Hello, my bookish friends, and Happy 2023! Hard to believe we’re already a week into a new year. I hope your reading is off to a great start!
Have you made any plans for your reading life in the coming year? I’ve given this some thought. Although, unlike in 2022, I’m not going to track specific books in this post, this Book Girl does have some goals for 2023. Here are my top three:
Goodreads Challenges
As always, I’m going to track my reading on my Goodreads account, and I’m planning to do an overall reading challenge plus some more specific challenges. Overall, I’m aiming for 70 books this year. I’d planned for 60 in previous years, and in 2022 my reading life finally clicked again and I blew past that goal.
In addition to the overall 2023 Reading Challenge, I’m planning some other Goodreads activity this year. I did my first team challenge last summer and enjoyed it, so I’m doing the Uno Team Challenge starting in a few weeks, and I’m planning to do Tower Teams again this summer. I’ve also set a goal of 20 total Net Galley reads this year through the Goodreads Net Galley group.
Branching Out
We all have our favorites, right? I read a ton of mysteries, and last year, I read a LOT of cozy mysteries! While mystery and thriller will still likely be my most frequent category in 2023, I’d like to branch out and make space for other genres. Like the last few years, I started the year with a non-fiction read (Brene Brown’s Braving the Wilderness), but I’d like to sprinkle in more non-fiction throughout the year.
I’m going to follow along with a couple of groups to help guide me in this. Notice I didn’t say complete more challenges… I want to use these for inspiration and ideas, not just boxes to check! I’ve joined the Goodreads group for Read with Jenna, a book club by Jenna Bush Hager of the Today Show. I’d love to read a few of these selected titles in 2023.
I’m also following along with a challenge by my Bookstagram friend Rachael at The Booklist Queen! She’s been doing a 52 prompt challenge for a few years and this is the first time I’m joining in. (You can find the full challenge here and the Goodreads discussion group here.) Again, I likely won’t make all 52 prompts, but this will definitely get me out of my comfort zone to explore some books I might not otherwise pick up.
Bookish Community
The past couple of years, I haven’t been as active as I’d like in the bookish community. (The last few years have really just been about keeping our heads above water, right?) In 2023, I’m hoping to change that trend. I’d like to:
- Write more posts here on the blog
- Become more active again on Bookstagram
- Engage with my groups more on Goodreads
The bookish community is a really fabulous one, with a lot of intelligent and interesting people… why wouldn’t I want to spend more time with you all? The key here is not to give into worrying about likes or shares, and do it for love of books and interaction. So look for me here at The Biblio Blonde, and at:
Again, I hope your reading life is off to a wonderful start this new year. Do you have any goals mapped out? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear about them!
See you soon… happy reading, friends!
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The Biblio Blonde 
Sound like a plan! Happy Bookish 2023!
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And to you, Davida!
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