Book Review

TTT – New Book Who Dis?

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Top Ten Tuesday used to be a weekly post hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, but was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl. “It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” This is definitely something I can understand and want to participate in.

Hopefully the new year is being good to you. Today’s prompt is bookish goals for 2025, and I am here for it. I’ve always been a hardcore goal oriented person, but in the last year or so, I had to relax things a little bit. Okay, a lot. And after hitting a ridiculously high reading milestone a few years ago, the following year I overestimated the number of books I could read. In 2024, I decided to set a goal that I could easily reach and left it at that, instead of adjusting my number to always be striving towards a reading goal. I really found my enjoyment in reading again, and decided to do it again this year. Here’s some of the goals that I set for myself:

  1. Find enjoyment in reading. When I focus too much on deadlines and not making time to read books that aren’t on a deadline, except maybe a library due date. I started adding in some audiobooks that I can listen to while doing chores and while driving, and it really lets me find that enjoyment in picking which one of the many gazillions of books out there that I want to check out. It’s funny, I was all about getting involved with book tours and getting ARCs, but at some point they overtook my life. I stopped doing book tours, but have been swallowed by my physical and ebook and audiobook ARCs. Which brings me to my next point…
  2. Get my ARCs under control. When I said they’ve taken over my life, the overdue reviews got to an unmanageable level. I’d like to get them cleared up and request less books. I know this is something I (and so many other bookish peeps) say every year, but I want to request less books so that I don’t get swamped.
  3. Use my library more. When I first started blogging, nearly all of my reviews were of library books. I couldn’t afford to buy them, and I’m so lucky to live in an area with a great library system, so I want to show my support by popping in regularly again. 
  4. Unhaul books that I’m not going to read again. Now that I get physical copies sent to me (I’m kind of a big deal 🤣), my book shelves are starting to get super cluttered. I don’t have enough bookshelves to hold all these books, so I’m only aiming to keep the books that I actually plan to read again. Finished copies (some of them are signed) can be found on my Pango account, and ARCs get given to a friend or leaving them in a nearby Little Free Library. That way I can clear out the shelving backlog and make room for new books.
  5. Post more consistently on my blog. I’ve been posting daily, and while I’m sure that I’ll miss a day here and there, I want to make sure that one day doesn’t turn into two or three. The most important thing for me to work on is getting my reviews written faster, so that I can schedule them in advance and reduce the pressure to finish a book. That ties into goal #1, but also helps me reduce the stress of having to post at short notice.
  6. Visit other blogs more often. I typically visit a lot of other bloggers on TTT, or if they’ve reviewed a book that sounds really interesting or that I’m looking forward to, but I want to make this a regular habit, even if it involves visiting just a couple of sites a day.
  7. Journal on a semi-regular basis. I’ve never really been into journaling, but I read tarot cards, and got myself a tarot journal. I note the date and the moon phase, along with the question I had, the card(s) I pulled, what those cards mean, and finally, the space to fit in my own thoughts on the reading. The reflection part of it is so helpful in clarifying things, and what it means to me at the time, so I can look back on it and see what I was thinking and feeling. I miss days here and there, and left it alone for a week shortly into the new year, but because I didn’t make a hardcore resolution, I was able to go back to it without giving it up as a lost cause simply because I missed days.
  8. DNF books when I’m not enjoying them. It’s still difficult for me to DNF books, especially when I think there’s hope for them to improve. But at some point, they become a lost cause for me, and I need to just stop reading them. With so many amazing reads out there, why settle on one that isn’t meeting my expectation?
  9. Start posting on social media again. I used to be really active on twitter, but I shut down my account after Elon Musk bought it. I didn’t really like the direction things were heading, and although I’m on Threads, it just isn’t the same. TikTok isn’t really a platform I like, and the more I watch it, the shorter my attention span seems to be. I’m also on Instagram, but lost a lot of motivation to be on there. It started feeling like a job, and I really needed a break. Now that I’ve been mostly away from social media for quite some time, I think its time to get back into posting, but not on any kind of rigid schedule. Just when I have something to say about a book. Or a recipe. Because you never know.
  10. Return comments and blog hop earlier in the week. Currently, I have a lot on my plate, but I need to make blog hopping a priority on Tuesday or Wednesdays. There’s a running theme in my intentions and that is to focus more on my priorities and not letting others dictate my sense of urgency. A lot of this involves my self-care, but also interacting with others and setting boundaries. Instead of waiting until I have time to spend blog hopping, I need to start making time for blog hopping. Especially since I always love seeing what’s going on in everyone else’s life, whether bookish or not. 

Those are my goals. Do we have any in common? Share yours and drop a link in your comment!

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51 replies »

  2. I’d say that 85-90% of the books I read I get from the library and since I live in a city near the county library hub and close to another county with a huge library system, I have three library cards. They all accept reciprocity with each other. So I can usually find the book I am looking for at one of the libraries. Why spend money on books when I can get them for free? I am also a big audiobook listener. In fact I have two going right now. One I’m listening to with my husband and he has committed to listening to an hour a day with me until we finish it. The other I am listening to on my own. It is tough keeping all the details straight. Good luck with your goals.

    My goals and challenges: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/p/2025-reading-goals-and-challenges.html

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    • Thank you so much, and I always love to see a fellow library patron! I’m just outside of NYC, so I was able to get cards to the Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens library branches. Since it would be a super inconvenient trip to make, I’m super glad they all offer online access to ebooks and audiobooks. Also, I enjoy reading mysteries often, but the lure kind of disappears when I know what’s going to happen, so I don’t reread a lot of those. Here’s to us staying on top of our details and goals!

