Welcome, my sweet friends!

If you’d prefer to listen, you can check out the full episode on The Bookmarks ‘n Blankets Podcast on your favorite podcast platform or listen below. 

I can’t believe that we are just a few weeks away from a brand-new year and a brand-new reading challenge. I can’t believe what an incredible reading journey I’m on right now, and I appreciate all of you who listen/read and follow along with me. I just joined the online book community this year. I started in March so I was a couple of months behind when I began, but I was able to quickly catch up and completely immerse myself in this amazing world of all things books and engage with other book lovers and fellow readers. It has been an INCREDIBLE reading year!!

Big Life Update

My husband and I are moving back to Colorado in April 2024! We lived there for 10 years (my husband is from Colorado) before we moved to Ohio (where I’m from) in 2018. However, we are feeling the calling to go west again for a brand new chapter of life. I’ve been saying, “I was born in Ohio, but Colorado is my home, and I’m ready to go home.” I’ve missed Colorado SO much these past six years, and ever since I moved away and came back to Ohio, it just doesn’t feel the same anymore. It doesn’t feel like the right fit any longer. I’m ready to get back to where I feel I truly belong.

I’m beyond excited to move back to Colorado!! However, this big event will affect the podcast since I’ll still be working full-time and now packing up an entire house to move across the country (about 1,300 miles). Most likely, for the first four to five months of the new year, I will only post two episodes a month – a TBR at the beginning to let you know what I want to read, and my reading wrap-up at the end of the month to let you know what I did read. I don’t know if I’ll have time to do any episodes in between.

2024 Reading Goals

I have SO many reading goals and bookish plans that I want to accomplish next year. It may be a little too ambitious, but we’ll see how things go.

As for the GoodReads Reading Challenge, I chose 50 books to read this year because I had absolutely no clue how many books I could read in 10 months. Well, I’ve gone past 150 books, which include standard novels, short stories, graphic novels, and children’s picture books. With some big life events happening in 2024, my reading numbers may take a hit, so I’m thinking of aiming for around 125 books next year for my GoodReads Reading Challenge number.

Genres

There are so many genres and sub-genres of books, but I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface. This year, I explored fantasy, magical realism, mystery & thriller, horror, modern romance, historical fiction (romance, fantasy, mystery), Christian fiction, a couple of contemporary, and non-fiction books. But next year, I want to explore:

• High Fantasy – I’ve been intimidated by epic, high fantasy series, but I want to try one.
• Sci-Fi – I didn’t read any in this genre and want to try a few.
• Contemporary – I read a couple this year, but I want to explore this genre further.
• Horror – I read a few but want to read more.
• Mythology – I’m very curious to read more of these books and mythological retellings.
• Westerns – I read two historical western romances, but I want to dive a little deeper.
• Classics – I only read two classics this year and want to read more next year.
• Non-Fiction – I want to continue to explore this genre, especially memoirs, autobiographies, and travel literature.

Authors

As I’ve discovered new authors this year, there are a few that have quickly become my favorites and now I want to read to zero from them, meaning I want to read their entire backlist of books until I read zero.

Authors I want to read to zero:

• Charlie Holmberg
• Lisa Jewell
• Sylvia Morena-Garcia
• Rachel Fordham

There are also a few authors that I’m still deciding if they are right for me. I will read one or two more of their books before I decide if we need to break up.

• Emily Henry
• Christina Lauren
• Taylor Jenkins-Reid
• T. Kingfisher
• Leigh Bardugo

There are also many, many authors who are popular that I want to read their books but haven’t gotten to yet. They are on my list to get to next year.

• Riley Sager
• Sally Hepworth
• Ruth Ware
• Simone St. James
• Catriona Ward
• Alice Hoffman
• Anne Rice
• Neil Gaiman
• Holly Black
• Nicholas Sparks
• Sarah Adams
• Abby Jimenez
• Ashley Poston
• Katherine Center
• Becky Wade
• Tammy L. Gray
• Jane Austen

Other Reading Plans

(There will be a separate episode discussing book series plans.) I want to finish a few book series that I started this year. I also want to read three to four book series next year. I want to read a couple that are much older that I just never got around to reading, and then choose a couple that are newer.

I also want to have more of a balance between new releases and older books. The majority of the books that I read this year were either new releases or published within the past three to four years. I really want to read much, much older books, like 10, 20, or even 30 years older. I don’t feel like they get much love in the book world, so I want to talk about some amazing older books.

As for any NetGalley (NG) goals, I just want to continue to be mindful of the books I choose to request and read on that platform, and then incorporate those books more into my monthly TBR book lists. It’s been challenging this year trying to read all of the NG books that I need to review along with my personal book piles that I want to read, so I just need to combine them.

2024 Bookish Goals and Plans

I really need to save money, especially since we’re moving next year and there is another big trip at the end of 2024 that we’ll be taking – my youngest brother is getting married! So we’ll be driving down to Texas for his wedding at the end of October. So I really need to focus on reading from my personal library, reading digitally, and listening to audiobooks from my library app. I’m going to watch how much I spend on buying new books. I’m not cutting it out completely, but I will definitely decrease the number of books I buy next year.

I also want to get more organized and catalog my entire personal library. I’ve started a spreadsheet but need to finish it.

I’m also deciding if I want to start a reading journal. I’m not sure if it’ll be helpful or not, but I see many book reviewers talk about using a reading journal.

2024 Podcast Plans

I want to get back to making full-length book reviews where I go more in-depth on the books that I read. I quit creating those episodes because I started reading so many books each month, and it became difficult to keep up with my growing piles of novels that I read. But I know my listeners like to hear about specific books, so I want to start those again.

I’m considering changing my TBR (to be read) book list episodes. I’ve found out this year that I don’t always read from the list I make at the beginning of the month. Some months, I’ll read more NetGalley books or listen to more audiobooks from my library app. I’ve also become a mood reader, so there are times when I’m not in the mood to read any books on the list I’ve made for myself. Therefore, I’m playing with the idea of doing my topic or theme-based TBR episodes instead of stating what I want to read for the month. Then, I can freely choose my titles every month, and for my listeners, it’ll be more of a surprise at the end of the month reading wrap-up episodes to listen to what I read that month.

I also want to create more book/reading blog-type episodes, like I’ve done this year. (You read/listen to How to Make Make More Time to Read HERE and How to Read without Getting Distracted HERE.)

I’m also playing with some new episode ideas. For example, one series I’ve been thinking about is recommending books and movies. For example, if you enjoyed reading The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer, then you may enjoy watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder.

And finally, I’m toying with the idea of creating real-time book reviews that mimic BookTube vloggers. This is where I would split the book up into four sections, and then record my reaction to each section right after reading, so then the complete episode would be a real-time reaction to the books I read, which will also give me a full-length book review. I thought that could be a fun change to the podcast.

Conclusion

Those are the goals, plans, and ideas I have for 2024. I’m excited to break in a new year with some great books, movies, and TV shows. There’s going to be a lot going on for me next year, but it’s all very fun and exciting, so I’m ready for the next adventure!

Cheers to a wonderful 2024!