75 Books...More or Less! discussion

What are your New Year's Resolutions for 2023 in the bookish world? And in your personal life, if you care to share.

Did you end up reading more, less, or the same in 2022 as things tried to get back to a new normal?

What do you want or hope to change, if anything, about your reading habits?

I think I am going to try to read at least 250 books (again) for my Bookish New Years Resolution. Of those, I want to read at least 12 of my own and also at least 12 non-fiction. I know, the last two items are not too aggressive...

Ended up reading way more books than I planned. I chalk that up to careful planning and having a job where I can listen to my audiobooks. Am semi retired and currently work as a part time dog walker. The doggies & sometimes kitties don't complain.

Am pretty satisfied with my reading habits, so no real changes. Would really like to keep my TBR shelf down below 300. I am so thankful that I've been able to read so aggressively.

I think I forgot to do make any personal new years resolutions for 2022, so I may do the same for 2023.

My bookish goals for 2023 are to read 100 books. This is a good goal for me and something I can do comfortable without a lot of unrealistic pressure.

My personal goals I'm still thinking about. I lost 20 pounds in 2022 and would like to lose under 33 in 2022. I'm trying to do it through lifestyle changes though and not diets per say. Part of the bigger issue though is the control that work has over my life and how it impacts so much of my time. My base goal is to find better work/life balance so that I can work on my health and fitness. I would also like to do some purging and organizing. I got 2 rooms done this year and would like to just finish my bedroom, kitchen, craft room and a hall closet and bedroom closet. If I do one a season, I will be in good shape to finish these goals stress free.

That's it for me, pretty simple and attainable. I think we all feel enough pressure and judgement these days. I don't want to add anymore on my shoulders.

My reading resolution for 2023 is SIMPLIFY!

I'm not signing up for the Mt TBR challenges again because it's just one more thing to keep updated. I'll continue to work on reading books I own, but I can keep track of that in this group.

As for all my other goals from 2022, I'm waiting until tomorrow to run the official numbers (even though I'm pretty sure I'm done for the year), but I'm not setting any extras for 2023. Keeping track throughout the year and knowing I'm ahead on some goals but behind on others, and trying to choose titles strategically... it's just too much.

Maybe in 2024 I'll go back to setting more targeted goals one or two at a time, instead of the 9 I had this year.

For 2022 I was published twice and for the first time so that was exciting. I have another story on submission so I’m waiting to find out if I’ll be published again this year. I bumped up my reading goal to 75 because I saw I was nearly there, but I don’t make big demands of my reading goals for the yearly challenge so I’m back to 40 again for 2023. I have two longer series I’m making my big goal for 2023 because then I’ll actually get to them. I’m doing the RYABC challenge again this year because I really enjoyed it. I’m in the midst of a big career change that I need to get off the ground this year so that’s scary and exciting. Looking forward to new things this year.

In 2022 I read about the same as the last couple of years, which is a little less than the 150 goal I've been setting. So for this year I set my goal to 135, because it always makes me a little sad having to decrease it near the end.

For reading goals, I guess my main one is doing better at Mount TBR this year! The last couple of years, I haven't hit my goal in that challenge, but I have at least bought fewer books so at least my TBR pile has gone down instead of up. But it's only going down by about one a year, and it's unlikely I'll live to be 1000, so that pace needs to change lol! XD

For non-reading stuff, I don't really have specific resolutions, but just ongoing stuff I've been trying to improve. I want to lift weights more regularly so that I don't always feel like I'm starting over. I've been getting better at cleaning my apartment and I want to continue that trend. I want to be more consistent in my language study so I can see more obvious progress. That kinda stuff!

Happy New Year!

Shelby wrote: "For 2022 I was published twice and for the first time so that was exciting. I have another story on submission so I’m waiting to find out if I’ll be published again this year. I bumped up my readin..."

Wow! Congrats Shelby. Good luck to you!

Charleen wrote: "My reading resolution for 2023 is SIMPLIFY!

I'm not signing up for the Mt TBR challenges again because it's just one more thing to keep updated. I'll continue to work on reading books I own, but I..."

Simplify is a good goal. Think I am going to try to simplify in the challenges department. Happy New Year, Charleen.

Katy wrote: I read less in 2022. That was partly due to becoming a dog mum in October, which had been a dream of mine for some time, so I didn't mind sacrificing reading time. Part of it was also due to being unimpressed in general with many of the books I've been reading, particularly in the second half of the year. I've also changed my lunch time routine at work, so I don't read as much then....

Congrats on becoming a dog mom, Katy. Am a dog walker so I get to listen to a lot of audiobooks while walking.

If u r looking for something to read, I LOVED Cocaine Blues. Is written by an Austrailian and takes place there. Happy New Year,

I read a few books less than I wanted to in 2022 but I am not stressing about that. My goal is to read 100 books this year, which is a modest goal, but I also have a few big things planned this year that will cut into my reading time.

Happy "April Fool's"
Of interest:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23...

Cobwebby Eldritch Reading Reindeer wrote: "Happy "April Fool's"
Of interest:
https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/30/23..."

Oh shoot, I have a couple of e-books and audiobooks only on the Overdrive app, guess I need to get to them this month! Thanks Mallory! I knew they were no longer supporting it but I didn't know it would be going away completely.

Time to review your 2023 bookish resolutions! Did you achieve what you wanted to achieve?

I achieved the reading goals I set, so there’s that. Other ones not so much.

Carol wrote: "I think I am going to try to read at least 250 books (again) for my Bookish New Years Resolution. Of those, I want to read at least 12 of my own and also at least 12 non-fiction. I know, the last t..."

Am pretty happy with how 2023 went for me, reading-wise. I read a total of 367 books with Wham! George & Me by Andrew Ridgeley being the last book finished in 2023. Very proud of that. Read 19 of my own books and 39 non-fiction. Met and exceeded all goals.

I didn't reach my goal of 75, but I'm still content with the 61 I did get done.

I did okay with 2023 goals.

I hit 100 books - but it was a race to the finish and I had to do a weekend of reading short books and novellas to get there. I'm keeping my goal the same for 2024. I have an additional goal of being more selective of what I read this coming year.

On a personal level, my work life balance was overall better, but there were periods where I reverted back to old habits like work at night, weekends, 12 hour days etc. I will be focusing on this goal again in 2024.

I did manage to lose another 9 pounds this year, but over the last month I gained some of that back. So I'm keeping my goal of losing about 30 pounds in 2024. I did a lot more activity in 2023 so that was good. I also started focusing on sleep for the last 6 months.