Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2023
Thank you to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting/organizing Top Ten Tuesday!
It’s been a minute since I did a Top Ten Tuesday post! But I’m back now with this one, which is all about bookish goals for 2023. I don’t think I actually have ten, so I’m just going to stick with a few here haha. Also, I don’t want to overwhelm myself and try to “force” myself to do too many things. So for that reason as well I’m keeping the goals list short. Okay now let’s get into it!
1. Reduce my physical TBR
YES I KNOW OKAY??? I know I’ve said this before – as in I literally wrote this as a goal for 2020 and 2019 (evidence here and here). I even said in 2020 that this “will probably be a goal for as long as I live LOL.” The accuracy!! It hurts!! But the thing is, I live in a small apartment space, and shelf space is at a premium. I’d like to read as many of my unread books as I can so I can then determine if I truly want to keep them or not. Plus I just have so many books that I am VERY excited about but haven’t gotten to yet. So I want to just focus on FINALLY GETTING TO THEM.
To do this, I’m being a LOT more precise about tracking the books I acquire during the year. Hopefully seeing the numbers will keep motivating me haha.
2. Write short reviews for most books
One of my aims as a blogger and bookstagrammer is to help authors as much as I can. Obviously the primary way I do that by sharing their books and my thoughts with my audience. Another easy way to help though is to write reviews on different social media and retail sites. More reviews helps with visibility and that leads to more sales! And it’s free for me to do! So this year I’d like to write mini reviews for every book I read and post them on Goodreads and Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other retail sites.
3. Read more books by Indigenous authors
This might be hard in combination with my first goal, since I don’t already own many books by indigenous authors. But I’ve realized that though I try to read diversely, I’m still lacking in reading books from indigenous folks (from all around the world). So my plan is that when I feel like reading a book from the library, I will focus on indigenous authors. And I welcome any recs!! I prefer sci-fi and fantasy books of course, but I’d also love to read any romances. Some that are already on my list are:
- Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger
- To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
- This Place: 150 Years Retold
4. Focus on authenticity in reviews, posts, and captions
This sounds like a weird goal at first. I’m never fake in my reviews and other things I write, obviously. What I mean by this goal is that I want to be more vulnerable and talk more about what emotions I feel while reading. Sometimes I think I’m too clinical when talking about books, and I want to be more evocative. There are a lot of folks on bookstagram who make me so emotional with their captions, and I want to be more like them! I’m not sure if this makes sense to anyone else haha. But obviously all goals are personal so it’s okay if none of you quite understand lol.
And those are my goals for the year! Did you make any bookish goals this year? Do we share any?
I actually find writing reviews quite hard and I think that they probably sound fairly impersonal. I love reading reviews when people sound passionate about the book so I think that’s an area for me to develop too.
oh yes!! reviews are SO hard to write!!
Every now and then I find a book that I am passionate about (either in a positive or negative way) and the review reflects that. Then there are times I feel like I’m just going through the motions when writing the review. I want to find that passion for every book I’m reviewing.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/ten-more-anticipated-releases-january-june-2023/
yes exactly, that going through the motions feeling!! i definitely am working on digging deep for passion in any sense. thanks for sharing your post too!
These are great goals. Good luck with them!
My post: https://lydiaschoch.com/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-goals-for-2023/
thank you so much! and thanks for sharing your post š
#2 is great! I try to do that as well.
high five!! š
I’m always looking to reduce my physical TBR but I never manage it and have pretty much accepted by this point that I never will!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/top-ten-tuesday-403/
I don’t think I’ll ever get to zero, but I think just getting it down would be nice hahaha
Ha ha I agree!
I think that #1 is an ongoing challenge for most of us. LOL
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
yeah no kidding hahaha
MOOD. Stares around at shelves (Alas, I keep reading on my Kindle because it’s just easier and I can borrow books on it. But there are a few books I own that I should probably get to sooner rather than later…
Sounds like a great and hopefully manageable goal!
Oh, this is a nice idea. I’ll have to look into some I can read too.
Always here for you and your posts! šš
Best of luck with all your goals! šŖ
honestly reading ebooks is so dang convenient!! especially for travel and commutes and such. thanks for always reading and commenting steph š
Indeed!! And you’re most welcome ā¤ļø (Also, where did the numbers in my comment go, hahaha. I added them to match your post š§)
wordpress is eating numbers!!!
I haven’t read Elatsoe, but a friend has and she says it’s good, I have it on my list
yes!! so many people I know have loved it, so I’m really excited
I started writing a short review on Goodreads for every book I read a few years ago and it has been a game changer! It helps me remember what I read and what I thought about it. I can then use those fresh initial thoughts to create a longer review for my blog. My memory’s not great, so this has been SUPER helpful.
Good luck with all your goals!
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
ahhh that’s awesome!! my memory is also pretty bad hahaha. happy TTT š
I also have review each book I read as a goal along with read more non-fiction, and read more of my 2022 pre-orders cause I was terrible at getting to that š
I’m honestly terrible at reading non-fiction hahah
Number one will also be forever on my list!! I feel you on the tiny apartment space lol. I also want to incorporate more indigenous work!! I did start a book from an Icelandic author this week so I guess Iām doing ok to start.
I dream of a home with rooms and rooms of space for shelves
Love this!! I totally get #4. It’s really hard for books that are just good but like middle of the road. Nothing bad, but also not necessarily something I’d read again. my whole review will be like: this is a book, and I read it? It has characters lmao. I wish you luck on the rest and I loved Elatsoe!!
Yessss ugh like solid 3 star books are so hard for me to review lmao
Oooh I love the idea of becoming a more emotional reviewer…that could be the missing ingredient to my reading life. I’m reading so many books at the same time that I don’t always give them the attention they deserve in terms of how I FEEL about them.
Indigenous Book Recs:
Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (haven’t read it but it has 100k ratings on Goodreads)
Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse
Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden
I only ever read one at once and I still have the problem of describing how I actually feel hahah so don’t feel bad.
And omg yay thank you!! I have heard great things about Firekeeper’s Daughter
I love these goals, Mackenzie! And I am rooting for you in every single one (and really connect with you on number one, RIP).
thanks nicole!!! yeah number 1 is all of us, always