Tuesday's Top Ten: My 2013 Reading Goals

Paula @ The Broke and Bookish is asking us this week what our Top Ten Bookish Goals are for this year. 

Here are my Top Ten Bookish Goals for this year:

1) To Read the Books I Buy and to go along with that…
2) To Curb the Amount of Books I Buy 

Let me put forth the evidence, before you: 

This lovely picture above is part of my closet in my office. Now it is not just books but craft supplies, journals and such. The bottom shelf in the picture is mainly are books I've kept from grad school to refer back to--which I admit I do do quite often, especially if I am working on a paper. The two other shelves that you see right there--full of books I owe whether I've bought them or have been given either as gifts or won. There is a small box under my desk (not pictured) of more books that need to make there way into my closet for safe keeping. 

The shelves shown on the right is my tall bookcase. Because I need to do some shifting, it is a little messier than usual but this is basically my landing zone for the library books I just have to bring home with me from work. The top shelf also is where I keep my Disney books. I did not show the shelves behind the doors but there are books in there—mainly the adult titles I have either bought or been given. I also have more journals in there. 

The last set of books is mainly sewing related and few cookbooks. This is where I also keep my scrapbooking magazines I have hung onto for the time being. Please note, I have more cookbooks upstairs in the kitchen but there is not space for these below. Lol 

So as you can plainly see, I have enough books to last me for quite awhile. Those don’t even include the eBooks. :-) I am not as disorganized as what it looks. Things appear a little messy after my office got ransacked over the holiday season, prepping and wrapping presents in there. I shoved things aside and since I have been sick these last few weeks, I have not made a better effort to get it cleaned out. 

Continuing on with my goals:

3) To Be More Active in Writing Reviews. I read a decent amount each year but I have not been as active writing reviews. My goal this year is to review 50% of the books I read, if not higher. There are times when I just want to read or I get busy and do not sit down to write the review soon after finishing it. My sub goal of this is to write a review within 48 hours of finishing a book. Sometimes I need breathing space between the book and the review but then I get busy and distracted. I hope to be more aware of this year. 

4) I Want to Branch Out in My Reading. Is anyone else like me and we get in our comfort zones reading the same genres, same authors, and the same_________? I want to try to push myself to read out of my comfort zone. Who knows, maybe I will discover a new to me author I love or a new genre of books to devour.

5) I Want to Read More Books than Last Year. Last year, according to my Goodreads profile, I read 153 books but in reality, I read more than that. I want to make sure I log every book I read in Goodreads this year.

6) I Want to Get Back into Writing Bibliographies/Reader’s Advisory tools. I have not had time at my current job but I want to make more of an effort to fit them in this year. It is one of the greatest tools I can use and I need to be more active in doing them again as the parents, children and teens always thank me profusely (not to mention the other librarians too).

7) Track the Amount of Pages I Read in a Year. Sometimes the number of books does not tell the whole story. :-) Simple goal, I just need to be tracking them so I know. I am using Avanti’s Challenge to keep the incentive going.

8) Catalog My Personal Library of Books. Yes, the complete geek in me is showing but I get a thrill out of it. I am a librarian and book lover after all.

9) I Want to Keep Listening to Audiobooks. I have not always been able to listen to audiobooks as I tone them out after awhile. I want to continue working on listening to audiobooks as I find it a completely different experience than reading it. For one, it takes more time!

10) Stay Up on My Reading Challenges. No one can accuse me of doing things half way. I have signed up for some many reading challenges but I have to admit—I restrained myself. There are several others I want to join. Who knows, maybe I will join them sometime into year if I finish some others I am already doing.

Another goal I have this  year that affects my Bookish Goals is to create the office of my dreams when we move after we close on our new house! I am so excited to get it set up but getting my daughter and other rooms will be priority but I will manage to get it done this year too. :-)

Now, that I have shared my 2013 Bookish Goals, I want to read about your goals! Leave me a comment so I can visit your post.