Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Top Ten Resolutions for 2016.
I don’t generally go for formal resolutions, but here are a handful that I’ve come up with that relate to my reading life. Will I stick with them? Time will tell.
1) I resolve to concentrate on reading the books I already own.
2) I resolve to ease my guilty conscience by finally catching up on my NetGalley books from last year.
3) I resolve to read all the books I urgently needed in 2015, which I bought as soon as they came out and then left sitting on my shelf.
4) I resolve to resist the urge to participate in challenges or any other sort of activity that tells me what or when or how much to read.
5) I resolve to (attempt to) read series as a whole — all books in a row — rather than reading them as they come out and then forgetting all the details in between volumes.
6) I resolve to attach my backlog of graphic novels. Buffy, I’m looking at you!
7) I resolve to branch out just a wee bit when picking books from the library, sampling genres and subject matter that I might not normally read.
8) I resolved to continue my recent trend of Reading On a Whim! (Stated in bold upper case, because I want to hammer it into my own head…) My best and most enjoyable reading happens when it’s unscheduled, not glued to a calendar, but driven purely by whatever strikes my mood when I’m looking for the next book. It doesn’t always work that way, but it’s certainly the reading pattern I want to strive for.
9) And in non-bookish resolutions… I need to exercise more, explore my city more, and make more of an effort to play and relax.
That’s what I’m aiming for in 2016!
What are your bookish (and non-bookish) resolutions for 2016? Please share your links!
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Bookshelf Fantasies 
Good luck on your your plans!
I share the same thoughts with reading challenges! 🙂 I tried participating in one last year and it is quite hard to see a book that is like this and like that. 🙂
Challenges make me a bit crazy, and I think I’m too much of a mood reader to want to pick my books according to a set of guidelines. 🙂 Thanks!
I am now at that stage/mood somehow! That is why I haven’t joined Pop Sugar’s 2016 challenge!
Good luck, Lisa!
1-4 YES. But Netgalley from last year? I think I still have some 2013 titles on my list… *the shame*
Ha, I think I’ve already just crossed the earlier NetGalley books off my list as a lost cause! 🙂 I think we all shame similar shames…
I feel the same about concentrating on the books already on my shelf, and the Netgalley ones I still have (I feel so bad about them). Good luck!
Thanks! It’s funny (but not) how I (we) buy books we’re so excited for… and then don’t read them. I so guilty of this, and need to do better — either less buying or more reading immediately after purchase!
EXACTLY. I always think: I need this book now, I want to read it now. And they it takes months for me to do so. I think I’ll go for less buying first.
I love reading on a whim! Requesting ARCs stresses me out, even when I have just one at a time from Netgalley!
I agree, the NetGalley ARCs tend to stress me out, especially when they start to back up. I’ve been good about limiting my requests for a couple of months, but I think I may have just blown it this week. Six days into the new year, and I”m already breaking some resolutions!
#4 Yes! No to anxiety and stress!
Absolutely! Reading is supposed to be fun, so when that adds to my stress, I know I’m doing something wrong. 🙂
Ugh, I also feel guilty whenever I open my Kindle app and find all the NetGalley ARCs in there. I need to read them soon! Good luck with your goals for this year, Lisa 🙂
Thank you! It gets so hard to keep up, between ARCs and purchases. I need to resist adding more!
Reading the books I already own is always a resolution for me… and always one I fail at! Good luck with your goals!
Thanks! And at least we have company when we fail. 🙂 I’m definitely making more of an effort to go to my shelves rather than looking for something new… baby steps.
Lots of people seem to want to read their own books this year.
Here’s my resolutions for 2016!
Very true — it’s seems to be on every list I’ve checked out! At least we can all support each other with our goals. 🙂
Same here, I don’t normally do formal resolutions. #5 sounds like a very good idea; I definitely find that to be the case for me whenever I wait for a new installment in a series to come out and then I struggle to recall what happened in the last book, lol. I hear you on #4; there are so many fun and pretty challenges out there but I like to read at my own pace and what I want and not follow a schedule or dictum or whatever soooo…
Best of luck with your resolutions this year, Lisa! My TTT
Thanks! The series thing has been an ongoing struggle for me, especially when there’s a new book that seems to be all the rage. It’s hard to resist, but waiting a year or two for each installment just doesn’t work well for me, and lately, I have several series that I abandoned because I just lost interest in between books.
I want to read a load of the books I already own as well, and I have a bit of a backlog of graphic novels too – it’s ridiculous, they’re the shortest and quickest things to read but I always have a tonne sitting on my shelves unread. Good luck with your resolutions!
My Top Ten Goals of 2016.
Thank you! I have a few stand-alone graphic novels as well as at least one ongoing series that I’m so far behind with… and you’re right, they should be so easy to get to! One year, I just decided that I’d take a week and do nothing but graphic novels, and it was pretty fun, so I may need to do that again if I ever want to catch up. 🙂
Excellent goals! I like having some guidance for the year, even if I don’t stick to all of my resolutions — we are all works in progress! 🙂
That’s a great way to think about it — works in progress! We don’t have to be perfect, but improving at least a little is a worthy goal. 🙂
Good goals! So hard not to add more books to the to-read list! 🙂
I seem to be failing at that one, and it’s only a few days into the new year! 🙂
I definitely need to concentrate on books I already own! I’m trying to request less from NetGalley. I hope you meet these resolutions!
Thank you! I guess it’s nice to know that when it comes to certain goals, I’m in good company! 🙂
Concentrating on reading my own books will be my priority, too. Reading all the books in a series as a whole is something that I’m sure I couldn’t do, but I hope it works out for you! I’ve never actually tried to do it, I just feel like I’d need a break in between.
It’ll probably depend on the series — but I have a couple of trilogies pending, and I know I’ve enjoyed series more in the past when I’ve binge-read. I’ll see how it goes!
Great resolutions! I also want to catch up on my NetGalley reads and books I already own, there’s getting to be way too many unread books. Happy New Year and good luck with your resolutions 🙂 Thanks for stopping by my post!
Thanks so much!
These sound like great resolutions. I’m aiming to mostly read books that I already own this year as well. I’m hoping to limit my book buying to mostly just my auto-buy authors.
Limiting to auto-buy authors is a great idea! I don’t know if I could be 100% successful, but those are definitely the ones I’m most likely to want to purchase new and in hardcover.
Good luck on all your 2016 resolutions!
My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/top-ten-tuesday-38/
Thank you so much!
No problem.
I also enjoy picking what I want to read and when. It’s such a great feeling to finish a book and ask myself, “What’s next?”
Absolutely! I love the freedom of reading without obligation.