Books read and to be read...

I definitely didn't read nearly as much as I'd hoped to in 2023. I'd set what seemed like a fairly easy goal of reading 20 books for the year, and I read... 11. Ish. With a pretty big "ish" qualifier, because three of those I did not yet finish. So... 8 and three halves, lol.

( Thoughts on the books I read this year: )

Now the much scarier list... my To Be Read list.

This isn't even a complete list! There are plenty of other books I want to read but don't have listed for whatever reason. (There are quite a few that I only have in ebook format, and my struggle to read ebooks means they aren't imminently on the list, even though I still plan to try.) This also includes nothing that hasn't been released yet, and there are several books (especially in ongoing series) that will come out in 2024 that will definitely be added to the list.

( 36 books I want to read: )

All the things on my TBR list don't account for much in the way of rereading. A couple are technically rereads, but they're things read so long ago that it might as well be the first time I've read it. This list does not include anything in the "I love this and want to read it again" category. And that is a bummer, because there's actually quite a bit I would really like to reread!

There are some faves that I just want to read again because. (The Broken Earth trilogy, the Captive Prince trilogy, the Newsflesh trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, the Shades of Magic trilogy, The Southern Reach trilogy... And actually, that last one I really extra want to, because a fourth book is allegedly coming out in late 2024!)

I also often really want to reread the previous books in a series before reading a new one, because I'd hate to have forgotten some detail that adds to it! So I have to resist the urge to reread all the Murderbot books, Dark Heir, the Shades of Magic trilogy, The City We Became, the earlier Wayward Children books...

I keep trying to remind myself that rereading things I loved is doing myself a disservice if it prevents me from finding the new things that I will love just as much. At the same time, it's frustrating to read new things that I don't enjoy as much as I would enjoy rereading a favorite series, ha.

IF I could manage 3 books per month, that'd knock out my list, but I don't think that's even CLOSE to a realistic goal for me. I also really don't want to focus so heavily on quantity. I know there are a shitton of "50 books in a year!" or "100 books in a year!" or "A book-a-day for a year!" types of challenges out there, and that is pretty emphatically NOT what I want to do. I want to have the room to really enjoy the books I read, I want to enjoy the writing itself, and I want to appreciate the books as a whole, rather than just feeling like I have to race to the end.

So... I'll probably aim for 20 books again, which feels like a more reasonable pace. I'll try to stick to books that ARE on this list (minus any new releases that cut the line), rather than rereads, though if I get a really strong urge to reread something specific, I'll probably give in, haha. (And if Absolution does get a definite release date for Fall 2024, then the Southern Reach trilogy gets bumped up for sure.)