Ok so I’m not going to go too in to detail about this one since I’m going to basically have these same things on a tab for the year lol But I still did want to spotlight them at least once!
Ok so challenge wise I’m doing some well known challenges, but also some personal ones! So here we go:
PERSONAL
Read 12 books about disabilities and/or chronic illnesses -6 MG and 6 YA. Why only those two age groups? Those are what I buy for in my library system and I want to stay up to date in those areas. I only want to read 2021 and later. Why? Because language and information is constantly changing. I want to make sure I get it right.
As usual I want to do the Read Around the USA challenge like I do everywhere. And of course I will still be doing the bonus reads from around the world.
Read more genres: Last year I legit feel like I ONLY read romance and some thrillers. Not AT ALL how I usually am. I normally read ALL the things as long as there’s some romance in it. In 2023 I want to get back to that.
Well-Known
A-Z Challenge: I’ve added a number option as well. And for an extra added layer of chaos, I’m doing both author’s last name AND titles.
PopSugar Reading Challenge: I fail this every year lmao But it’s because by half the year I’m sick og going by a prompt and just want to read my own thing. But this year it seems like there’s a lot of prompts that would land a book on my TBR anyway, so I think I’ll be ok if I just naturally read. (If that made any sense at all lol)
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: I didn’t put this in my Reading Journal, but it’s because I thought it was getting too bogged down with challenges lol But I WILL put the prompts here and hope I can still hold myself accountable without seeing them every day lol
Decolonize Your Bookshelf: Another challenge that I didn’t add to my Book Journal, but I want to try.. This one didn’t make it to my journal because I didn’t know about it until I had filled in all the spaces for challenges. I will definitely try keeping up with this one tho.
The Seasonal Challenges from Jen on Twitter. I DID do a spread of this one in my reading journal since I started it this year. (#SnowinLove started December 1st) It’s for romances)
My goal this coming year is to read 200 books. I have NEVER attempted this many at once, so this is kinda scary, but if you look at my Goodreads from this year, I got REALLY close (196!) so I’m confident I can get to 200. I’ll just have to pace myself because a couple times this year I got reading Burnout.
Continue to read diversely, but I hope to read more Indigenous, Disability, and/or chronic illness rep.
Cross Posting reviews!: I say I’m going to do this every year. And I mess up every time. But this year I HAVE to because I realized yesterday I realized that ALL my links on my reviews by titles were wrong since I’ve moved to WordPress now. And Lordt I have to fix a lot of broken links lol And also because I have been reading more indies lately and I need to make sure they get their reviews as well so more people can know and hear about them!
Show my reading journal (the one with my reading stats) and my book journal (spreads about the books I’ve read) off more. I’ve been so scared to do it because I am not the most creative and my handwriting and drawing is ass, but I just think it’s dumb to do all that work and not show it off! This year I’m taking my reading journal digital so I can add pages and pictures and all the things I would never had had the gall to do if I had done it on paper. (I may end up doing both tho, because it seems less personal when I do it digitally? Idk how to explain it…….)
Help explain to people that when we say “reading diversely” we mean reading more than the cishet 2520 able-bodied, stick straight people. We do NOT mean reading different genres. Example: Although reading different genres is cool, I don’t actually care if you don’t like romance but will read ONLY fantasy instead. That is your preference. I DO care that not one of your books that you’ve read has a BIPOC main character, there’s not one BIPOC author in your monthly wrap-ups, or any book with a main character that is disabled, fat, etc.
In that same vein, I want to help people realize that the key to reading diversely is being intentional about your reading. Seeking out diverse stories is KEY! You have to do the work! (So please stop with the excuse (I don’t look at the author, I just read what sounds good. It’s like you’re implying that BIPOC authors or marginalized authors can’t be good too.)
Have you made your goals? Do you have any challenges? Let me know in the comments!