Well, we made it through the first month of the new year! Reading-wise, there have been some amazing books published already this year and it looks like there are a whole lot more to come…which is good. I have a few reading goals this year that I’m hoping to stick with…we’ll see how that goes.
#1: Continue to mix in current and old books – I have a rather large amount of backlist review books as well as my own books sitting on my shelves that I really do want to read. And then there are the brand new shiny review books that keep showing up that I’m super excited for and so it becomes a very tricky balancing game. I set a goal last year to read a set number of backlist review books, not pre-determined ones, but just an overall number, and I was successful at meeting that goal, so I’m going to do that again. This year it’s 22. I’m also going to try to read 22 books off my own shelves that I already own.
#2: I’m participating in the #ReadChristie22 this year and I’m really excited about this challenge. Agatha Christie is an author I’ve been meaning to read more of and with this challenge, I’ll be reading at least one book a month. The theme this year is Agatha’s love of travel and adventure and there are prompts and suggested books for each month. The prompt for January was ‘inspired by her travels’ and the suggested book was The Man in the Brown Suit. This was a book I hadn’t read and I ended up really enjoying it. I also love that this is an author my husband loves to read, so not only can we share these books, but we can discuss them as well!
#3: Continue to participate in buddy reads/book club discussions: Not only do I co-host an online bookclub – @bookfriendsbookclub – where we usually select 3 books a month to read and chat about, but I also love joining other book chats and I want to continue doing these. There is nothing better than reading and chatting about a book. I feel this enhances the reading experience so much. And sometimes in these, we end up getting to speak with the author and that is just amazing!
Do you have any book-related goals for the year?
Reading Stats:
- Read this month: 28
- Year to date: 28
- The Redbreast — Jo Nesbo
- Somebody’s Home — Kaira Rouda (audio book)
- The Maid — Nita Prose (e-book)
- When You Are Mine — Michael Robotham
- The Tenderest of Strings — Steven Schwartz
- Wahala — Nikki May (audio book)
- Secrets of Our House — Rea Fray (audio book)
- We Know You Remember — Tove Alsterdal
- The Village — Caroline Mitchell (audio book)
- The Last to Die — Kelly Garrett
- One Step Too Far — Lisa Gardner (audio book)
- A Little Hope — Ethan Joella (audio book)
- Blindsighted — Karin Slaughter (audio book)
- The Mirror Man — Lars Kepler
- The Bear and the Nightingale — Katherine Arden (audio book)
- Notes on an Execution — Danya Kukafka (audio book)
- The Last House on the Street — Diane Chamberlain (audio book)
- The Family You Make — Jill Shalvis (audio book)
The Man in the Brown Suit — Agatha Christie- The Overnight Guest — Heather Gudenkauf (e-book)
- Her Hidden Genius — Marie Benedict
- The Appeal — Janice Hallett
- Greenwich Park — Katherine Faulkner (audio book)
- The Latecomer — Jean Hanff Korelitz
- The Magnolia Palace — Fiona Davis (audio book)
- A Train to Moscow — Elena Gorokhova (e-book)
- The Christie Affair — Nina de Gramont (audio book)
- The Fashion Orphans — Randy Susan Meyers & M.J. Rose (audio book)
Favorite Books of January:
- The Maid by Nita Prose
- Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
- The Appeal by Janice Hallett
And the stats: (I did this last year & am going to do it again.)
Books read that were published this year: 21
And of those, how many were review books: 21
Backlist review books read: 2
Books read off my own shelf (not review books): 4
Books bought/won in giveaways: 5
