M. Suzanne Terry

I finished my reading goal for 2022 in the nick of time. Even with a slow October and November, I stayed enough ahead most of the year to finish strong with a few days to spare. Of course, I didn’t read everything I wanted to read, but that’s to be expected. One day, I’ll learn to bend the space/time continuum to my will. Until then, I guess I’m stuck with a few limitations.

This year, my monthly TBR will look a little different. I still want to focus on book clubs and my theme word for the year, but I also want to make a dent in my constantly expanding, grand list of books I’d like to read as well as the collection of books that I own.

Book Clubs

I have seven book clubs in total. I meet with three of them in person, three online, and one hybrid. I am consistent with attendance to the in-person and hybrid meetings, but not so much with the fully online ones. While I don’t promise I’ll want to add any more Zoom calls to my schedule, I would like to engage more in the online message-board-ish discussion of the subscription books each month. 

Just keeping up with the reading for all my book clubs will result in finishing at least six or seven books a month (one of the in-person meetings is centered around genre, not a specific book, so I often have already read several in the month’s category that I can discuss). 

Theme Word

As I revealed yesterday, my theme word for the year is home. I find that I am better able to focus if I choose a book to read that delves into some aspect of the word. I am still working through Welcome Home by Najwa Zebian I began in December, and that is the perfect start. Each month, I will choose one book to help me discover something new the theme has to teach me.

TBR

My TBR list is massive and out of control. I keep track of it on a spreadsheet that is divided into 21 different categories. The smallest number of books listed in any category is 7. I’m not even going to tell you what the largest number is (but the category is general fiction, so suffice it to say it’s a large, three-digit number). 

It may be overly optimistic to believe that I can make a noticeable dent in this gargantuan list, but I’m going to give it a whirl. First, I’m going to slow down when it comes to adding new things, and I’ve already started the process of reviewing the existing list and deleting books that I’m really not interested in after all. I’m going to be more selective and more realistic about whether I will actually ever choose to read a book before I will put it on the list. Second, I will commit to reading a few from the list each month this year. I may end up reading more (especially if I get hooked on one of the series I have listed or if one of my book club selections is also on the list), but planning for at least one choice from three or four different categories is a solid effort.

Collection

My personal collection? Also massive (but not out of control. Every book has a home.). I don’t have it divided into as many categories as the TBR, but I want to read a little out of all of them this year. So I’ll also be choosing three or four from my personal collection to read each month.

For those keeping track, that’s 6-7 selections for book clubs, one for my theme word, 3-4 off my TBR list, and 3-4 from my personal collection. This totals 13-16 per month, which is how I got to the goal of 180 total for the year. Challenging but not impossible. Wish me luck!

Reading Challenges

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you may notice that something is missing. As I’ve discussed before, I love reading challenges. They introduce me to books I may have never chosen on my own and have me reading out of my comfort zone on a pretty regular basis. 

I don’t typically finish them, though, because I take on too many. I want to do them ALL. And also read all my book club selections. And the next installment of one of the many series I enjoy. And also random books I find at the library that sound interesting or that are recommended by friends. I find that sometimes (i.e., most of the time) I really resonate with Modern Mrs. Darcy’s you-don’t-need-another-challenge proclamation from a few years back, and I just want to read what I like without worrying about if it’s smart or challenging or important enough to merit my favor. 

Frankly, I just need to get paid to read. I could read so much more if it were my full-time job. Or if I could figure out that bending space and time thing. Or just become immortal. But I digress.

I think I’ll still get the diverse reads that I’m committed to through my book clubs and my TBR, so I’ll still be challenging myself in that way. But this year, I am limiting myself to two outside challenges and one of my own. I know, that doesn’t sound like “limiting,” but hear me out. The first two are simple ones I’m familiar with.

I do love MMD’s summer reading challenge, so I’ll do that one when/if it comes out in May. This challenge has many books on it that have some popular buzz, so I’ve usually already read a few of them before the list is even posted. They’re usually pretty quick reads (i.e., summer/beach reads, dynamic memoirs, and feel-good fiction, as well as some gems that I can usually get at least one of my book clubs to read), so I’ll have that going for me, too.

I am also going to complete the GirlXOXO Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge. It’s only a book a month, and I have free reign to pick something I’m excited about as long as the title includes one of the month’s keywords. Limiting the number of challenges I am trying to complete will let me give this one a fighting chance. 

The third challenge is alphabetical. I want to read 26 books with authors whose names start with each letter of the alphabet and 26 books with titles that start with each letter, too. I realize that’s 52 total books, but with an overall goal of 180, this shouldn’t be a problem. Also, there are relatively few names and book titles that don’t start with a letter, so almost everything I read will fit this challenge, especially the first few months.

The catch is this – any book I read for a challenge also has to fit one of the other categories I’m focusing on this year (i.e., book club, home, TBR, or collection). The alphabet challenge in particular is broad enough to add extra motivation that will help me cull my home collection without getting stuck on Allende (although if you really must be stuck somewhere, that’s a good place to be). 

As for updates, I am going to try something new. I will have an anchor page (posting two tomorrow and the MMD one when it comes out later) for each challenge and update it as I finish books. If the book happens to get its own review post or I actually write a review of it on Goodreads, I’ll also post those links on the anchor page. 

So that’s the plan for the year. Do you have specific reading goals you want to meet? I’d love to hear them!