T10T: Bookish Resolutions for 2018

January 16, 2018

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is to pick ten bookish resolutions or goals. I have quite a few bookish resolutions for 2018 (but not quite ten), so I had fun coming up with enough for the full list!


1. Request Less ARCs

Some months in 2017, I would have as many as 15 different ARCs for that specific month’s releases, with no means of reading them all and still juggling buddy reads, group BOTM picks, etc.

So far this year, I’ve requested 6 ARCs. It sounds like a lot, but they’re well spaced out (some don’t release until August), and they’re all hot titles that I would have pre-ordered, anyways. Which leads me to my second point…

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2. No ARCs for Books I Don’t Really “Need”

In 2017, I accepted and requested titles on a whim, rather than really thinking about whether or not I wanted to read them. Because of that, I ended up with quite a few ARCs that I either didn’t enjoy, or lost any desire to read. In 2018, I’m determined to only add ARCs that I really want to read. If I’m on the fence about a book, I’ll make a note of the title and watch for reviews from bloggers I trust.

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3. No More Strict TBRs

In 2017, I got so swept up in ARCs and buddy/group reads, I stopped mood reading. It took a few months for me to realize that the lack of it was making me suffer serious burn-out. To prove how much I love mood reading, I’ve read almost a dozen books and novellas this month, and I know that’s because I’m reading what I want to read instead of what I think I should read.

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4. “Must Read” List & Beat the Backlist

While I’m not scheduling these (see previous resolution), I do have a list of 24 “must read” titles to tackle this year. All of these are 2017 releases or older, and none of these are due to “hype” – they’re all on the list because I’ve been putting them off too long, or loved ones recommended them to me.

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5. DNF More Books

I know it might sound like a silly goal, but I’ve had a habit in the past of refusing to DNF books I hated, even if I knew they were causing me to go into a reading slump. This year, I want to start valuing my own reading time a little more, and not being so hesitant to DNF a book that I know I’m not enjoying. (Within reason, of course – I always try to give any book at least the first 30%.)

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6. Buy Less Books

Speaking of knocking out that TBR, it goes hand-in-hand with my goal to purchase less books in 2018. Last year, I think – including ebooks – I accrued somewhere near 300 titles. While I certainly don’t want to wipe out my TBR, I’m willing to acknowledge that I will run out of room for shelves eventually. Plus, I need to funnel a little more cash into savings and a little less into BookOutlet’s pockets.

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7. Review Books Faster

When I first started reviewing books, I had a rule to review books as soon as I finished them. That rule gradually loosened to reviewing it within a few days, and then two weeks, and then a month… and next thing you know, I’m typing up reviews for books I finished 3-4 months prior (which sucks).

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8. Less Multi-Tasking Reading

If you’ve ever glanced at my “currently-reading” shelf, there is a good chance that you saw 6-10 books on it at once. While I love reading multiple titles at the same time, if it’s more than 4-5, it takes me forever to finish anything, and then I start feeling slumpy. I’m cutting myself some slack in January because I have multiple buddy reads going at the same time, but my goal is to limit myself to 4 titles at a time (or less).

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9. Read Pre-Orders ASAP

I have a terrible habit of pre-ordering books, and then letting them collect dust for months afterwards. The thing is, though, if I’m pre-ordering a book, it’s because I know I’m probably gonna love it – so, why wait? If I read the books sooner, not only could I buddy read it with friends, but I could post reviews while they’re still super relevant, and have people to share my feels with. Win-win-win!

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10. Finish Some F%&#ing Series!

I am the world’s worst at finishing series. I just am. The Divergent trilogy totally wrecked my fondness for series finales. It’s no secret that I hated the ending of that series, and it has made me so nervous for finishing any series I love, because I’m worried I’ll be let down like that again. I’m determined, though – 2018 WILL be the year that I overcome my fears and finish some of these series I’ve started! (Plus, I’m really tired of getting spoiled for series finales…)

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What are your 2018 bookish resolutions?


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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, reading, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

Leave a comment
    1. Finishing series is on my list. I’m giving myself at least two as my goal, but we won’t talk about the gazillion series I’m reading beyond that . . . I think your ARC goals are all great ones and I should heed them too. I wish you the best of luck with all your goals! Have a great week.

    1. YES! Less “multi-tasking reading”! That sounds like a great goal. I’m already a TURTLE reader (like it’s not good), but I think I’m even worse when I’m making the attempt to read more than one book at a time. 🙂
      Happy 2018 – and best of luck with your goals!!

