100+ Books I want to read in 2016

Year End Wrap Up & Reflection | 2015

Another reading year has come and gone! It is crazy to think that another year and 98 books have passed by. I read some pretty fantastic books this year and have had some amazing bookish experiences.

I met some amazing authors, went to BookCon, visited some New York book shops. I met Scott Westerfeld one of my ALL TIME favorite authors and got him to sign my 10 year old copy of Uglies. I got to meet Maggie Stiefvater, Sarah J. Maas, and Rainbow Rowell. I got to go to The Strand to walk among the stacks and Books of Wonder for an event. I got to meet Adam Silvera on a whim and he holds the current record for best signature in a book for all the fun doodles he did in my copy. I had a fantastic year doing so many bookish things and meeting so many wonderfully bookish people.

I got two new bookshelves to hold all of my new books that I have purchased and collected! I've gone a bit book crazy and have bought a lot of books that are sitting on my TBR pile but I have also gone through and donated a lot of books to my local Little Free Library so that many more people can enjoy the books that I have enjoyed or come to love books that I just lost interest in.

The Books of 2015

Stats:

• books read: 98
• number of pages: 29.326
• number of graphic novels: 16
• number of novellas/short stories: 12
• number of novels: 70
• Publication years: 1967-2015

Top 15 of 2015:

2016 Reading Challenges/Goals

Each year I do some kind of reading challenge to make me think about the books I want to read in the up coming year. I do not keep a TBR shelf separate from my read shelves they all intermingle on my three bookshelves and because of this it is sometimes necessary for me to make a list of books that I want to read/need to read because I haven't read them yet.

This year's challenges that I have signed up for are:

The A-Z reading challenge hosted by the Young Adult Book Club
The Around the Year in 52 Books Challenge - my plans can be found here.


Some of my personal reading goals are:

• read at least 5 classics
• read 5 debut author books
• read 2 books by local authors 
• read at least 1 kindle book a month
• listen to at least 1 audio book a month
• finish 5 different series (2 or more books)
• Meet my goodreads challenge of 52 books read

Another one of my personal goals is to cut back on my book buying. I am currently subscribed to Uppercase box and Owlcrate which will give me my monthly fix of new releases so the only other books I really need to purchase is any books in a series I am currently keeping up on. I am working on coming up with a system for book buying and making sure that I am not buying more books than I will ever actually read.

Now, though I have all of these lofty reading goals and challenges that I would love to complete I also need to remember to not to stress about these goals. If I don't meet them, oh well. I want a challenge but I also can't forfeit my career or my health just to meet these goals. I still want reading to be fun and enjoyable for me and a way for me to relieve stress after a long day at work. 

I am really excited to get started on these challenges and I think that these challenges will help me read more diversely as well as help me cut down my TBR pile.

I would love to hear about what challenges or goals you have set for yourself and we can cheer each other on throughout the year!

Bookish Things: Unread Books (#1)

Introduction

In an attempt to make this blog more than just reviews I am starting a new segment called "Bookish Things" where I talk about different bookish topics and my take on them. The topics I have planned so far are: My Reading Journey, eBooks vs. Hard Copies, Book Covers, and Annotations. I am hoping that this can become a regular addition to my other posts and that my viewers will suggest new topics for me to write about!

Bookish Things: Unread Books

I thought this would be an interesting topic because if you don't know I own over 700 books (rough count). Of those 700 I may have read about 300 books. Yes, I currently have more unread books than read books on my shelf (obviously this only accounts for books that I own, I have read more than 300 books in my 24 years).

Some people may be outraged by this, "Why would you keep buying books if you can't read them right away?" you say? Well that is easy. Buying books for me, and book shopping in general, is therapeutic for me. I enjoy it, and the books when I eventually read them. I can not deny myself the simple (but expensive) pleasure of buying books when I want to. It's fun and I love my collection of books. I have to give mad props to the people who can buy a stack of books and read them before buying another stack of books. That takes some serious will power and I just don't have it.

Another question that has probably crossed your mind is "Do you buy them all new?" No, I do receive some books as gifts but I buy most of my books from library sales, bargain outlets, or used book stores. When I do buy new books I try to purchase from independent book shops in my community rather than supporting big chains. Sometimes supporting Amazon, Book Depository, or Barnes and Noble is inevitable depending on the book I am looking for.

Finally I am sure some people are thinking "how do you plan to read all of these books?" I don't know. I just pick a book that I want to read at the moment and go with it! Sometimes it may be a reread but for the most part I focus on books that are unread. I hope I can read all of the books that I currently own as soon as I can but I can't really guarantee that. It all depends on my tastes and moods at the time. Will I get rid of books that I don't have interest in anymore? Most likely. I don't want to hold onto a book that someone else could be enjoying but as long as it still holds my interest then it will be read eventually.

I buy books to support the author. If there is an author I love I will purchase all the books I can by them even if I can't read them right away.

I do have some plans to curb my purchasing of books to only books I am extremely excited about and the subscription books I get from Owl Crate and The Book Drop. Obviously I am not going to stop buying books or ban myself from them for an extended amount of time (some girls have shoe shopping, my form of retail therapy is book shopping) because I seriously enjoy getting books. I am not ashamed of my TBR pile, it is a glorious mountain!

How do you feel about your unread books? Share in the comments below.