Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog and go here to see what others have on their Top Ten Tuesday lists!
This week’s TTT topic is bookish goals for 2025. What literary dreams do I dream for myself this year?
- Meet my reading challenge. Last year I set myself a goal of 100 books. The editing side hustle was thriving, so the reading challenge was not. I think I read more than my challenge says, I just didn’t take time to go post reviews (or, you know, even mark them as Read instead of Currently Reading). Maybe I’ll scale it back this year in hopes that the editing side hustle will keep booming.
- Read more physical books from my shelf. I am a book dragon. A book hoarder, if you will. I probably have years of reading material in my house, not counting the huge Kindle stash. I’m trying to declutter and simplify a lot of things this year, and the number of physical books I want to read is one of them.
- Read more books on my Kindle. I have something like 1,500 books on my Kindle. I love my Kindle. It’s easy for me to hold up when I’m reading in bed, where a big, chunky novel won’t be. I never worry about running out of reading material when I take my Kindle with me. But I must clear out some of the multiplicity of books I’ve got on there. I KNOW I have a lifetime’s worth of books on the Kindle. Some have been there for years without me getting to them. It’s time.
- Catch up on Netgalley reviews. As I’ve seen some other bloggers say, I want to catch up on Netgalley reviews. I’m one who didn’t know what she was doing when I started. I excitedly signed up for everything, and as a result, my review percentage is embarrassingly low. Gotta work on that this year (and since those are all ebooks, that will mesh well with goal #3).
- Be more consistent with reviews. I’m guilty of reading books and then forgetting, or just not taking time, to leave reviews. I know reviews are a delight to an author’s heart, so I want to be more mindful of that this year.
- Not overload myself with ARCs. I’m bad about signing up for every single ARC that sounds entertaining (and there are a lot that do). I end up overcommitted and stressed out, and that’s no good for anyone. I have a spreadsheet. I’m trying to limit myself to no more than eight a month, so that I can fill in with my own books.
- Visit other book bloggers more. I love seeing what everyone is up to! I want to build more bookish friendships, and to do that, I’ve got to take time to stop by and say hey.
- Make better use of Kindle Unlimited or let it go. Some of those Kindle books languishing for years? Yeah, KU books that I’ve gotten and just never bothered to read. Sigh.
- Do more on Hardcover.app. This is a bookish site that one of my bookish friends is heavily involved in. I want to do my part to help it grow! I’d say I’d consider becoming a Librarian there, but in what quantity of free time do I expect myself to do that?
- Read Gormenghast – at least the first in the trilogy. Y’all may remember that Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy topped my Top Ten list of books I’d like to throw into the ocean. I loathed it. I tried twice. Well, this year I promised my husband (who thinks it’s literary genius – and opinions on this do seem pretty evenly split between love or hate) that I would give it a third try with an open mind. I can’t read great swaths of it at one sitting, because it’s still a book that is dense with detail. But it isn’t as vomit-inducing as I remember. Parts of it might even come close to enjoyable. Perhaps I’ll make it through this time. Check back with me at the end of the year.
Do you have any bookish goals for the year?
I share a lot of your goals, like reading what I own, reviewing more consistently, and not taking on too many ARCs! It’s so easy to request those but it really limits your reading.
I keep thinking that if I could listen to audiobooks, I might be able to get through more books and review more. I just can’t get into audiobooks. I’ve tried. So I’ll power through and keep reading with my eyes!
I share a lot of your goals! Trying to read my own books and not request so many ARC’s is a top goal. I just get so enticed with those shiny new stories and I need to stop. lol. I hope you manage all these goals!
I know! I see all the ARC opportunities and think, oooh, that sounds good, I’d read it! And before I know it, I’m full up with ARCs and can’t find time for the books I loved enough to buy.
Blog hopping is a lot of fun! May you reach all of these goals.
I also want to cut back on ARCs and read more books from my shelves! I hope we can both hit at least some of our goals😁
Me, too. We’ll do our best!
I have several of the same goals. We all seem to want to read more of our own books.
I feel like I’m neglecting the books that I wanted enough to buy by leaving them on the shelf or in the Kindle for so long!
I need to do a clean out of my Kindle too. There are a bunch of eARCs on there that I accidentally downloaded several times as well as others that I’m just never going to read. Good luck to both of us 🙂
Happy TTT (on a Wednesday)!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I have accidentally downloaded graphics from emails with eARCS! My Kindle definitely needs cleaning out. LOL We can achieve those goals!
NetGalley reviews and my physical TBR are two of my main ones! I’m really hoping to get both under control this year. Good luck with these!
Thanks, Lindsi! Good luck to you, too!
Good luck with your reading goals this year, Lisa! Finding that balance between Kindle and physical books takes work sometimes, doesn’t it? I used to be a one at a time reader and now I try to have at least one on my e-reader and one physical book going. Lately more. But it always feels like at least one book is being neglected. Good luck with reading Gormenghast! That sounds like it will be a challenge, but you can do it!
It’s a challenge, all right! But I think I might actually get through Gormenghast this year. At least the first book.
I will have to check out Hardcover.app. Sounds like a fun site. Thanks for visiting my blog. Good luck with your goals.