Wayward Reviews

Here we are at another reading goal – 2023 as well! 2022 I have to say was a slide into disappointment, from September I fell completely off the wagon when it came to reading. I did a little better in October, but since then I haven’t been able to recover – the reading slope was real and bad…

My goal for 2022 was 70 books, an ambitious target but at the time I thought would have been achievable. So to finish with 40 books was quite surprising, 2021 I saw myself finish 58 books…

So what am I going to do for 2023?

Well, first things first, I am going to start with the number of books I would like to read in 2023. I have come to realise that my reading capacity all depends on my environment, in 2021 we were in a pandemic and I had a lot more time on my hands to read. While in 2022, I was back to socialising and dealing with all the nuances of life – I had a lot of unexpected obstacles and opportunities arise which took most of my attention away from reading.

Therefore for 2023, I am going to read a total of 43 books.

Using a little mathematics, 20 + 23 = 43 (astounding I know), but I like how it fits nicely in what I ended up reading in 2022. Three books more than last year is not pushing the envelope, but I cannot help but feel that life is still going to be just as chaotic as it was in 2022!

Now with that done, I need to think about a theme for 2023. Last year’s theme was to be diverse, stretch my reading genre and challenge the why when I turned to my old faithful genres. It was ok, I tried a couple genres I normally wouldn’t gravitate towards, but it wasn’t mindblowing – I can definitely say I was cautious with what I chose to read.

But 2023 is different. In 2023 I am moving into my own space and I can’t take all the books I have accumulated…therefore my theme for 2023 is Low Buy.

So how does this work? Well instead of completely restricting myself when buying books, I will have a budget for how much I will spend on books per month. Saying that I will also try to shop my TBR, I need to get through a lot of books so I can either sell them or give them to charity – because when I move, I may not have the space to house all of them.

What do you think? Have you set your book goals yet for 2023? If so, what are they? I would love to hear what you have planned in the comments below.