It’s the year 2023. During the month of August, I realize I’m only halfway through my reading goal for the year. With only four months to read 25 books, I’ll need perseverance, determination, and utter commitment to reach my goal of 52 books for the year.
I made it to 28.
In my defense, around October of last year I discovered crochet. Obviously I couldn’t crochet and read at the same time, so I turned into a documentary fiend for several months. Then, I realized audiobooks exist, and I felt a bit silly.
The other reason I think I struggled with reading so much last year is that I often suffered from decision paralysis. I am in the extremely fortunate position of owning too many books. I buy them on my Kindle when they’re $2.99 or whatever, and now I have well over a hundred unread books to choose from. It’s wonderfully economical, but it also creates difficulty when it comes time to actually choose a book to read.
What am I in the mood for? Do I want to read a longer book or a shorter book? Nonfiction? Fiction? Poetry? Fantasy? Sci-Fi? Memoir? I have an abundance of all, which makes it hard to choose any.
This year, to combat my first-world problem, I’ve decided to make some reading goals (and a reading list) to help me narrow down my options.
One thing I want to focus on this year is adding some variety to my reading. I want to read a few more nonfiction books, memoirs, and poetry collections than I read last year (or in previous years). Another goal of mine is to rely less on Goodreads scores and just read novels that sound interesting to me. If they’re really that bad, I can always put them down. My list is comprised of books I already own, so it’s not like I’m wasting any money here.
After reviewing my already-purchased Kindle and Audible books, I’ve made a list of 52 books to read this year. Here, I’m organizing them by genre to make them easier to peruse. This will also be convenient when I come back to this list later to choose a new book!
My comprehensive reading list:
Nonfiction Novels:
- Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann
- A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
- On the Trail of the Serpent by Julie Clarke and Richard Neville
- Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Poetry Collections:
- Bright Dead Things by Ada Limon
- Devotions by Mary Oliver
- The Poetry of Emily Dickenson
- The Complete Poems of Edgar Allen Poe
Memoirs:
- Lucky Man by Michael J. Fox
- All About Me! by Mel Brooks
“Classic” Novels:
- East of Eden by John Steinbeck
- Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Complete Fantasy Series:
- The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee
- The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin
- Earthseed by Octavia E. Butler
Horror Novels:
- The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
- They Thirst by Robert R. McCammon
- Necroscope by Brian Lumley
- American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
- Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
Standalone Fantasy Novels:
- She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
- Johnathon Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke
- Cursed: An Anthology by Neil Gaiman & Co.
- Child Thief by Gerald Brom
- The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec
- The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
- The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Standalone Science-Ficton:
- House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds
Adult Fiction:
- Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
- Slumdog Millionaire by Vikus Swarup
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
- The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
- Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews
- The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
- Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
- The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis
- The Shadow Box by Luanne Rice
YA Fiction:
- For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten
- The Atlas Six by Olivia Blake
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
Series Starters:
- The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
- The Priory of the Orange Tree Samantha Shannon
- Storm Glass by Jeff Wheeler
- The Herbarium by Pamela Chartrand
- Paladin’s Grace by T. Kingfisher
- Wool by Hugh Howey
- The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
- Dragon Mage by M. L. Spencer
- The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
- The Mask of Mirrors by M. A. Carrick
- Master of Sorrows by Justin Call
All books accounted for, this may be more than 52. However, I think it’s a good idea to have some leeway in case there’s a book I DNF or decide I’m ultimately not interested in reading. I’m very excited for my 2024 reading journey, and listing out all this books has helped me feel better motivated to actually read them this year.
Maybe there are some books on this list that you haven’t heard of or that intrigue you, and in that case you can add them to your list too and be that much closer to completing your reading goals!
Happy New Year!
The Lit Wiz