Tentative reading goals

As previously mentioned, my yearly reading goal is 50 books a year. I feel this is achievable as there are 52 weeks in the year, so that allows 2 non-reading weeks for reading slumps and busy times. The vague goal is 4 books a month. This has worked for me for the last several years; the knowledge that I need to be reading books every month in order to reach my goal keeps me going, while being flexible and allowing myself grace. 

I also usually have the goal of reading themed books during the different themed months and what not (queer books for Pride month, latine books during Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month, holiday books during the winter holidays, etc.) which I do sometimes end up doing.  

I am not someone who can set a To Be Read list with specific books and stick to it. (I actually had no idea that's what people were doing when they said TBR list; for ages I thought a TBR list was just a list of books you wanted to read at some point in the future.) I am very much a mood reader, and what with the probably-ADHD-thing, just knowing that I need to read something or should read something, that is enough to take away my desire to read it entirely. See what happened last Hispanic/Latine Heritage Month. My brain's mileage varies. 

That said, I have some tentative, loose reading goals. I really, really need to tackle the amount of unread books I own. At best guess, it is 435 (if I have indeed logged allll the books I physically own in my LibraryThing). I just keep buying books from the thrift store and Barnes & Noble and the dollar store etc. and not reading them. This is also not counting all of the hundreds of ebooks I've bought from/on Nook or Kindle or Apple books or Kobo. Your girl needs help. 

For the physical books: I'm thinking if I stick to one shelf from one of my bookcases, that will help make it feel manageable. Or possibly reading one book from each shelf so I don't feel constrained? There's a "10 Oldest TBR" reading challenge on StoryGraph (I joined StoryGraph! My username is mialro; friend me) that seems feasible; you just read the 10 oldest books you bought but haven't read.  The goal is to read through the unread books and get rid of the ones I don't love. At least two shelves from two of my bookcases are double-stacked. It's a problem. 

Getting rid of books I've decided not to keep: I'm going to create a google sheet to keep track of books I no longer want and am getting rid of, their titles and authors and conditions, etc., and reach out to my friends who own a bookstore to see if they'll be interested in buying them. If they are interested in  them, great; if not, I'll sell my unwanted books at my local Book Off. I really should have done that last year with the several boxes of books I unloaded at my work's library book sale, but oh well. 

For ebooks, I think it will be more manageable to tackle my smallest ebook library: Apple books. I think I only have about 20-30 ebooks on there; once I read them, I can delete them. My Nook and Kindle libraries are in the hundreds if not thousands. Maybe I'll organize my ebook libraries by genre etc. so I can find what I want to read more easily. 

Book purchases: I really should do a book buying ban, but let's be real: I'm not going to keep to that. I am going to try to stop buying books from big box stores and stick to just thrift stores, indie bookstores, and Dollar Tree. 

In terms of my loose but specific reading goals, I hope to read at least one of each of the following each month:

• a physical unread book that is sitting on my shelves
• reread an old favorite book or series
• read something by a BIPOC author
• read an ebook from Apple
• read something thematic (seasonal, themed day/week/month etc.)
• read a library book
• something that is not prose or a usual genre I read: poetry, comics/graphic novels, essays, short stories, etc.  

This list allows for double-dipping (or more) and is broad enough that I should be able to find something that applies. 

Other bookish goals: 

--be more active on Bookstagram. I did ok (it was a tough year) but could be doing more. I have some ideas for posts and should try doing more reels. I also need to interact more with the bookstagrammers I follow and who follow me and try to make more friends there.  

--I kind of want to join a bookclub. There's a Silent Book Club in my area that I might actually start going to one of these days. God knows I need to get out of the house more and make friends.

--I want to make the bottom bookshelf of my center rainbow bookshelf be rainbow as well. This will involve removing the larger books from the bottom shelves in order to make another rainbow of book spines on that shelf. I'm confident it can be done. Otherwise, my shelves don't need to be reorganized; I'm happy with them. 

Will I be able to stick to these goals? We'll see!