I went above and beyond on this goal this month and also finished the Illuminae Files series by Jay Kristoff and Aimee Kaufman. I also closed the month by reading the newest Crescent City book from Sarah J. Maas, which gets me completely caught up with that series.(4 series completed)
Get NetGalley percentage to 80%: Beginning of month: 56%. End of month: still 56%, but I have 3 reviews to write from NetGalley books I read, so we’ll get some movement on this next month.
Determine an ideal physical TBR and stick to it. TBR beginning of month: 260. TBR end of month: 271 Ideal TBR: 150. This number is somewhat arbitrary, but I think it would leave my bookshelves in a more comfortable place. Books read from physical TBR: 10 (including the Themis files, technically read in December). I am going to be un-hauling Under the Whispering Door, which will take my physical TBR to 270. Significant un-hauling will need to be done to get me down to 150 by the end of the year.
Read at least 100 books. Currently: 18/100. Well on track with this goal.
Read more graphic novels: Read 4 this month.
Read more short stories: Not a focus this month, switching to focus on this in February.
Join a book club that I don’t run: I failed with this one this month. I had intended to catch the CoverswithCassidy live show for The Girl and the Mountain but missed it. I’m going to watch the replay when I have time.
Make a book club kit for 1 book per month: I started work on my first book club kit for the book The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan. It should be published in the next week or so and I can’t wait for people to see it.
Read 15% of physical TBR: 10/271= 3%. Caveat** I added 11 books to my physical TBR this month and am un-hauling 1, which changes the number to: 10/270 but is still 3%.
This will be another ambitious month for me…which will probably be folly since it’s the shortest month of the year and I return to my normal work schedule, but whatever, let’s dream big!
**links open to Goodreads**
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas, book 3 in the Throne of Glass series. I’m re-reading these because I stopped halfway through the 4th book and never finished, but it’s the only one of her series that I haven’t completed and I cannot let that stand for another year.
Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas, book 4 in the Throne of Glass series. Getting to the end of this book will be a big mental hurdle for me because this is where I stopped the first time through. I think the issue that I have is that although I enjoy the story in this series, I like ACOTAR and Crescent City so much that this first series has not yet lived up to the hype, but I also know that I haven’t given it a fair chance yet.
The Girl and the Mountain by Mark Lawrence, book 2 in the Book of the Ice series. I’m reading these so I can join along with CoverswithCassidy’s readalong on YouTube.
Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny, book 6 in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series. This is the last book in this series that I currently own. I love this character and this world and I can’t wait to read this one.
Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke, book 21 in the Hannah Swensen mysteries. This will be my car book when I go back to work (1.5 hr commute each day means lots of listening time). The last entry in the series was a little underwhelming, so I hope this one gets it back on track.
Hide and Seekby M.J. Arlidge, book 6 in the Helen Grace series. The last entry left our titular character in a precarious situation, so I can’t wait to dive back in and see where we go from there.
A Letter to Three Witches by Elizabeth Bass. This is a rom-com that is supposed to be Bewitched meets Practical Magic. {NetGalley}
If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy. This is a Cinderella re-telling from a series called Meant to Be, which are all being written by different authors. This is the first entry in the series. {NetGalley}
The Wedding Veil by Kristy Woodson Harvey. This one is the book club pick for work. It’s not really my kind of genre, but motivation isn’t critical here because I have to read it no matter what.
Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, book 4 in the Naturals series. I moved this one up from my original planning because I was able to get to book 3 in January. {completes a series}
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallet. This author has become one of my favorites for the way she plays with media formats and the mystery genre. This is a library book that I probably won’t get to renew, so I’ll be reading it pretty early in the month.
Caravalby Stephanie Garber, book 1 in the Caraval series. This would be me starting another series that I had not previously counted…but hear me out. I want to read this series because I am really interested in reading her newer series and evidently there are spoilers for this series in there.
By the Book by Julia Sonneborn. I have owned this book for at least 4 years now and the cover always intrigues me. It’s time to read it finally or un-haul it. {physical TBR}
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood. I feel like one of the few people on Earth who has not read an Ali Hazelwood book and I’ve owned this one for a few years now. {physical TBR}
Eventideby Sarah Goodman. I got this one in a subscription book box in 2020 and have never attempted to read it. It’s time to fish or cut bait with this one. {physical TBR}
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James. I have loved every Simone St. James book that I have every read. I love how she blends mystery with the paranormal, but for some reason, once I got this one I read maybe 20 pages and then stopped and haven’t picked it up since. {NetGalley and physical TBR}
The Thoroughly Modern Collection. This is a collection of 23 short stories from authors such as Ruth Rendell, Fay Weldon, and Haruki Murakami. {short stories}
Classic Crime Short Stories. This is another collection of stories focused exclusively on the crime genre. {short stories}
Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood. This is a collection of short stories from a popular author that I have not read much from before. {short stories}
The Best Alternate History Stories of the 20th Century edited by Harry Turtledove. This collection focuses on alternate histories, which are stories that I’ve always thought I might enjoy but I’ve never spent a lot of time reading.
