2023 Goals

As I mentioned, I have woken up and chosen violence. In that I somehow believe I can do everything I want this year, while also reading 200 books. Can it be done? Check in with me a year from know and we'll know if I am in fact capable of that. The best way to achieve a goal is to set clear, actionable steps, or so I've been told. Therefore, if I want to read 200 books this year I need to read about 16.5 per month. 

I have also decided that clearly this isn't a large enough challenge for me, so I must also attempt something I have never, in my life succeeded at...an actual tbr. I am a massive mood reader, have some pretty interesting ADD and therefore I can have 20 books going at once and declare I have "nothing" to read. So this should be interesting to say the least. 

Why am I torturing myself? Well for 1) having goals that are something I actually have a prayer of accomplishing is really vital to my self worth. I can't make resolutions about losing weight or eating healthy (I do anyway) but I have yet to succeed. The only "resolution" I have ever succeeded at in my life is when in 2018 I resolved to read more and watch less tv. I wasn't always even enjoying what I was watching, it was mindless watching, mindless social media scrolling and I wanted something more fulfilling. That year I set 52 books for myself, one for each week of the year and finished out at 73. I have never been prouder of myself. 

Secondly, I have amassed quite a few books in my house, we're not even going to talk about all the books on my kindle. In the past few years. Some, are me collecting books I read that I adore. A lot are collecting books I want to read, and therefore I have a large, very large amount, I'm not even going to say stack because it would topple before I was even halfway; of unread books, and I'd like to start getting through them. 

Thirdly, I'm hoping, having a stack I'm actively working towards getting through in the month will help when I am having book ADD which has been happening a lot recently. It can be overwhelming sometimes, between all the books in my house, the instant access to library e and audiobooks and the instant access to kindle unlimited books. I have a collection set up on my kindle with the KU and other kindle books I want to read this month and a stack on a separate shelf of the physical books I want to read and I'm hoping this helps. 

I've chosen 17 books for the month of January, including kindle and audiobooks. I feel like audiobooks is a missed opportunity for me when it comes to keeping up with a TBR. I don't buy audiobooks as a rule, so I'm usually listening to whatever is available on the library app currently. However Kindle Unlimited also has a few that have audio included so I've been able to benchmark a few commute reads for this month. 

Without further ado, here is the list I've currated for January, may the odds be ever in my favor:


1. "Soul of the Deep" by Natasha Bowen, this is the sequel to "Skin of the Deep". I finally picked up a copy when I was doing a little after Christmas book shopping and have been aching to read it since I finished "Skin of the Deep" back in August. 

2. "the Rain Watcher" by Tatiana De Rosnay. This book has been on my "want to read" list for about 4 years? I snagged a copy on one of my used book store adventures aobut a year ago and I am highly annoyed with myself that now that I finally have the opportunity to read it (the library didn't have a copy when I put it on my list) I have not managed to read it yet. 

3. "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austin. Would you be shocked if I said I've never read this book? My Mom was, since I was homeschooled during middle school and accurately answered my essay questions on the book based off the movie with Kierra Knightly that had just come out and my sister had made me watch no less than 15 times. I've decided it's time, I'm finally ready, so this will be my "Classic" for the month. 

4. "Drunk on Love" by Jasmine Guillory. Guillory is one of my all-time favorite authors. I love the women she writes, They're relatable, not the thinnest girls and have an unapologetic love of food. In short they are perfect. Her books are my favorite and this is her newest one, I can't wait to dive in. 

5. "Kingdom of the Cursed" by Kerri Maniscalco. I read "Kingdom of the wicked" in November and it was incredible. In a similarly incredible fashion my amazing husband picked up a copy of this and the third book in the trilogy for me for Christmas.

6. "Kingdom of the Feared" by Kerri Maniscalco. Again, I can't wait to absolutely devour the rest of this series, it's so good!

7. "The City of Beasts" by Isabel Allende. Another favorite author, I stumbled across a literal treasure trove of her books at my favorite used bookstore yesterday; though her books can be very heavy reading so I'm spacing them out, maybe one a month like I'm doing with the "classics". 

8. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. I've wanted to read this book for years, and/or watch the movie. It sounds like a beautiful and heartbreaking story, definitely saving it for later in the month and will have a box of tissues on deck for the inevitable tsunami of tears. 

9. "A Curse of Shadows and Ice" by C.A. Maura. So C.A. Maura is also known as Catharina Maura and I fell in love with her romance novels this past year. I've read every single one on Kindle Unlimited. I haven't tried her fantasy but as I also love fantasy I'm super excited to give this one a go. 

10. "The Keeper of Happy Endings" by Barbara Davis. I honestly don't remember if I liked the synopsis or Mama told me I should read this one. Either way it's been sitting in my KU loans for months and it's an audiobook so might as well finally get through it. 

11. "The Bookstore Sisters"  by Alice Hoffman. I feel like this is one of those moments where facebook ads got me haha; also it's about sisters and bookstores, so obviously. 

12. "Den of Vipers" by K.A. Knight. I have to have at least one intentionally spicy book for the month...also I've been meaning to check this one out for myself, see what the hype is about, form my own opinion on it. Also the cover is sick. 

13. "A Forest of Vanity and Valour" by A.P. Beswick. This was definitely a Facebook ads got me, more like a Facebook video from the author fell across my page and instantly I wanted to read this series. This one is a retelling of Robin Hood, but the rest of the series continues with other fairytale retellings. Which is my kryptonite. I'm about 10% through this book already and am already really enjoying it. 

14. "The Last Rose of Shanghai" by Weina Dai Randel. Mama says this book is amazing, I started it months ago, but with bad mental health I often have to set heavy books aside in favor of lighthearted ones to keep my mental health from plummeting....it's annoying. This book follows a Chinese entrepreneur and a Jewish refugee in Shanghai during WWII. I am fascinated by this timeframe in history and have never read a perspective set in China so it was an instant "yes please". I'm really looking forward to diving back into it. 

15. "Oopsie Daisy" by Iris Morland. One of those, I'm crabby and have no money so I go through the currently free Kindle books and support random authors by downloading them. The cover is super cute, do I remember what it's about? Absolutely not, but I am here for it...whatever it is. 

16 & 17 "Prodigy"  and "Champion" by Marie Lu. The second and third book in the "Legend" trilogy. A couple years ago when I was massively researching different Bipoc groups and choosing books by them I wanted to read to diversify and expand my reading; I added this series to my list. On a fateful trip to the used bookstore I found the entire tribology. I've only read the first one so far, but it made me want to finish the trilogy even more. Unfortunately I got distracted so this month's "finish up a series you're halfway through" will this one. 



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