Welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly bookish meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl that features a different bookish topic every week.
Today’s topic is Bookish Goals for 2024.
This topic is giving me a bit of anxiety. I’ve got bookish goals for this year, don’t get me wrong, but they’ve been mostly held loosely in a “we’ll see” way. Writing them down here and talking about them make them feel more serious, and I’m not sure I’m ready for that. On the other hand, maybe this is exactly what I need to help me achieve those goals.
Many of them are related and build on each other, so in a way, I could either easily achieve most of them, or fail at most of them!
Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2024
Read more non-fiction – Specifically self-help and reference books I bought long ago that I meant to take notes on. It’s just so easy to breeze through fiction, while putting non-fic aside because I feel like I need to put aside focused time for them.
Take notes and/or annotate books – I love annotated books, but I find it hard to read while annotating because I get so engrossed and forget to stop. I also can’t annotated borrowed books, so I’ll need some kind of notebook if I want to take notes on library books.
Read slower – I tend to rush through books and end up forgetting details, and eventually forgetting the stories. I have reread books without realizing that I’ve read them before! My whole reason for wanting to take notes is so I’ll slow down and remember the books I read.
Write reviews for books I read – Another way to help me remember the books I read, but more concise. I anticipate being very long-winded with my annotations, and the reviews will help me summarize my thoughts.
Read books I own – Related to the first goal, but not limited to nonfic. I just want to read some of the books I bought long time ago because I wanted to read them then and never did. It’s so easy to get caught up in the excitement of new books, and prioritizing library books because they have deadlines. There’s no urgency with books I own because they belong to me, but I should at least try to read some this year!
Prioritize older books on my TBR instead of new releases – I mean… LOL! Look, I know me, and I know I can’t resist new releases. We just did a TTT on anticipated new releases, ya know?! But I’m going to try to read more old books than new ones?
Finish some of the series I’ve started – So. Many. Series. So. MANY. I need to finish some of them or I’ll go crazy. I don’t know why I do this to myself.
Read more diverse books – I tend to not pay very much attention to what I read or who the authors are beyond the fact that the book’s premise interests me. I do end up reading many diverse books anyway, but I’d like to be more intentional about choosing them.
Read more in print – Physical books or ebooks. Last year more than half my books read were audiobooks, and that’s because it’s convenient for me when I’m getting chores done, and necessary for me to get to sleep, but that means I’m usually borrowing whatever audiobooks are available in the moment instead of reading physical books and ebooks I already have. I end up reading a lot of books I’d never heard of nor were interested in. On the bright side, I’ve also discovered some great books by accident because of this.
Reorganize my bookshelves – It’s a bit messy right now, ngl. And I’ve also got non-bookish stuff, random files, piles of paper, taking up space on those shelves because I have nowhere else to put them. I’d have to go through them all to clear up space.
DNF books I don’t like sooner – I’m really bad at this and I need to get better. Rationally, I have no problem DNF-ing books, but emotionally, I always hope that they get better and I keep reading to give them that chance.
I hope I’m able to achieve most of these. What are your bookish goals this year?
I need to read more books I own, too. And writing reviews for the books I read is sometimes I try to do. We’ll see if I do read more books I own in 2024! 🙂 All the best with your goals.
Thanks! Good luck with yours too!
Good luck with your goals .I need to DNF more books too but it’s hard for me to give up on a book
My TTT
https://seriesbooklover.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/top-ten-bookish-goals-2024/
Same! I don’t like to give up on books but sometimes I wonder if it’s better to feel bad about giving up on a book, or feel bad that I wasted my time on one I didn’t enjoy. Ugh! I prefer to read all the good books and enjoy every single one of them! Lol!
A great list of goals.
I am a very slow reader as I have to read every single word and understand what is going on before moving on. I literally can’t skim read. I’ve tried and get nowhere!!
I have a big TBR pile that I would like to reduce. I need to stop getting distracted by Blog Tours!!
Have a great week! And good luck with your goals!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/01/16/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-goals-for-2024/
I am so curious about Blog Tours, but also not sure I want to know if it’s something that will end up distracting me! Lol! Thanks and good luck to you too!
A great list of goals. I keep mine fairly lose to keep the pressure off. I do need to focus on getting my TBR piles down!
