A Catch Up

Hellooooooo internet. It's been a minute. School started and I became a ghost.

With the end of the year close at hand (Thank God, but also 2024, please be kinder), I wanted to look back at my reading year. I decided not to do a numerical goal for 2023. However, I did make one goal to give the year some fun (because, turns out, I would need it!) I decided to do the ABC challenge. I'm almost done, I just need to finish my book that starts with an X and find a book that starts with a Z. It was more difficult than I thought it would because sometimes I didn't want to read a book that started with a certain letter so it's also taken me longer than I thought it would. Although, I will say that with intentionality came quality in my reads. A lot of these books were 4 or 5 stars for me.

Ya'll, I also deleted all of my TBR on StoryGraph. That is the main reading tracker that I use. I had gotten up to around 1300 books in my TBR and much like when your hair gets too long, it felt like time to cut it all off.

One of my favorite reading podcasts (besides Check Your Shelf) is What Should I Read Next. The host, Anne, asked for questions for a "Book Therapy" episode and she used my question. I asked if I should let me TBR go and how I would keep from getting to that point again.

Anne told me to go ahead and delete the TBR. She told me that when I felt the need to add a book to my TBR to ask myself four questions 1) What am I reading? 2) Why am I reading it? 3)What am I hoping to get out of it? 4)Is that likely to happen?

So, I also started using the Bookmory reading log app. It gives you the ability to take notes on the books you plug in. So when I feel like I want to add a book to my TBR, I write a note and tell myself why I want to read it and who I got the recommendation from. I have only added a few books since deleting everything and some I have immediately turned around and read.

Not making a numerical goal for this year really didn't set me back. I've almost read 100 books. So I might not do any goal next year. We'll see!

What were your reading goals and are you close to achieving them?

Currently reading: Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano and X: a Novel by Kekla Magoon

My name is Laura. I am a librarian and review books on The Alabama Take. You can follow me at bamareads on Instagram where I also talk about books. I really like talking about books.  It’s nice to be here. :)