47 Comments
Dec 19, 2023·edited Dec 20, 2023

I feel like I’ve spent a decade or more quantifying, planning and joining (and failing) challenges. My goal for the last few years has been to just read without plans or numbers in mind.

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I have taken on an online reading challenge to read 24in24. I specifically want each book to be taken place in a different country. 24 books 24 countries.

I want to read one nonfiction/memoir a month. One short story a day. I will stop right here.

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I’ll read seven books over seven hundred pages. Backstory is that this year I focused on the number of books - I surpasses my goal and got to 54. But trying to get to 50 made me steer away from some long books, though two of my favorites were Bleak House and The Betrothed. (Pretty obvious incentive problem that I hadn’t considered.) I want more of those slow burns/big worlds immersion books experience. I’m starting War & Peace as the first installment. Long book suggestions welcome!

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I usually set a goal for the number of books I would like to read in a calendar year. However, in 2024 I am not going to do that. It makes me feel pressured it forces me to read shorter books. It makes me obsessed with the metrics rather than the enjoyment of reading, I would like to read more classic fiction in 2024 perhaps one classic novel per month. This year, I read and enjoyed a lot of Latin American fiction. Next year, I will try to read novels from around the globe 🌎😊 I hope your 2024 will be filled with remarkable books. Happy reading! 🙂

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My 2024 reading goal is to read all of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth writings. Also, a few years back some friends and I started the "Read or Die Challenge" as a way to motivate myself to delve into the pile of "gonna read these one day" books: choose any 12 physical books. At the end of the year, any that are unread get donated or traded.

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No specific goals for me yet, but I hope to read more books that touch my bookish heart. I have a habit of getting lost in mediocre books that I enjoy, but I'd like to read more books that make me think, "I can't image not ever reading this book."

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I’ve got a few.

1. Read 60 books (currently at 58 for this year)

2. Read the Russians (Checkov, Dostoyevsky, Trotsky, etc)

3. Read Toni Morrison (I read Sula and Song of Solomon in high school and I don’t think I was intellectually mature enough to appreciate them)

4. Join The Big Read ☺️

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Currently reading one Jane Austen a month until I've completed all of her novels. I've found a couple of podcasts to listen to with each book. After that, I plan to listen to the Emily Wilson translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey. And as always, I'll be working on my long term goal of reading all of Louise Erdrich's work.

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Doubling the number of books on my all time greats list here: https://www.tomwhitenoise.com/bookshelf. Read on, team!

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I’d like to finish Robert Alter’s incredible translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (finished the five book of Moses and the Prophets, working on his last volume on Wisdom Literature).

Continue to work my way through Shakespeare’s plays (on the histories now).

I’d also like to tackle another big book (finishing up Monte Cristo). Maybe the Narnia Series by CS Lewis and/or Great Expectations by Dickens.

Lot of other books will creep in that catch my interest, but I try to vary my reading from writers, scholars, and teachers. I shoot for 50 pages a day on average.

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So much more nonfiction and spanish literature 🫶🏻

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My goal is to record all the books I read in 2024. I’ve never done this. Much of my reading and listening is through the Libby app from my library so I can look back at that but I don’t have a record of physical library books or borrowed books I’ve read. I rarely purchase books, so can’t look at my shelves to see what I’ve read.

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I want to read more memoirs next year, so I think I might borrow Sonia's goal and target at least one per month.

I also plan to start reading all of Kurt Vonnegut's books in order, though I don't expect to finish next year.

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I read 24 books this year so my goal for 2024 is to read 30 books.

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I am trying to read more Indigenous writers in 2024.

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Read Anna Karenina and read at least 5 books by Filipino writers.

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