Hi and welcome to FromBelgiumWithBookLove where today I’d like to talk about my bookish challenges for this year!
I sort of made a list of bookish goals in my head early last year, but this year I decided to formalise it here, to help me reach my goals. I will be kind to myself, if 2021 is anything like 2020 life will be challenging enough without setting unrealistic goals for myself. Reading is supposed to be fun and I’d like it to stay that way! So I have not set myself up for failure, I don’t think, but set some challenges that should be doable and will allow me to stay focused on what I’d like to “accomplish” this year.
The GoodReads Challenge:
I set my challenge at 200 books, like I’ve done for the last two years.
The Series Challenge:
Continue and finish the Dark Iceland Series by Ragnar Jónasson (5 books to go). I’ve had most of the Dark Iceland Series on my TBR for ages, and I was gifted an ARC of Winterkill, the last instalment. I recently read the first book and I want to keep the momentum going.
Continue and finish the Arc of a Scythe trilogy by Neal Shusterman (2 books to go). I have the remaining two Arc of a Scythe books on Audible but somehow I keep forgetting about them, so now’s the time.
Continue the Shardlake Series (6 books to go). I won’t tell myself to finish it this year, they are big ass books and they get bigger by the book, but it would be nice to get through a few more by the end of the year.
The Stephen King Challenge:
Read at least 5 Stephen King novels. Watching IT Chapter Two the other day, I realised I miss vintage King, so the goal is to (re)read some of his (older) work, including IT, this year.
The Agatha Christie Challenge:
Read at least 5 Agatha Christie novels. I love Agatha, and as a teenager I read a whole bunch of Poirot and Miss Marple novels, but since then I don’t seem to get around to them. Hence the challenge.
The Spanish Challenge:
Read at least 10 Spanish books. I will try to read one each month, but I do have some longer ones on the TBR so I’m cutting myself some slack.
The Non-Fiction Challenge:
Read the 3 non-fiction books on my physical TBR and at least 1 from my digital TBR. I’m not a non-fiction reader, which is why I have only the three physical non-fiction books, and despite the fact that I really do want to read them, I keep pushing them back, which is just silly.
The Classics Challenge:
Read at least 4 classics / modern classics, including a Jane Austen and a Shakespeare. I discussed the Bard’s works at college, but I’ve never actually read any of it. I’ve been meaning to for ages but it scares me. By saying it here I’m forcing myself to just do it.
The FairyLoot Challenge:
Read at least 10 FairyLoot novels, at least 4 of which from 2019-2020. My FairyLoot novels are piling up and I think I need the extra nudge to pick them up a little faster. This is the only challenge with possible repercussions: if I don’t make it, or if I don’t enjoy it as much as I feel I should, I will be terminating my FairyLoot subscription.
Last year I was very careful about NetGalley requests and blog tours, and I hope to continue that, too many pending ARCs are overwhelming to me and I don’t want to put myself through that. I also hope to show some of the same self-restraint when it comes to buying books…
I also tweaked my spreadsheet a little, I want to keep more stats this year. I will be keeping track of where the novel is set, and when. I might do quarterly diagrams or something. I haven’t a mathematical bone in my body but I do like pie charts 😂
And that’s a wrap! Thanks for joining me today, wish me luck 😁
I really like this list of goals. I may need to borrow some. Unofficially. 😂
Go for it 😄
Those are great goals, I’m sure you’re going to smash your Goodreads goal again, and the rest too! I’m not a non-fiction reader either so I look forward to seeing the books you picked there, you never know I want to give them a go too ☺️ Good luck Kelly!
Thanks Inge! I know for a fact you’ll be interested in one of my non-fiction books…
😮 You are pretty confident, I really want to know why now… but I’m interested in 85 % of the books you read so I guess it makes sense 😉
Wait and see 😉
Good luck Kelly! I love the idea of keeping a track of where and when books are set, might have to do that myself!
Thanks Nicki! It’s really interesting, I’ve visited more countries in two weeks’ time than I could’ve imagined 😄
Love these goals! I’m hoping to read the Dark Iceland series too, although I will probably finish the Hidden Iceland books first as there are only two left. 😉 I need to read more Agatha Christie/King/classics! Spanish too, but I’m keeping it low key with only two books haha. Also looking forward to those pie charts. 😉
Thanks Yvo 😊 Let me know if you want to buddy read any of the above!
Ohh that’s actually a great idea! I’m at book two of the Dark Iceland series, and book five with Hercule Poirot… No Miss Marple yet. xD Also, which King titles do you want to read? It I already read, but I have quite a few of both his backlist titles and newer ones on my TBR. Including Dolores Claiborne, Four Past Midnight, ‘Salems Lot, The Outstander, The Stand… And lots more. I also wouldn’t mind rereading Doctor Sleep as I saw the movie the other day and didn’t remember a lot of the details. xD
I just started Nightblind today! We could read the third one (Black Out?) next month if you’re up for it? I read the first Miss Marple, one has to start somewhere 🤷♀️😂 Are you reading them in order? I have Salem’s Lot in Spanish but that’ll take too long, I read so much slower in Spanish! I just read The Shining so maybe now’s the time to try Doctor Sleep again, I started it once but I couldn’t get into it and I’d like to give it another go.
I was going to read the Hidden Iceland books first, but if you want I can read Nightblind some time soon and start a buddyread of book three mid February? Or any King title sooner, as it’s easier to squeeze in a stand-alone… I don’t mind a long one, although probably not in Spanish as it would take forever haha. Doctor Sleep sounds good, or what other King titles did you have in mind reading this year besides IT? I have so many King titles lurking on my kindle that the chances are high I already have a copy ready to start. 😉
That is such a great challenge!
I would love to recommend from the King back catalogue,’Hearts In Atlantis’ which is a book of novellas, ‘4 Past Midnight’ (more novellas!) And ‘Night Shift’, his first short story collection .
For Agatha Christie , ‘The Pale Horse’ mixes murder with witchcraft, ‘The Labours Of Hercule’ where Poirot solves 12 mysteries in the theme of the Herculean myths,and ‘The Mystery Of The Blue Train’ where a young girl gets involved in murder, spying and intrigue!
Fab! Thanks for the recommendations!