My 2018 Goals

Some years I make elaborate goals. This year is not on of those years. 

1. I want to read. Yes, part of me wants to read more than I did this year, but I don't want to set an arbitrary number. This year, I'd rather focus on enjoying what I read. When I do, I find so much more time to read. I will likely always be a reader more drawn to new releases than classics, but each year, there are books I don't find time for. I want to read some of those books on my priority TBR.

2. I want to read all 60 Book of the Month selections (5 are announced each month.) Last year, Book of the Month was the most reliable source of good book recommendations. I picked up (and loved) books I otherwise wouldn't have. I read books I didn't know about. Prize lists used to function this way, but I realized Book of the Month is more geared to the types of books I most enjoy. It's predominantly novels, with a sprinkling of nonfiction and an occasional short story collection. It's predominantly books written by women. Most months include one or two mysteries or thrillers. In 2017, its picks aligned quite nicely with my reading taste and habits.

3. I seem to make this goal every year, but it's a good one: I want to be better about reading The New Yorker. When I do read it, I always enjoy it. And it's expensive, so I should get my money's worth.

4. I want to read books by these authors: Hanya Yanagihara, Sarah Waters, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Tana French, and Elena Ferrante. 

5. I want to finish the backlists of these authors whose books I've read most of and loved: Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ann Patchett, J. Courtney Sullivan, Jennifer Close, Hannah Pittard, Meg Wolitzer, Ellen Feldman, and Roxane Gay.

6. I think I've abandoned my quest to read all the titles ever longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction (and all of its names over time), but I do still want to read all the winners. I have eight left, plus the one that will be named this year.

7. I want to acknowledge that these goals, made at the beginning of the year, may not be the goals I want later in the year. I most want to read what I most feel like reading at any given time.

8. I want to write about what I'm reading here. I may write reviews. I may write journals. I may write only a few sentences, but I love this space as an archive of my reading I can return to, and I want to restart that habit this year.

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