      1. Thank you! I definitely feel like I read so much slower when I read too many things at once! Of course, I say that while I’m reading 4 books and TRYING to resist adding a 5th… why am I like this?! Lol
        Happy reading! <3

    1. I always try and do a bullet list within a day of finishing a books so I can have my immediate thoughts down, and I’ll usually write my review within 3 days. The bullet lists helps me make sure I have everything I want to talk about down, but giving myself some leeway lets me fully form my thoughts and not just an immediate gush reaction.

    1. I totally want to do better on the timeliness of my reviews, too. If I delay, even by a day, I am much less likely to write the review. I started one today and got no where but I know I will finish it because I started. That is my mantra: START

    1. Apart from the requesting less ARC’s and buying less books, I have total faith in you, girl! You can do it! [Also, I’m willing to force you into Sequel September so you have a whole month of hating series with a passion, yet having to finish them anyway? :D]

      1. LMAO, I don’t have much faith in me for those two items, either. BUT the rest, I think I can hopefully swing! Thank you! Oh my god… that’s a thing? Okay I’m actually SO THERE. DO NOT LET ME GET OUT OF THIS!

        1. I think the others should be manageable indeed!
          It’s my thing I started in September and I’m doing it again this year. Monthly challenges all the way, girl! I’ll make sure to throw it at you in time, haha.

          1. Why do I not remember this?! I KNOW you must have told me about it, but for some reason, my mind is blocking out any monthly challenges pre-October. Oh! Wait! Was #TheReadingQuest during part of September? If so, that might be why I don’t remember. #TRQ melted my brain into mush.

            1. I have nooo clue but it could be. I was on road trip in September so I pretty much ignored all the readathons and reading challenges going on at that point, haha.

    1. Some great goals! Like you know, I’m totally with you on the reading pre-orders quicker. I think your arc goals are great and I hope you succeed with them. I also need to buy less books and am going to the library for that. And yet, I have books in my online shopping cart?

      1. Thank you! Haha, I feel you – I’m supposed to be on a book ban, but I bought a book today (in my defense, I received an ARC of its sequel! I HAD TO!), and I have $50 of books in my BookOutlet cart.

    1. Great goals! Good luck 🙂
      One of the reasons why I’ve never done a reading challenge is because i felt like they would be too restrictive. Like, what if i don’t feel like reading a book with an animal in the title? But I have the whole year to get through it, and I’m only doing one challenge, so i guess i can bend the rules to my liking… 😀
      I don’t really decide what i will read for example for the next month. I find that quite stressful. I know in May i want to read the new Stephen King book that is coming out, but that’s about it!

      1. Thank you!
        Oh, that’s understandable! I usually love reading challenges, but I do think I’ll try to do less of them in 2018. In 2017, I read a lot of books I wasn’t even all that interested in, just because they fit the prompts, and that probably defeats the purposes lol!

    1. Great goals for 2018, I’m all with you on finishing those series. It’s usually the last book that I need to finish. I need to DFN books, that is a tough one for me. I just checked out at B&N, I had a coupon for 20% that I had to use…

    1. I should have also resolved to read pre-orders as soon as they arrive, because I always get so excited about them and when they get here I just put them to one side to finish another book, and the next thing they’ve been gathering dust for months! I’m also trying to stop multi-reading this year: it worked for the first two weeks, but now I’m beginning to juggle and I’ve noticed it means I’m already not reading as much.
      You can see my bookish resolutions here.

      1. It really is! I hadn’t been sent any physical ARCs in a few months, and I was sent 5 over the last week. I had forgotten what a high it is to get approved, and now I’m having to hold myself back from requesting anything else, lol!

    1. Great goals! I’ve moved away from strict TBRs too and now I choose just one book per month that I want to read and the rest depends upon my mood (except when I have ARCs due like now). It feels so much better to just choose a book that you want to read.

    1. these are great goals girl! i have some of them too! read what i WANT to read. finish started series and reading preorders immediately after their in my hands 🙂

    1. Brilliant list! I’m guilty of so many of these too. I think the DNFing one is actually really sensible. I’m pretty bad for forcing myself to finish too, but I’d be far more productive in lots of other ways if I knew when something just wasn’t for me.
      My TTT

      1. Thank you, Louise! Yes, I’m honestly awful about knowing I’ll 1-star a book, or even 2-star it, in the end, but still keeping on because I somehow feel like my review is less “valid” if I don’t finish it? A perfect example recently was Everless – I’ve received several comments from people saying they couldn’t believe I DNFed it, I should have kept going, etc., and it really makes me second-guess myself at first, but I was just not enjoying that book at all! 🙁 Life is hard sometimes for us book bloggers, haha!

