Willow in Winter

Let’s ignore the fact that it’s already February when I’m writing this post with my reading goals for the year, but for me, January went by so fast that I barely had time to acknowledge a new year had started.

I read 80 books in 2022, which Goodreads says was a total of 25,425 pages. I mostly read thrillers and romance, and a few non-fiction books about mental health. My main goal this year is to read another 80 books, prioritising the ones that have been on my TBR list for years.

2023 Reading Goals

Read at least 5 books that have been on my TBR list for the past three years

I love adding books to my TBR list on Goodreads, I mostly do it to keep an eye on books that seem interesting but that I don’t want to read right now. That’s how I ended up with more than 500 books on my TBR. I forced myself to go through the endless list and remove anything I knew I wouldn’t actually read and managed to reduce the it to 200 books.

Some of the books that stayed on the list are:

• Again, but Better by Christine Riccio – on my list since 2020
• The Girls I’ve Been by Tess Sharpe – on my list since 2021
• The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner – on my list since 2021
• They Never Learn by Layne Fargo – on my list since 2020
• House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland – on my list since 2021

Finish the book series I started from 2020 to 2022

I find it hard to commit to finishing a book series, especially if I have to wait a year for a new book to come out. So I’ve made it my life mission to finish all the series I started in the last few years.

• Charlotte Holmes Series by Brittany Cavallaro – 1 book left out of 4
• Truly Devious Series by Maureen Jonhson – 3 books left out of 5
• A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson – 1 book left out of 3
• Jane Austen Murder Mystery Series by Tirzah Price – 2 books left out of 3
• The Kiss Quotient Series by Helen Hoang – 1 book left out of 3

Read 3 full book series

I always try to avoid books that are part of a series, especially if they’re longer than three novels, but I end up missing up on very interesting worlds. So I’m challenging myself to read and complete three book series.

• Lockwood & Co. Series by Jonathan Stroud – 5 books
• A Court of Thorns and Roses Series by Sarah J. Maas – 4 books published so far
• Flappers Series by Jillian Larkin – 3 books

Read all the books I bought in 2022 and never read

I usually borrow ebooks from my local library, but sometimes I will impulse buy a physical book only to have it collect dust on my bookshelf. But that won’t happen again because this year, I will read all of the unread books on my shelf. At least, I will try.

Read more non-fiction

I read some non-fiction books last year, but they were mainly focused on mental health as I was using them as research to understand myself better, so I think it’s time to expand my horizons into other topics that interest me, like climate change, veganism and the paranormal.

• The Climate Book: The Facts and the Solutions by Greta Thunberg
• This is Vegan Propaganda by Ed Winters
• The Ghost: A Cultural History by Susan Owens

Read more graphic novels

I started reading more graphic novels last year, and I’d like to keep growing my collection in 2023.

• Feelings: A Story in Seasons by Manjit Thapp
• Camouflage: The Hidden Lives of Autistic Women by Sarah Bargiela and Sophie Standing
• Crushing by Sophie Burrows
• Squad by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Lisa Sterle

Read a book from a street library

I’ve discovered a tiny street library near my new home, and it’s always full of books. I’ve never exchanged a book from a street library before, so I’m really excited to try it and see what types of books I find.

New 2023 books I can’t wait to read

There are so many new books coming out this year, but these are the ones I’m most excited to read.

• Bring Me Your Midnight by Rachel Griffin – coming out in August. Rachel Griffin is one of my favourite writers, and this is her third book.
• Legends and Liars by Morgan Rhodes – coming out in June. This is the second part of Echoes and Empires, one of my favourite books from 2022.
• Happy Place by Emily Henry – coming out in April. At this point, I’m 100% sure you can’t go wrong with an Emily Henry novel, she’s just too good.
• My Roommate Is a Vampire by Jenna Levine – coming out in August. Just by looking at the cover, I can tell I will love this book.
• The Blode Identity by Ally Carter – coming out in August. I was obsessed with Ally Carter’s spy series when I was younger, so I can’t wait for her new novel for adults.

So that’s it for my reading goals/challenge. I hope I can complete it before the year is over. So far, I’ve already read two of the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, only two more to go!