As 2022 draws to a close and the new year begins it’s time to reflect on how to move forward, the goals and aspirations to strive for, and which books I’m going to read from my mountain of unread stacks.

January TBR

Drowned Country is the sequel to Silver in The Wood and last instalment in The Greenhollow Duology. I read the first book in 2022 and adored it, despite seeing very few people ever mentioning it and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a cosy fantasy, especially one which is a woodland-based fantasy (we don’t have enough of those). I’m looking forward to seeing where Emily Tesh takes this story, as the first one was just so perfect, I have no idea how she’ll carry it on.

I picked up David Mogo Godhunter on a whim in an independent bookstore a couple of months ago, it follows a demigod and godhunter after an event leads to thousands of gods falling to earth in Laos. He has the task of capturing two powerful gods and delivering them to a wizard gangster. I’m hoping this is gonna be a good book, because the concept sounds great, and the cover is very intriguing.

This month I’m hoping to do a reread of Sorcery of Thorns because its sequel and novella, Mysteries of Thorn Manor, is coming out this month. When I read Sorcery of Thorns in 2020 I loved it and you can read a very old review for it here, and I’m hoping its sequel is going to be just as good (which it should be, I have complete faith in Rogerson).

I’m also currently reading Death Comes to Pemberley, a Christmas present from a friend, which follows our beloved couple, Elizabeth and Darcy as Lydia Wickham arrives on the doorsteps of Pemberley screaming her husband has been murdered. It’s a slow read so far but I am really enjoying it and I’m hoping it continues to be good. The other book I’m reading is Princess of Souls, which so far features a very typical 2010s YA heroine but I’m hoping it’ll be fun – I’m not sure yet.

2023 Bookish Goals

@moonlitbooks_

Well now you all know my deepest and most handful truth, I am a hoarder #booktok #booktoker #booktokuk #books #book #bookish #bookstan #bookworm #reader #reading #bookcase #tbr #pages #bookaesthetic #bookcollection

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1. So, a while ago in November 2022 I took stock of my book collection and bookcases, which desperately needed reorganising as they were far too messy, and I also took inventory of all my books as I wasn’t sure how many I owned and how many needed to be read. And boy, were those numbers not good. In the end, it turned out I had lot more owned and unread books than I did owned and read books. As of today, the 3rd January 2023, those numbers now stand at:

Owned and read titles = 258

Owned and read copies = 274

Owned Physical TBR titles = 309

Owned Physical TBR copies = 322

Obviously, this is not good. Whilst it’s important to support authors monetarily when it’s possible, my level of consumption is not one I can currently keep pace with and I’m sure it’s not good for the environment either so I need to sort out of these numbers this year.

This will be difficult for me as I’m in the third year of my history degree, and therefore I won’t always have a ton of time to read before that ends this year. So, I need to be kind and realistic in the goals I set around my level of consumption this year.

First of all, I’ve noticed my buying habits online are definitely greater and worse for my bank account than they are when I shop in person. So in 2023 I am only allowed to order books from independent bookstores, publisher’s websites and through online second-hand marketplaces. In person, I am allowed to shop at non-independent organisations like Waterstones but I’m not going to do any online ordering through them again for the rest of the year. There are exceptions to this rule such as if genuinely can’t find a book anywhere but online from somewhere like Waterstones or Amazon, or if I’m sending it to a friend from a wishlist or something similar.

I’m also going to increase my library usage this year to slow down my purchasing habits, but also help my library doing these times. I live in a rural area, so my library is underfunded at the best of times but I’m going to try and show it more support this year. This may be difficult for me as my library has quite a small stock but I am going to request and use it as much as I possibly can.

Thirdly, if all else fails at the end of the year I force myself to do an unhaul. Because of how busy I expect myself to be this year I will be fairly kind in this. So, if my owned physical TBR copies total is higher than 322 by the end of the year, I have to unhaul until I can meet that number of go below it, as that’s my aim for the year. We are looking to equalise or better this number; I’m hoping I’ll better it but I’m not sure.

2. I’m hoping to read more diversely this year, so I’m going to actively try to read books from a greater selection of places, authors and cultures. I’m not sure how I am going to implement this yet, but there’s surely tons of books on my physical TBR that will help make this possible. I’m also going to spend more time looking through library recommendations, as I’ve noticed my local library tends to pull together different lists for different events or cultural heritage months.

3. I want to read more current releases, I’ve noticed I tend to pre-order a lot of books I love the sound of, and then its years before I get to able to read them, So I’m hoping this year I can read more 2023 releases and ensure they don’t sit on my shelves for ages. I’m not sure how successful I’ll be in this but I’m gonna try.

4. I am going to read and finish series this year. I only completed one series last year, and started so many that just never got finished, and it’s silly too as a lot of them were duologies: The Greenhollow duology, The Wild Robot duology, The Celestial Kingdom duology. I also have so many unfinished series sat on my shelves like the Shades of Magic series which I have just never finished for seemingly no reason at all. So this year, I am going to tackle as many as I can.

What are you reading or bookish goals for this year?