2018 Goal #1 – Read More Books

2018 Goal #2 – Spend Less Money

 

Read more books and spend less money. At first glance, those two goals aren’t really compatible, especially given that I’m a book buyer more than a library visitor. Confession Time: I have a LOT of unread books. AND one of my goals this year is to become a more intentional, committed reader of a variety of genres. In order to hold myself to some accountability, I even signed up for the GoodReads challenge, setting a goal of 52 books this year. Buuuuuttt, another goal is to quit slow down  spending money on books that aren’t being read, just taking up shelf space and calling my name. They were all so seductive in the store, but now they sit like spurned lovers glaring at me as I lie in bed with my book of choice.

 

More Books = The Unread Shelf Project 2018

 

While trying to reconcile the two intentions, I came across the #theunreadshelfproject2018 on Instagram, and felt this would satisfy my need to set and conquer some goals (and to spread the bookshelf love within my home). Easily I could tell that this would be a maneagable approach for me, since there were no guidelines or specifics, other than books owned and languishing on shelves. Other reading challenges I researched were too specific. I mean, what if I don’t currently own a book by an over 60 LGBT writer with a main character under the age of 15 and set in the 1800’s? I’d have to buy that book, totally knocking out goal 2 above.

With the lack of restrictions posed by the unread shelf challenge,  I could address goals 1 and 2 (read more books and spend less money) with minimum conflict. So, I began by pulling as many unread books as I could find off my shelves (stored in several rooms so this became a mini house disaster) and stacking them in one central locale. The stack grew to a daunting height and left me wondering how to approach this Jenga tower of books with a bit more of a plan than the random plucking of the next book/block that seemed removable with the least disruption. Did I really want to leave the next 12 months of reading to chance, even if chance was now looking like the NYC skyline in my bedroom?

 

 

My Own Book(s) of the Month Club

 

 

Lightbulb moment, I decided to group the books by month, with the aim of completing one book per week to meet the GoodReads goal I had set. For me that would be moving at a pretty steady clip, but hopefully not too ambitious. (I’m still smarting from the 3 months it took for me to complete Your Face Tomorrow. In my defense it was a long book, and very deep reading. I guess I had kinda “let myself go” in the deep dive reading department. It was like being back in the gym after a year long oreos and Netflix binge.)

Nevertheless, my plan was to divide the books out by month into small stacks, so they would at least resemble low rise apartment buildings  instead of that skyscraper tower. And so the sorting began.  I had several considerations for grouping; for example, size of books (well I didn’t want all the 500 pagers to show up in the same month, come on!), subject, title, and setting/theme. So, I sorted, listed, scratched a few off, rearranged. Eventually I came up with a list of books by month that I may just be able to conquer! However, the list isn’t overly cohesive and precise, and illustrates some randomness and free thinking in purchasing on my part. Mostly fiction is included, with several nonfiction thrown in for good measure, but beyond that, we will have to see about genre and diversity of characters, authors, setting, etc. I can’t judge by the covers!

 

 

Goal Setting

 

 

And of course, there is room to wiggle. I included a total of 48 by month, but my total for the #unreadshelfproject2018  and the GoodReads challenge is 52.  That leaves some open spots, which I’ll fill along the way as the year progresses. Let me just say, substitutions can and will be made as necessary! My list, my rules!  And seriously,  not buying any books for a whole year? Like that’s going to happen, so there will most likely be some additions or substitutions to the list. In fact, I’ve already experienced a few weak moments so I guess the score right now is Goal #1 – 1, Goal #2 – 0. 

Without further ado, here is the January list, with purchase link to Amazon if you feel  inspired to read one of these. Annotations/review will be provided as I complete each.

 

 

January

 

 

 

1. , by Sonny Brewer
2. , by B.A. Shapiro
3. , by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
4. , by Robin Benway