That’s at least 20 books. What am I thinking? This isn’t January and I have to work, but I’m going to do my best. Wish me luck!
Whew! We’ve almost made it to the end of 2023 and begun a new year. I’m equal parts ready and unprepared, and I suspect that I’m not the only one. My planning streak continues and I’ve assembled my first 2024 TBR Plan with my new 2024 goals in mind. This will be a strange month for reading because I’ll be home from work most of the month while I take care of a family member undergoing surgery. Reading could go either way, but I’m hoping that this plan will lead me to success.
Books to read [2024 goal fulfillment] *links open the book’s Goodreads page*
By now I think you will have realized that I like to plan. I don’t always stick to my plans…but that’s an entirely separate issue.
In order to keep myself on track with my 2024 Reading Goals, I’ve come up with plans to implement that will help me achieve each goal. I intentionally designed them to be supportive of each other, but I thought I would take a little time to elaborate here in case any of you are working on some goals for yourself.
Goal 1: Read a little every day.
Plan: Listen to audiobooks during my commute (roughly 1.5 hours each day). Read before bed, even if only for a few minutes. Read early in the morning (my AM routine has recently changed and I find I can snag a couple of minutes).
Plan: Read 2 NetGalley books per month. Also, there is a moratorium on requesting new galleys until that goal is accomplished.
Goal 4: Determine an ideal physical TBR and stick to it.
Plan: First, assemble and count current physical TBR. Consider bookshelf placements. The purchasing of additional bookshelves is not allowed to complete this goal. Track incoming and outgoing books. Consider unhauls after reading. Try to make 40% of each monthly TBR physically owned titles.
Goal 5: Read at least 100 books.
Plan: Impossible not to achieve as long as the other goals are met.
Goal 6: Read more graphic novels.
Plan: Alternate months for focusing on this. For each month where this goal is the focus, get 2 graphic novels from Hoopla. Also, grab at least 1 graphic novel from my physical collection until there are no more (very small collection currently).
Goal 7: Read more short stories.
Plan: Alternate months for focusing on this than on goal 6. Identify short story collections of interest or publications held by the library. Focus on 2-4 short stories every other month.
Goal 8: Join a book club that I don’t run.
Plan: Digital participation: CoverswithCassidy on YouTube is reading The Book of the Ice series Jan-Mar. Look for opportunity for a physical group as well.
Goal 9: Make a book club kit for 1 book each month.
Plan: Create a template to fill out while reading that will make this process simpler. *More on these at a later date*
Goal 10: Read 15% of physical TBR.
Plan: First, count physical TBR to determine what 15% really looks like. This pairs nicely with goal #4. Document progress with detailed TBR plans each month.
Hello! For 2024, I set 10 goals for my reading and one of those goals was to make a dent in the number of series that I am in the middle of. I have currently started 28 series that I have not completed and there are even more series that I want to start *link*.
When I set this goal for myself, I knew that I was going to need a solid plan for success. Below is what I have come up with to help me achieve this goal. It will change as the year progresses, because I fully expect to pick up new series as I hear about them or to have new books added in series that I am currently caught up on. I also always give myself permission to drop a series if I am no longer enjoying it, so that could alter things.
So here’s the data that I was working with when I started to formulate this plan.
Number of Series: 28
Total books to completion: 114
Series that can be finished by reading 1 book
7
Series that can be finished by reading 2 books
8
These are the low-hanging fruit of this challenge. With planning, these should be an easy first book for each month to make progress on this goal.
Series that require 3-5 books to finish
6
Series that require 6+ books to finish
7
Knowing these numbers, I also knew that I was aiming to read 5-7 books per month, but I only wanted 3-4 of them to be series books. I wanted to keep as much flexibility in there as possible because I can be a moody reader.
This meant that I could load the first half of the year up with easy wins, but I would also need to be steadily making progress towards the larger series.
So here’s what the plan looks like right now *links go to Goodreads*:
January (8 books)
Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros **completes a series**
So…clearly this is insane. But I’m going to try to do it anyway. It will definitely make a dent in the series that I am reading, but making it work ended up taking a lot more books per month than I initially thought. However, if I were somehow able to accomplish this, I would finish off 24 of the series that I am currently working on, which would be amazing.
Books Dani Likes 