Top 10 Tuesday: Bookish Resolutions for 2016

It’s Tuesday, so that means it’s time for another Top Ten Tuesday post. Top Ten Tuesday was created by the bloggers over at The Broke and the Bookish, and each week there’s a new topic to discuss. This week’s topic is your Top Ten 2016 Resolutions. This was intended to be a pretty broad subject, so I decided to include ten bookish resolutions I’m setting myself for 2016. Let’s get started!

1. Cut down my TBR. I have roughly 40 unread books on my shelves, and I want to have read them all by the end of 2016. My TBR pile is ever changing, but the books I didn’t get to in 2015 need to be read this year.

2. Read diversely. This is an ongoing goal, one that I don’t think is necessarily something to be checked off a to-do list but rather develop into habit. I don’t want to be insular when it comes to my reading – characters and stories and authors who are different from myself can only enrich my understanding and appreciation of the world.

3. Go back to class. Not actual class, because grad school nearly killed me, but in 2016 I want to read more history, philosophy, and classic (ancient and modern) literature. I studied these subjects so intensely in school, so I feel bad for pretty much abandoning them in my post-grad life.

4. Literature? Classic. It is a truth universally acknowledged that I don’t love reading the “classics.” So many people include some variation of this in their reading resolutions, but I want to read more classic literature in 2016, and finally find a classic that I love (besides Pride and Prejudice, of course).

5. Don’t Be Afraid to DNF. Does this book suck? Is it just annoying enough that I’m not actually enjoying it? THEN STOP READING IT. I posted my first installment of the DNF Diaries a couple months ago, and I’m sure there will be many more entries in 2016. Who has time to force themselves to read a crappy book? Not me.

6. Read and Review. Every book that I read in 2016 will have at least a brief Goodreads review. That will probably be a lot, because I read 170 books in 2015. But I want to take the time and say something about each book that I read, even if it is just a few sentences. Hopefully this will help to make me a better reviewer. That being said…

7. Go Beyond Reviews. Reviews are a big part of having a book blog, that goes without saying. However, in 2016 I don’t want to keep posting one review after another. I’m not the most creative person by nature, but I really want to push myself to think more creatively about the content I want to create here and on my YouTube channel. I’ve already started with DNF Diaries, but hopefully that’s just the first step.

8. Resist the Hype. I fall victim to book hype all the time, and that led to some of my most disappointing reads in 2015. It’s hard not to get swept up in the hype surrounding a new book’s release – fancy ARCs! every blogger on the planet singing its praises! But as book blogger becomes more popular than ever, and publishers increasingly rely on bloggers and BookTubers to create buzz, hype is a real problem. In 2016, I want to focus on reading books I actually want to read, not just what everyone else has preordered. I want to be honest about when I think a book is overhyped and undeserving. I want to not waste as much money buying new releases I was convinced that I needed. This is probably the most difficult resolution on the list, but also the most necessary.

9. Stay Organized. When it comes to blog posts and videos, I definitely needed to be better organized last year. Hopefully in 2016 I can really buckle down and find a schedule that works for me. Posting too often makes this feel like a chore, so striking a balance will be key.

10. Don't Buy It If You Won't Read It...Yet. Far too often in 2015, I bought or even preordered a book, only for it to sit unread for months. I still haven’t read Illuminae or Winter, and those were a couple of my most anticipated releases. This is definitely something I need to work on in 2016!

What are some of your bookish resolutions for 2016? Let me know in the comments!