Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2014


Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Bookish Goals for 2014

1. Read 304 Books in 2014

In 2013, I read 303 books, so I would like to read one more book than last year.

2. Read One Classic a Month

This will be helped along by Kayla’s and my participation in the Back to the Classics Challenge 2014 hosted by Books and Chocolate. We are starting this month with Night by Elie Wiesel. We have 6 categories that we must read, and then if we complete those, another 5 optional categories. Are you doing this challenge? Are you doing other challenges? Let us know in the comments!

3. Read One Award-Winning Book a Month

This is my own personal challenge. I’m starting this month with Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein which won several awards including being a Printz Honor Book. If you have any other great award winning novels that I need to read, let me know in the comments!

4. Finish Series That I Started

I need to stop starting a series, getting distracted by other books, and never finishing. Especially if the author has completed the series! Some series that I need to finish are 1. Sabina Kane by Jaye Wells; 2. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson; and 3. Nightside by Simon Green.

5. Keep Up with Goodreads

I use Shelfari to keep track of my books because I like the interface better. Goodreads has better additive features like lists and recommendations. Plus, most other bloggers use Goodreads, so it would be better to have an updated Goodreads profile. But mostly I always update Shelfari and forget to update Goodreads. I had imported my books from Shelfari into Goodreads years ago, but it was completely unorganized. I deleted the whole thing and entered them back into Goodreads manually. Now that I have a working Goodreads account, I need to keep it updated.

6. Go Outside of My Comfort Zone More

I used to never read male authors - now Neil Gaiman and George R R Martin are two of my favorite authors. I used to never read contemporary - now Sarah Dessen and Gayle Forman are two of my favorite authors. Every time I say “never”, I find a new favorite. Maybe this year I can start liking time traveling books!

7. Make a Dent in My TBR

I’m pretty sure that I have hundreds of books on my kindle that I don’t even remember that are on there. And my physical TBR is growing daily it seems. Maybe while my library is out of commission for a few weeks, I can tackle these.

8. Use My Amazon Kindle Owner’s Lending Library More Often

I always forget to check out a new book each month. I also procrastinate in reading the free books.

9. Accept Defeat

Sometimes I may just not like a book, a series or an author. I need to just let go and put the book down. Or stop trying to convince myself that I NEED to LOVE an author just because everyone seems to.

10. Stop Checking Out 20 (ok not that many, but still) Books from the Library at a Time & Buying Books from Amazon Because They are Cheap

It is physically impossible for me to read all the books I check out from the library, yet I continue to check out all the books and they sit in my apartment while I renew them multiple times. Some even get brought back without being read and I have to re-check them out. And, I need to stop adding to the TBR - I can’t reduce it, if I keep adding to it!

What are your goals for 2014?

11 comments:

  1. I really need to start finishing series. I'm pathetically terrible at that. *cries* I made a spreadsheet of series and I think it only made me more depressed. Some things you just don't need to know.

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    1. I am bad about finishing series, too, but come on - how many have really sucky endings? I like to make up my own endings.

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    2. That's a good idea! I should probably make a spreadsheet, because I'm terrible at even remembering sometimes which series I have even started already.

      Kayla, I agree! I have gotten disappointed so many times. It seems like trilogies are the worst!

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  2. 303 books? WOW. How in the world do you read that many? My goal for the last couple of years has been 200. I've come close, but have yet to achieve it. Good luck on all your goals. Happy New Year!

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    1. I'm in awe of Amber being to pull that off myself. I read with nearly every spare minute I have and listen to audiobooks in the car, but I do well to get 100 books read.

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    2. I blame it on my subscription to Audible. Also my library has Overdrive and some other audio subscription so it's really easy for me to get my hands on the audio version of books. I listen to them EVERYWHERE that does not require my full attention - even at work sometimes. I'm so bad, that last year I went through at least 4 pairs of headphones.

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  3. Awesome goals. I especially like the classic. I think I've made a goal for one classic for a challenge. My reading goal is 300 so it's close to yours. I look forward to seeing how you do. Have a great week.

    Lacie @ Rainy Dayz Reviewz

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    1. I did the classics last year and I really felt productive at the end and like I had accomplished something, so I decided to do it again. Let me know if you have some questions about any of the classics! I know I wish I would have asked if some books were worth it before I started.

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  4. Thanks! And thanks for stopping by!

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  5. We probably all feel a little peer pressured into loving or hating certain books. Thanks! And thanks for stopping by!

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  6. I feel you on 12. I'm limiting myself to two checkouts at a time.

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You are going to put words in my box?! *squeezes you* Now I shall stalk YOUR blog!