Top 5 Wednesday: 2018 Reading Resolutions

 

Kids, this is my Bob Saget voice and today I’m doing my first Top 5 Wednesday post of the year. This week’s topic is your top five reading resolutions for 2018. I learned a lot from my 2017 reading experience, so I’ve come up with a few ways to make sure this year is better. I’m really hoping these resolutions will help make 2018 a stress-free reading year with better content. So, here’s the what’s and the why’s that I hope to accomplish this year:

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1. I want to beat my Goodreads goal. In order to do this, I picked a number that’s far more manageable. This year I want to read at least eighty five books. Trying to read a hundred books was way too much pressure. This way, I’m more certain to reach my goal and then I can read as much or as little as I want once I do. This also allows me to focus more on the books I want to read, rather than books I feel like I have to read.
2. I plan on reading less YA. Now, I have nothing against YA. Far from it— I’ve loved YA for years. I’ve just been feeling really burned out on it and keep finding myself disappointed by it. This, I think, is due primarily to two reasons: I am no longer part of the target demographic and I’ve already read a ton of it. It’s getting harder to relate to teenage characters and their struggles and coming-of-age stories. I mean, I just turned twenty-five. Additionally, I’ve read countless YA books and series over the years, especially fantasy. I know all the tropes now, so it’s getting harder to have a novel experience with a YA fantasy book. It’s not necessarily that the books are predictable, but that I’ve read enough of the genre to anticipate how things will go. I’m not going to quit YA, but I do want to shift my focus away from it this year.
3. I’m going to stop reading hyped books and instead read books I think sound interesting. That’s not to say I don’t think a lot of hyped books sound interesting, just that it’s not a good enough reason to prioritize a book. Hyped books also have that much more potential to be a letdown. I want to try to read mainly based on my interests alone. Even if this limits the amount of fandom content available, I think it’ll be worth it.
4. I want to read more books with antihero protagonists. I’m really tired of the good vs. evil dynamic. I want more characters that are morally ambiguous but you can still root for. I want characters out for themselves, characters for whom the ends justify the means. I really love that territory in those shades of gray and want more main characters who utilize this type of thinking. Bring ‘em on.
5. I want to read more books with F/F romances. As a lesbian, this one is pretty self-explanatory. Give me soft girlfriends and epic love affairs. Give me hate-to-love and friends-to-lovers. Give me all the tropes but make them gay. That’s all I ask.

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What are your reading resolutions for the year? Do you have any recommendations based on mine? Tell me about them in the comments!