Top Ten 2017 Bookish Goals

I'm linking up with The Broke and the Bookish for another Top Ten Tuesday.

For the past two years, Top Ten Tuesday has started out the year asking for our book-related goals for the year, but they didn't do that this year! I decided to do my own thing and still use this week to plan out my goals for 2017. Here are my 2016 goals and how I did with achieving them. Now, here are my goals for the new year.

1. Read fewer than 50 books from my to-read list.
Normally I'm trying to tackle more and more of my to-read list, but combining that with an ambitious goal of number-of-books for the year means I tend to skip over the books that will take me longer than usual to finish. I also pass up series and sequels in trying to knock out more of my existing list. This year I decided to cap the number of books I can read off my existing to-read list to give myself freedom to reread books (including more Agatha Christie), pick up new publications, and read series if I want to.

2. Read some books over a thousand pages.
I don't think I've tackled a thousand-pager since I read A Suitable Boy and War and Peace in 2014. Some of the ones on my to-read list I've been passing over (see #1) are The Stand, Shōgun, The Way of Kings, Bleak House, and Infinite Jest.

3. Catch up on some classics.
There are some books that keep coming up on "books everyone should read" lists that I still haven't gotten to, including The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Brothers Karamazov, The Sun Also Rises, and Stranger in a Strange Land. This will be the year to finally read them!

4. Read something my sister recommends.
I love that my little sister is now a bookworm like me. We don't have a lot of crossover in the books we read, but I like what she's recommended before and I keep throwing recommendations her way, so I want to read another favorite of hers this year.

5. Make use of my personal reading area.
After we moved into our new apartment this past year, I started thinking about how I would ideally like to use the extra space we have with our new apartment's layout. Now I have a comfy chair with an ottoman, and I got an armchair organizer this Christmas where I can keep my Kindle and set my tea on top. I have a little shelf with the Harry Potter books, and I have an Ideal Bookshelf print and this Dillard quote poster to hang above my chair. So many of my reading nowadays is in snatches on my phone and listening to audiobooks before bed; I want to try to sit down in my special chair and read at least once a week.

6. Read books on my new Kindle Voyage.
I got out of the habit of using my Kindle except for traveling because it was so buggy and unresponsive when it came to turning pages, so I would just keep reading on my phone. For my birthday I got a new Kindle Voyage, which has the same touch screen as my old Kindle but has page-turn buttons that take care of that source of frustration. I want to keep my Kindle synced up on the wi-fi so I can easily switch from my phone Kindle app to my actual Kindle once I'm home (especially since my phone battery has been terrible lately).

7. Read book club picks more than a week in advance.
I have this bad habit of not checking out book club books (or putting holds on them) right when the next meeting's choice is announced; I hate when the meeting arrives and it's been several weeks since I read the book (and I've read five others in the meantime), so my memory is fuzzy. I have to remind myself that I hate even more when my hold doesn't come through in time and I'm sweating about whether or not to buy the book and whether I'll have time to finish it before the meeting. This year I want to trust myself to write detailed reviews, and read the books well in advance.

8. Host a book club meeting in the first half of the year.
One of my book clubs meets online, and one meets at the same location every month, but my newest one rotates as a different woman hosts each month. I've been waiting until our apartment was completed to volunteer to host, but now there are only minor things left that may or may not get done anytime soon. I need to just bite the bullet and host before I'm the last one left who hasn't!

9. Comment on other book blogs more often.
I've managed to keep up with linking up (with The Broke and the Bookish and Quick Lit), but I don't always take time to visit the other blogs in the linkup, or if I do, I don't make the effort to leave comments. This year I want to make more of an effort to leave comments on other book blogs — I know how much I love getting comments here!

10. Promote the Best of the Bunch linkup more.
Since I took over hosting the Best of the Bunch, I haven't done a great job of putting it out there so more people know about it and can participate. This year I want to find more ways to get the word out about this monthly linkup. If you have any suggestions, let me know!

What are your bookish goals for 2017?

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