**At the end of last year, I bought a gorgeous journal with a sage green cover and a ribbon bookmark. The parchment is thick and the ink that scratches it dries quickly. I saw it at a stall in the market and knew I had to have it. At the beginning of the year, I decided to make this lovely journal my reading journal. I keep track of all the books I read, my ratings, the series I finish, and my reading goals for the year. I flip back to the beginning and check in on my goals.**

Welcome or welcome back to bookishcore! One day, I will make a more consistent posting schedule, i.e. I will have a set time for my posts, but until then, I’m just going with the anytime posts. I couldn’t really think of anything to write about for today. I have so many blog post ideas, but I don’t ever seem to write them out until the day they should be up, so I never have the time to write. I was thinking about what my post should be, and I ended up thinking about the reading goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year, so I thought I would talk about my goals and how far I am to completing them.

• Read 52 books
  • At this point, I have read 30 books. I actually haven’t really read anything the past few days, but I am 40 pages into my next book, Shadows by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I do think I can make it to the 52 by the year’s end though.
• Read at least one independently published book
  • The past few years, I have wanted to read more indie published books. I thought it would be nice to support small authors, so I wanted to make it a goal to read at least one this year. I have actually read two independently published books this year. I read Strawberry Fields for Never by Kate Watson and Sun to Me by Cleopatra Margot, which will be on my July wrap-up. I also started Just a Friend by Deb Goodman, but I ended up dnfing it about 40 or so pages in.
• Read at least one classic
  • I have not completed this yet. I am not the biggest fan of classics, but wanted to try and read more to read more genres. I haven’t really read many classics so I wanted to give more a chance. I’m hoping to read Little Women by the end of the year though.
• Read at least one poetry collection
  • I have not completed this either. I read Watering the Soul by Courtney Peppernell in 2022 and thought I was going to be reading more poetry. That hasn’t happened, so I think this goal won’t be one for next year.
• Read at least three adult books
  • I have said this before, but I don’t read a lot of adult books, as I prefer ya. This is the first year that I have actually read a lot of adult books though. I think the first three I read were Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, The War Widow by Tara Moss, and Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.
• Read at least three middle grade/children’s books
  • I thought this would be an interesting one to add. I never read middle grade anymore, so I thought it would be fun to try and read a few this year just to see how I would feel about it. I have only read one so far, Prince Caspian by C.S.Lewis.
• Finish series
  • I was hoping to finish some completed series that I started before this year, which are The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken, Starflight by Melissa Landers, Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, the Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout, and the Narnia series by C.S.Lewis. So far, I have finished The Darkest Minds and Defy the Night. I have also continued with the Narnia series and the Lux series, but haven’t finished them yet.

Those are all of the reading goals that I set for 2024 and my progress on completing them. I’m hoping to complete more of these goals by the end of the year, but I’m in a bit of a reading slump right now so I hope to get some more reading done, so we’ll see. Thanks for reading!

xoxo,

Just another reader