        1. Exactly! I feel like I shouldnt voice an opinion if I havent read the whole thing – no matter how early I hate it

      1. I can, but not quickly, haha! I don’t have issues with confusing storylines or anything thankfully, but it does seem to slow me down overall quite a bit, so I think I need to chill out with it! Oh my gosh, I feel you – I wrote this post a few days ago, but ended up being sent four ARCs yesterday and forgot to update it, so I’m TOTALLY failing already, too! ?

        1. I reckon I would confuse books if I read anymore than two at once! I have found that when I try to switch between lots of books, I almost inevitably end up focusing more on one and the others fall by the wayside. I’m glad I’m not the only one!

    1. I love your bookish resolutions! And it really reminded me to write those reviews as I finish a book as well – something I am just getting the hang of! Enjoying your blog very much.

      1. Thank you so much for the kind words! I think I’m going to take this week to get caught up on all the reviews I need to write, and start implementing a similar idea this coming weekend, where I would write reviews pretty much immediately. Fingers crossed for both of us!

        1. Thanks again! I love reading and actually DO love the writing part once I get started – but have been making the reading more of a priority just to get it done! Time to figure out a balance!

    1. These are worthy goals and I wish you luck with them. Many of them are things that I’ve gradually been able to accomplish – for the most part. But, I suspect I have many years on you and some I’ve learned with time. Mostly, I think all of us need to remember that reading is supposed to be fun and to treat it as such. And, yes, DNF books that aren’t working for you. Believe me, you’ll come to a time when you realize that you won’t get to read ‘all the books’! LOL

    1. I’m terrible about pre-ordering and then not reading them. I know I’ve got books I preordered in 2016 that I haven’t even thought about reading. I definitely need to get better about DNFing. I’ve been known to force myself to finish reading a book I’m not liking which of course takes forever and tends to make me fall into a reading slump.

      1. Yesss, exactly! I have pre-orders from ages ago – like the 3rd book in the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, which I pre-ordered back in… gosh, the late 2000s? And I still haven’t read it… *ducks head in shame* lol!

    1. I need to request less ARCs too and find my reviews are much better if I do them directly after reading books. I do a loose TBR and call it Musts and Mights – that way I have some flexibility. I actually only preordered one book this year so far and I started it the day it dropped on my Kindle – and have already read and reviewed it. Can it last?

      1. I love the Musts and Mights idea! And kudos on just the one pre-order, that’s awesome! I went years without doing pre-orders more than once a year or so, but I seem to be going a little overkill with it this year and last year, lol!

    1. Ha ha, love these goals. I’m also really guilty of pre-ordering books and taking ages to get to them (If ever). I also like the idea of not making lists and just reading whatever you are in the mood for – it certainly takes the pressure off! Best of luck with these!

    1. lol These are all great, Destiny! I definitely understand 5, 6, and 10! I’m determined to stop buying books I like, and buy the ones I love! 🙂

    1. Ahh, I totally know what you mean about valuing time as a reader!!! I’m still in that weird space of trying to finish all books I come across, no matter what it takes, but it’s getting into my head a lot that, while I have all the time in the world, I also don’t have all the time in the world. I’m slowly opening up to just the idea of putting a book I simply will not finish down, which is a big jump for me because I’m so stubborn. Anyway, great post, and I hope your resolutions work out for you this year!!!

    1. Great goals, some of my reading goals for the year are also to buy less books and try and read of the backlisted books on my shelves.

    1. Haha I have pretty similar goals myself, especially concerning ARC’s! I request wayy too much (this was worse years before) but now I’m only requesting the ones that I really want to read and the ones I KNOW I’ll read.

      1. Haha I’m so glad I’m not alone! From the comments I’ve gotten today, it definitely seems like a lot of people are in the same boat as us with the over-requesting of ARCs! ?

    1. yo these are great ones! i’m trying to read a few more classics (i always love them but i never pick them up!!), prioritize reading over other activities, and get better at writing reviews efficiently (pretty impossible for me but we’ll see).

    1. Oooohh, a “Must Read” list is such a good idea! Sometimes we suffer with strict TBRs and forcing ourselves to read stuff we’re not really in the mood for, but this a great way to counter that 😀 And your last goal is basically me lol even with the Divergent call-out 😛

    1. Strict TBRs are so hard for me, I’m glad to see someone leaning away from them!
      OMG I am the worst about finishing series. I feel like there’s always another book that’s the first in the series and then 50 books later I’m scratching my head trying to remember what happened in the first book anyway. It leads me to read bad sequels. I must stop.
      Good luck with your goals this year, Destiny! 😀

      1. I really thought I would like them for some reason, but the weird thing is that I learned I like planning them, but not following them! ?
        Oh gosh, yes! Hahaha. Hopefully we can both meet our goals this year! <3

    1. Great goals! I’m also kind of embracing my inner mood reader this year by not doing any strict TBRs or challenges. And I should definitely also learn to DNF more 🙂 Good luck with all your goals!