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  3. A lot of your goals are really similar to my mine. In fact, I can see some common themes emerging from a lot of people’s contributions this week. A key part of this seems to be recognising that things have changed when it comes to ARCs and publishers are now prioritising content creators of Instagram and TikTok. I’ve had emails about forthcoming books which I’ve deleted straightaway because they only wanted people with thousands of followers on IG or TT – and I haven’t. I stepped back from blog tours over a year ago and have never regretted it. It came to feel like reading to order. I’m still bad at DNF-ing though!

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    • I do the same, but unfortunately I have limited shelf space so I’m trying to focus on keeping the books I really love so I can find a new favorite. But it’s absolutely going to hurt. I’m not a hoarder, except for books.

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    • I typically only buy a book if I know I’m going to love it because of the author or whatnot. If I don’t get an ARC, I take it out from the library before deciding if I need to have a copy of it.

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    • Haha the last time I really cared about social media was when it was called ‘passing notes’ and I didn’t want to get caught by the teacher. But I can still rely on books to be the same wonderful escape they’ve always been for me.

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  9. I really need to try to visit other bloggers more as well. I really only have time to blog in the morning before breakfast or a tiny bit of time after Wyatt’s nap (like right now lol) so I will skip a day of posting to just visit, but I need to increase that a bit.

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    • That’s the one that I need the most work on. I don’t visit other bloggers nearly as often as I should, and something I want to change for the better. I finally set boundaries today and told my mom she had half my day, and I’m going to spend the second half working on my blog, and it helped a lot.

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  11. I share a lot of your goals, particularly getting ARCs under control, reading for enjoyment, and visiting other blogs more often. I also need to donate some of my hard-copy ARCs, especially ones I’ve enjoyed. I didn’t know about Pango. Good luck with your 2025 goals!

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  12. Good luck on the ARCs! I’m so glad I never fell into this rabbit hole, it sounds so draining! I had a netgalley account just to see what all the fuzz was about, but I didn’t understand it. And now they closed it due to inactivity and honestly I don’t care. If I were you, I wouldn’t focus on your backlog of ARCs, especially if a reviewisn’t required. I would just leave them, unless the synopsis is still speaking to you. So there’s no pressure on them anymore.

    My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2025/01/14/top-ten-tuesday-bookish-goals-for-2025/

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    • I love getting ARCs, it’s just that my life has gotten more demanding and doesn’t always allow me as much time to read as I’d like. I’ve gotten all my past due NetGalley ARCs reviewed. I’ve been focused on reading upcoming releases first and getting to the overdue ones as I’m available.

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  13. These are all great goals. DNF more is such a good one. I did it yesterday and it actually felt really good! I also don’t want to be swamped with ARC’s. Somehow this week got me bad and I got really overwhelmed with ARC’s. I’m going to try and limit it to 2 ARC’s a month and not 5-6 like I have been doing. Good luck with all of these goals, Leah!

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  14. Sounds like you’ve set some reasonable goals. I also need to blog hop more and comment more on other people’s blogs outside of TTT. I love being part of the book blogosphere and I definitely need to show my support for other blogs more. Good luck with all your goals!

    Happy TTT!

    Susan

    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

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    • Thank you! This week’s post seems to have so many universal themes between all of our blogs, and I’m really loving it. Looking forward to checking your blog out more often – you always challenge me to read books I might not have thought of.

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  16. I genuinely enjoy the book tours. I only sign up for books I’ll enjoy. And sometimes I ask to do an author interview or spotlight and excerpt so I can read the book at my leisure. This takes a little stress out of it all.

    When my bookshelves get too full, I donate to my local library for the annual book sale. They get a lot of funding from the sale so I like to help out how I can.

    I only feel the need to post twice a week. If I post more, fine, if I only get out two posts then that’s okay too. When I’m in a writing mood, I work ahead so that if there comes a week when I just don’t feel like writing a post, I don’t have to.

    I write all my book reviews to meet the character count on Instagram and then I cross post it everywhere else. It makes things easier because I’m just copying and pasting to the other sites.

    I do enjoy visiting other blogs but I don’t want it to feel like a chore. I just do what I can when I can and hope others understand.

    Great post!

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    • All of this! Except the blog tours, but that’s just because they don’t work as easily for me as getting ARCs do. But I love that you keep your posting flexible, allowing you to write reviews when you have more time, and to take time away from the blog if you need to. That’s why I want to work on improving my scheduling abilities.

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    • I haven’t been buying as many, but I’m hoping to unhaul a little faster. I really like doing the State of the ARC post each month – it has helped me make progress in tracking my ARCs and getting them reviewed. I also keep two different checklists, one for my NG ARCs, and one for publisher/author ARCs which tend to be hard copies. It helps me avoid my mood reading tendencies taking over, so I read the ARCs on time.

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  19. I really need to go through and reorganize my books. There are several (way more than several, lol) that I got years ago and still haven’t read. They’re just shelf trophies at this point. I also know my tastes have changed and some of them might not even appeal to me anymore. We recently moved to this new house and I need to find a Little Free Library that’s close, or set one up in front of my house. Good luck with your goals! (Sorry if I commented twice. 😅)

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    • You’re good, and I really appreciate you stopping by. I’ve been keeping my books in color order, but I ran out of room and need to unhaul some and rearrange the rest. My taste in reading has also changed dramatically, and I find myself reading a lot of fantasy and very little YA anymore.

      You only commented once, by the way!

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  21. Great goals here Leah! DNF’ing more is one of the best things that I’ve done for my reading, as silly as it sounds, and I’ve made a really big effort so far to unhaul books I know I wont read, or wont read again…. but some are just too hard to give up lol

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  22. Although I didn’t make it a goal for the year, I really do want to let go of books I won’t be reading again. I have such a hard time with that. Because of that “what if” factor. These are great goals and I wish you good luck with them all!

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