I’m doing the most | 2024 Reading Goals and Challenges
It’s 2024, and I’m doing the most. My word of the year is Endeavor, and with that, I aspire to do so many things. At the top of the list (or perhaps, not quite at the top, but a guarantee) is my TBR. I told myself I’d only do one reading challenge in addition to my yearly number goal, but after a vote on insta and trying to force my indecisive self to choose, I ultimately decided to attempt four more challenges. Some are easier than others, but I think I can complete them all!
Read 104 Books
For the past two years, I have set my reading goal higher than before. For the past two years, I have also *just* missed my goal. Reading 104 books is a formidable task. There are so many distractions fighting for our attention, and they even have the power to pull us away from the things we enjoy. I like reading, and I like making time for reading, so this goal is pushing me just a little bit more to opt for reading over distractions.
I noticed last year that my reading dropped off tremendously in the last quarter of the year. For many people, that’s often where things get busy; the holiday season often brings more responsibilities, and we’re trying to tie up the loose ends of the year. With all that’s going on, my Q4 slump makes sense. I’m glad that I’m going into this year more aware of that fact because I can be prepared to fight it. I know the slump might come, so now I’m thinking ahead on how I can prevent it. How can I keep myself motivated when the motivation doesn’t seem to want to come? This year I plan to get some answers.
If you want to follow along with this goal (and some of my others!), add me on Storygraph or Goodreads.
The Alphabet Soup Reading Challenge hosted by Escape with Dollycas
This is a new to me challenge that I’m excited to try and complete. I think it’s one I will naturally complete the majority of simply due to the number of books I plan on reading. Still, I’m curious to see if the books I read tend to bunch up in one area of the alphabet or if they really do end up being spread out.
I stumbled upon this challenge during a google search, but you can find the website here.
Bookriot’s Read Harder Challenge
2023 introduced me to the Read Harder challenge, and it was NO JOKE! I didn’t complete the challenge (not even close), but I really liked the community and all the books it introduced me to! I was a bit on the fence about trying this one again, partially because some of the prompts didn’t jump out to me, and partially because I did so poorly last time. In the end, I decided I want to try at least one more year.
Books and the City’s #RespectRomFic Challenge
Love is always in the air for me because I LOVE me some romance. I thought perhaps this was the LAST challenge I should be doing because, let’s face it, I don’t really need help reading romance novels. In the end, I decided this one would be really fun for me. Like the alphabet challenge, I think a lot of these would be hit over the course of my regular reading, so it will be a nice resouce to refer to when I’m stuck on what to read next.
The Southern Literature Challenge
When I return to the United States, my plan is to move to Chicago. After living in the South most of my life (no, Texas isn’t truly the South), wanting to move to Chicago feels like I’m abandoning the South. Still, I love where I grew up and want to dive more into books by Southern folk. This particular challenge has levels, so it can be as easy or as difficult as I make it. As such, I am entering at Level 1, “C’mon in the house”. For this level, I only need to read 1-2 books. I can do that.
The NetGalley/Edelweiss Challenge hosted by Socrates’ Book Reviews
I first learned about NetGalley in 2022. Back then, I remember being so excited and nervous to start my journey as a reviewer. In 2023, I wasn’t as active with my ARCs, despite joining this same challenge earlier in the year. As a separate reading goal, I said I wanted to read 10 ARCs. That fits in perfectly with this challenge that, like the Southern Literature challenge, also has levels. I’m going for Bronze which is read (and review) 10 books.
Other Book Goals
I’m not sure how I went from only wanting to attempt one challenge to having five, but I’m excited to see how they all pan out. While this is about reading challenges, I want to share some of my other book goals. Some of them are sort of challenges in themselves, so it works. 😉
Read a different genre each month
The reason I started attempting reading challenges last year was because I noticed a dearth in my reading. As I increased the amount of books I read, I didn’t increase the breadth. I was (and still am) reading a LOT of romance. Romance novels make up probably 90% of my books read. While I’m all for reading what you want and not reading what you don’t, I felt like I wasn’t giving myself a chance to find other books I might really enjoy. Coupled with the fact that I feel my attention span suffering a bit in the current state of society, (romance novels tend to give me quick dopamine hits), I wanted to try to remedy this lack.
Last year, I attempted OxFam’s Read Harder Challenge which included lots of different genres. It helped me in the first third of the year while I was sticking with it, but as I fell off the challenge, I also kind of fell of reading different genres. Hopefully with this goal, I can read twelve new genres over the course of the year. I won’t be super strict with the fact that the book needs to be read within a certain month. Instead, I want to use the months as a guideline, so I’m not ignoring other genres the majority of the year.
In case you’re interested, here are some of the genres I’ve sourced: **Mystery**, **Fantasy**, **Action and Adventure**, **Graphic Novel**, **Historical Fiction** , **Literary Fiction**, **Short Story**, **Suspence/Thriller**, **Essays**, **Poetry**, **Self Help**, **Magical Realism**, **Science Fiction**
Read three classics
Last year, I made my goal to read a classic every other month. I read a whopping ZERO. I decided to make things a bit easier on myself and read three. My plan so far is to reread Pride and Prejudice, and I want to read another romance classic. This will most likely North and South. During NaNo last year (another challenge I failed miserably), I wanted to adapt a classic, and I eventually landed on that novel. November was busy, and I didn’t even crack it open. Perhaps 2024 is our year. Another classic at the top of my list is Little Women. It was one of my mom’s favorite books growing up, and after loving Greta Gerwig’s movie adaptation, I’ve been wanting to read it even more.
Like many others, I have a stuffy view of the classics, but I feel like I will really enjoy when I actually sit down and read them.
Write reviews for every book I read
This goal is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll still explain it 😉 I want to do this because I want to work on my reviewer’s voice, and I also have fun writing reviews. They also help me to remember what I’ve read. I’ve gotten so annoyed with myself pulling up a book I know I’ve read on Storygraph, seeing I rated it highly, but not remembering why I enjoyed it so much.
I want to post my reviews here on BrianaisGoingPlaces.com, but I’m also hoping to start a reading journal to keep my books in a physical space as well.
Make an audiobook
Another goal from last year that I’m pushing to this year. I think it’d be fun! It would allow me to learn some new skills! I would read a classic! All things point to me needing to make time to do this!
If you haven’t noticed by now, a LOT is happening in my book world. There’s so many cool sounding books out there and so little time! I’m already excited about all the books I’ll be reading out of my comfort zone. Are there any books you’re looking forward to? Or any challenges you’re attempting? Let me know and we can cheer each other on!