It is a little after midnight on New Year’s Day as I’m starting to write this post. I have been cramming books onto my 2024 to-be-read list in a mad rush, like there is some sort of rule that once the ball drops in Times Square, I won’t be allowed to add any more for the year. I mean, that’s not true at all, but part of me feels like I have to have a plan for the year finalized by January 1. Well, here is my (once again) very unrealistic list of 113 books I plan to read for 2024:
How did I come up with this list? There are several considerations that go into this (paid links below):
- First, I roll-over all the books from the previous year that I didn’t read, although some got pushed onto the 2025 list.
- I am trying to finish several series that I have started.
- I try to include some non-fiction, non-genre reads, some graphic novels, and a couple of classics each year.
- Some of these books are those chosen for book clubs (Starter Villain, Titan, Starling House, etc).
- Several of these are books that were given to me for review through NetGalley or from the author (Ever the Night Road, Daughter of Redwinter, Shorefall, A Blight of Blackwings, That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon, Extinction Notice).
- A few are newer “hot” books that I need to read (Fourth Wing, anyone?).
- One is an anthology that contains one of my own stories (Utopia Science Fiction), and I’d like to read the other stories in it.
- Another is written by an author in my online critique group (OWWW).
- A couple of them have not been published yet (The Familiar, The Thorn of Emberlain, Black Bird Oracle). I try not to include upcoming publications on the list unless I know they are supposed to be released soon.
What else goes into my choices? Well, I am trying not to start any new series. But on the list above, I also have several new series… what can I say? I am inconsistent. To be fair, some of the series on here are ones where I read the first book many, many years ago but was unable to finish the series (because it hadn’t all been published yet or because I got distracted by other books).
In that vein, I’m going to continue on my read-through of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I’m also going to read Dune #4-6, which I had put aside after reading #1-3 in 2022 (paid links).
As the year goes on, I’ll add even more books to this list, perpetuating my never-ending pile and pushing more of these off to 2025. I need more hours in the day.
Of all these books, which ones are up first for the year? Well right now, I’m already reading the first of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series in audiobook format. I’m also about a third of the way through Not Like Us by Doc Honour, a writing critique partner (paid links). After that, here is what I have planned:
Let me go back to the numbers now. I have 113 books on my list for 2024. Even given that some are shorter novellas or graphic novels, that still comes out to about 9.5 books per month, or more than 2 books per week. And some of these books aren’t short, so what is realistically going to happen?
I usually end up reading somewhere between 40 and 50 books each year. I tend to read several books at once, so one goal I’m making for this year is to try to minimize how often I start a new book without finishing others. I feel like I’ll be more engaged in a book if I’m not splitting my attention between several of them. (However, I will still have an audiobook going while reading something in print).
Off to do some reading now…
How do you choose which books you’re going to read? What books are you most excited about reading in 2024? Let me know in the comments (above)!
Salvage – a flash fiction science fiction story with a winter holiday theme