A little late, but here we are. I’ve been going back and forth on whether to do a “new years 2024 goals” post as I know for a lot of people the whole overwhelm of new year, high expectations and pressure doesn’t sit right. Personally I do like to set myself a few goals throughout the year. Mainly reading ones, with a few personal ones too.
Last year my 2023 reading goal was to read more male authors, my whole reading experience in education was 90% male that when I was in control of my reading choices I went completely the opposite direction and barely picked up a male author again. For 2023 I wanted to explore more fiction written by men, some I really enjoyed and actually made it into my top 10 and some I didn’t finish. But I definitely think it was a great goal. I’m going to make sure to make an effort again this year.
For 2024 my reading goals aren’t going to be about quantity, I think on goodreads I’ve set the goal of 40 books, I’m due a second baby in spring and I have no intention on putting any pressure in reading a set quantity. I found a lot of fiction a bit stale last year so know that I want to keep expanding on the types of novels I’m reading. This year I want to read more translated fiction, I’ve only really read a small amount of translated fiction in the past so looking forward to trying something new!
As always I want to also make sure that I am reading my bookshelf. There are a lot of books that have sneaked on there and I want to prioritise these over the shiny new releases.
Here are a few of the books that I am looking forward to getting stuck into!
KIBOGO - I was actually gifted this at Christmas. This along with my pledge to read more translated fiction I’m really excited to get stuck in. It is set in Rwanda it is a collection of stories and legends being retold to missionaries visiting and colonising the village. I love being gifted books that are totally off my radar, it intrigues me what someone else thinks I might enjoy. You can read the synopsis here
The Prophet Song - This was the winner of the booker prize 2023, I gifted it to my husband for Christmas knowing for well that as soon as he finishes it I will be gobbling it up! I have been having a moment with Irish fiction and from his glowing review since finishing I can’t wait to get stuck in. It’s a dystopian family novel, you can read the synopsis here
Hot Springs Drive - I discovered this after Roxanne Gay posted about it in her audacity news letter as her chosen book club pick. When I discovered it was on kindle for 99p I snapped it up AND convinced a couple of colleagues to read along with me! I very rarely read thrillers these days, they just don’t seem to interest me like they used to, but the tagline on the cover “Today she walks in on her husband and best friend having an affair. Tomorrow, her body will be found” I’m excited to read and have a couple of people to discuss with IRL
Harry Potter - I’ve finally found the joy in rereading books, before I saw rereading as wasting time when you could be indulging in something new. But Since having a baby and learning to slow down a little. Or even those first few months having such less brain capacity to absorb and enjoy I started to learn the joy of rereading.