Have a great week and good luck with your goals!
These are great goals. There is so much amazing nonfiction out there.
Here is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
There are! I’m discovering so many and despairing that there’s not enough time to read them all!
Great goals! I love annotating books. I think it helps with remembering and engaging with the story.
I love annotated books but I’m not so good at annotating them. I do love going back and looking at the notes though!
“Finish some of the series I’ve started” I should really add this one to my list
Yes! I’m doing my best to achieve this one!
Great goals! Good luck with them. I especially relate to wanting to remember what I read more.
Thanks! Being forgetful about books I read can be both a blessing and a curse. Lol!
I can definitely identify with quite a few of these, especially writing reviews as soon as I finish a book. I have a backlog of five at the moment and I’m struggling to remember everything I thought about the books.
Oh, that’s hard! Sometimes when I get behind on my reviews, I’m unable to move forward with anything new because I feel like the books are unfinished until I’m done with their reviews! Good luck with your backlog!
Good goals here!
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2024/01/16/top-ten-tuesday-2024-bookish-goals/
Thank you!
Great goals. I am also trying to focus on reading the books I own. While it wasn’t a goal, I did rearrange my shelves this month as well, it made such a huge difference.
I’m dreading rearranging my shelves because of all the paperwork I have to get through! I’m glad you got yours done!
Great goals, I can identify with so many. I like read the series you’ve started, trouble is so many good series!
I know!! I had no idea how many series I actually still have on my TBR that I need to finish. And there are more I want to start!
Good luck with all your goals! I relate though, I also mostly have a “we’ll see” attitude about my goals 🙂
Lol! I love that! Concrete but chill.
They all do seem attainable! Good luck with all of these 🙂
Thank you! And to you too!
These are awesome goals! Good luck with them all. I really need to DNF more. I love annotating books because it makes me slow down when reading!
My Top Ten!
Thank you! Yes, DNFing is a good thing. I need to remind myself of that!
Great goals! I need to reorganize some of my shelves too
Thanks!
One thing I’ve started doing to help me whittle down my physical (owned) TBR is to borrow the audiobook from the library. Then, I can listen in the morning when I’m getting ready for work or making dinner and can’t find the time to read with my eyeballs. I’ve read a few this way in the past year, and it helps me feel somewhat accomplished. But I was also upset with myself because I spent the money to buy the book and didn’t read it!
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/goals-for-2024-book-and-blog-goals/
I do that too! Sometimes I struggle to start a book, but if I start on audiobook and get into it, it’s easier to transition back to print. Unfortunately, some of the books I want to read are not available as audiobooks, so I have to read the copies I have.
Learning how to DNF a book is hard! I struggle with it too. Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!
We have to be more brutal about DNF-ing books! We can do it!
These sound like some great reading goals! I would like to read more nonfiction this year, too.
My TTT: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2024/01/16/top-12-books-2024-goals-and-2023-review/
Yes! I need to get on that!
I always take notes on books I’m reading in a handy, dandy notebook. My memory is terrible, so it helps me to remember characters, plot details, book quotes, etc. Also, when a book quote is too long for me to write down but I want to remember it, especially in a library book, I snap a photo with my phone so I have it to use in my review. Very helpful. Good luck with all your goals!
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
Oh, taking pictures of long quotes on your phone is such a great idea! I’m still experimenting with my notetaking process. I listen to a lot of audiobooks while doing chores so that’s not conducive to notetaking, but that’s one of the reasons I want to read more books in print. Hopefully, I’ll figure it out! Thank you!
Good luck! My only goal this year is to read the books I own. I’m always tempted to buy more! I don’t need more!
I know! I have so many books I own that I haven’t read yet! Good luck to both of us!
These are great goals, Haze. I tend to gravitate toward fiction over nonfiction too. Although it’s not one of my goals to read more nonfiction this year, I do want to read some. I have quite a few I haven’t yet gotten to that I would like to. Finishing or catching up with some of the series I started is definitely on my list! I am a series junkie, I think. I am always starting new ones too, which doesn’t help. I wish you the best on your goals this year!
I totally get being a series junkie. I feel like I keep getting excited about new series all the time, and there are so many out there! Thank you, good luck on your goals too!
[…] Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2024 […]