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Here are FYA HQ, we're all ready to show 2016 to the door--and with that comes the opportunity to make more reading resolutions! Organizing your TBR pile is practically a metaphor for getting your life on track, right? We hope so, because these are the sort of resolutions we aim to keep. Read on to see our Book Goals for 2017, and tell us yours in the comments!
Posh
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I utterly failed this year at my resolution to take myself out on a monthly reading date, so I’m doubling down on that goal. 2017 Posh, treat yo’ self!
Chalk this up to the need for escapism (thanks, 2016) but I’ve been hankering to try a romance novel. I’ve read a few, but that was back in high school, so I’m way overdue for some heaving bosoms, particularly now that I can get great recommendations from friends and the internet (the latter of which didn’t really exist back then. YEAH I’M OLD.)
Mandy W
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My resolutions from last year are pretty much constant #goals, so the only amendment I’ll make is to be pickier with my review books. My 2017 is shaping up to be a busy year, so out of fairness to authors and publicists for reviewing books as close to their release dates as possible, as well as fellow FYA reviewers who might be eyeing the same books, I really have to crack down on what makes it onto my TBR. (To Be Reviewed, that is. To Be Read will forever remain a lost cause.)
Mandy C
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I’m sticking with my resolutions from last year, because I think they’re important (and I might not have exactly met them in 2016 …)
1. Read more diverse/inclusive books.
2. Read the occasional "adult" and more nonfiction books.
3. Read the FYA Book Club picks that I haven’t read.
I’d also like to add a fourth, FYA-specific goal:
4. Read one book each month that’s been on my to-review TBR list for more than a few months. I have an embarrassing backlog of books that I accepted for possible review and just haven’t gotten around to. There are so many books that pique my interest, and more are released seemingly every day, but older books deserve love, too!
Jennie
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I met my reading resolutions for 2016--except for the one where I promised to read outside more. (When will I learn that I am irrevocably indoorsy?)
This year, in addition to my Goodreads challenge (the best way to motivate me to plow through my TBR pile) and reading diversely, I’m:
1. Borrowing Posh’s resolution to take myself out on reading dates, especially for research. There’s nothing like history books, a beer, and sitting by yourself at your favorite bookish bar to Get Shit Done.
2. Making it a point to read outside YA, too. 30% of my books this year were non-YA or children’s books; I’m aiming for 33-40% in 2017.
3. Not feeling obligated to finish any book I’m not particularly into, by, say, a third of the way through. I hate not-finishing, but life is short and my TBR pile is huge.
Rosemary
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My resolution is actually to not make so many resolutions. In 2016, my Goodreads Challenge number felt like a constant weight hanging over me - I felt like I was rushing through books just to meet some arbitrary goal I set for myself. So no numbers-based challenges for me this year. Reading is fun, not homework!
The only change I plan to make is to start listening to more audiobooks while I work or work out. Audiobooks are actually challenging for me (my mind wanders!) so this will be a lesson in listening, and a way to “read” more nonfiction without it taking up my precious YA reading hours.
Lacey
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One of my Christmas presents from my husband this year was a subscription to Audible (yay!). I get to listen to one book each month, in addition to whatever audiobooks I can get through the library. So with the Audible books, I’m going to try my hand at some nonfiction--stuff like Michael Lewis’ new book.
Also, Posh’s ongoing resolution to take herself out on book dates sounds VERY appealing. I recently discovered a book bar just a few streets down from my house. It’s called … BookBar! Unoriginal, but succinct. They’ve got books to read, books to buy; and they serve sweet and savory snacks, beer and wine. How cool is that?! Maybe if I go there once a month and order the Vinho Verde every time, they’ll remember my order and my name and, yep, it’ll be like Cheers.
Stephanie
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There’s always a bunch of lists floating around this time of year to tell you what to read for the next twelve months, but I don’t really subscribe to that school of thought. I’m very much a mood reader, so it’s tough for me to set parameters on my choices--plus I feel like defying authority as soon as I’m hemmed in by rules, even ones I give myself (perhaps especially the ones I give myself). So I think of these as general guidelines rather than resolutions:
1. To read around 80 books a year. This seems to be my comfortable average, where I give myself those weeks off where I feel like reading nothing, or reading fan fiction (which I can’t count as book-reading, no matter how much I’d like to for my Goodreads count), and not feel like I’m “behind”.
2. To read more diversely, whether by author or plot.
3. To read some super popular authors/books that I’ve been meaning to read for years (I’ve only read one book each from people like Neil Gaiman and Patrick Ness, and neither are their most acclaimed).
4. To not start potentially interesting books after 10pm on a work night, because I have a horrible tendency to throw caution to the wind and stay up until 4 a.m. to finish, and then I hate myself bitterly the next day (I cannot confirm nor deny that there has been at least one occasion where I used up a sick day because I stayed up too late reading).
What are your reading resolutions for 2017? Tell us in the comments!