    1. A lot of my goals are the same as yours, haha. Especially finishing series and reviewing after I read. I started off really well, but have over 10 I need to write now.

      1. Haha, nice! Well, I wish you luck on your goals for this year! <3 I managed to catch up some last week, but then I finished 3 books this past weekend, and now I'm back up to having 8, I think, that need to be written.

    1. Awesome List!! I didn’t add to tackle completing some series but I definitely will now. We all need to DNF more but it’s hard for me because then I don’t think I can count it as a read book lol Tori @ In Tori Lex

      1. Thank you, Tori! Since I don’t fret too much over my Goodreads challenge, I still mark DNFs as “read”, but then I also put them on a “DNF” shelf. I used to have an exclusive DNF shelf so they wouldn’t be marked as read, but I found that it made it harder for me to keep up with what I had read when it came time to do my monthly wrap-ups, for some reason!

    1. I love that you are really focusing your reading efforts this year! I hope that works out well for you. I almost can’t go on Netgalley at this point, because everytime I do, I see another book I want to read and review! There is always going to be “another book”, I’m hoping to really focus on some backlisted books this year, as well : ) Good luck with your 2018 resolutions!

      1. Thank you! Haha, I feel you – I have to severely limit my time on NetGalley and I’ve gotten to where I barely even let myself browse, because I cannot be trusted! Lol! Good luck with yours, too 🙂

    1. This is a great list of goals and we have several in common, especially being more selective about requesting ARCs and being determined to finish some series. I didn’t put it on my list, but I need to get better about DNFing books that just aren’t working for me either. I have way too many other books to read to waste time hoping and wishing a book is suddenly going to click with me. Good luck achieving all of these!

      1. Thank you! I feel like a lot of people were thinking along the same lines as us, with requesting less ARCs, so that must be a really common issue! At least we know we aren’t alone. 😉 Good luck with your goals this year!

    1. Great list! It seems like many of us want to start DNFing books more. This is something I struggle with, and I need to stop torturing myself. Good luck!

    1. I absolutely need to take on this final goal of finishing a series! I am terrible at finishing series mainly because I will read the first book, love it, and never pick up the sequel.
      I have also seen a lot of people’s goals for this year to DNF books in order to enjoy more books.

    1. I started DNFing more a couple of years ago and I got to say it is one of the best decisions I’ve made as a bookworm. Why should we read books we’re hating? We need to enjoy the books we pick up. I make exceptions for ARCs, but anytime I’m not feeling a book, I just put it down. I actually think I’ve gotten better at recognizing what kind of books I’ll like faster as a result of not making myself continue reading. Hoping you accomplish all your goals for 2018!

      1. Very good points! I’m planning to give ARCs a little extra leeway too (I normally do anyways), but yep, definitely plan on DNFing more titles in 2018 than I did in 2017. Or maybe I should say, I hope I don’t *need* to DNF more… lol, you know what I mean! Good luck with your goals this year, too!

    1. ohh these are so great!! I honestly love how specific these are for your reading goals and also love that you’re going to kick that TBR? I need to do that. But like *falls on the ground laughing at own wishful thinking* Although this year I’ll probably read less eARCs anyway because Edelweiss is so tough on giving approvals (at least for me!) And I’m hoping to finish off some series too! GOOD LUCK I LIKE YOUR GOALS!

      1. Thank you! And, WTF, like… how do you not get everything you ask for?! I’m not even being silly, but for real, your blog is incredible, and your following!!! And you’re an author!! And you’re Queen Cait! I’m gonna have to kick somebody’s butt over at Edelweiss. *grumpy face*
        Good luck with yours too! <3

    1. I`m with you on so many of these goals. I have at least 7 series that I want to finish in 2018 and until I`m doing that I`m not picking any books that are the first in a new series. I also want to buy fewer books, because at the moment almost half of the books on my bookshelf are unread and that`s just ridiculous. Good luck with your goals.
      Carmen`s Reading Corner

    1. Join the DNF Club, it’s a great place to be. We only read books we like. 😉
      But seriously, good luck with all your resolutions!!

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