Read Your Shelf 2024 (or, my probably fruitless attempt to not buy any more books until I finish the ones I have)
I have…a lot of unread books. I’m doing my best to get through them all, I swear. I’m currently reading four books: “Grip of the Shadow Plague” by Brandon Mull, the third book in his Fablehaven series, which I’m reading with my older son; “Before You Leap,” by Keith Houghton, which I’m sorry to say has been sitting on my Kindle probably since it came out in 2016 (but I finally started it and it’s great!); “Tales of Horror,” by H.P. Lovecraft, which is a beast of a compilation that I’ve been making my way through in fits and starts since June 2020; and “A Promised Land,” by Barack Obama, which is far, far denser material than I expected and so I have been reading it as the mood strikes me.
These four books, however, are a drop in the ocean of my to-read pile. I have physical books that take up an entire bookshelf (not a single shelf, a whole bookshelf that I had to buy for the purpose of containing my TBRs) patiently waiting for me to open their pages. Amazon tells me I have 38 unread books on my Kindle. I’m not a huge New Year’s Resolutions person, but this one is pretty obvious: Read all the books.
It actually took me a while to find the perfect challenge to motivate me, but I finally settled on the aptly named “Read Your Shelf 2024” and I’m determined to make a dent in my TBRs this year. Beyond a book that I preordered back in November that won’t come out until May, I don’t intend to purchase any books for myself. There’s no such thing as having too many books, but I do feel more than a little gluttonous owning so many books I’ve not read. It’s time to give all the wonderful authors on my shelves their due (though, I’m sure quite happily, they already have my money!).
On January 1, I began reading “Before You Leap,” which could fill several different spots for this challenge, but I settled on “a book with water on the cover.” There are 60 total spaces to fill, and while I don’t actually believe I’ll manage to read 60 books this year, I will enjoy filling out what I can!
Are reading challenges your thing? Do you have a favorite? What are you currently reading?
This is so cute, and also such a good idea! Thanks for sharing it! I’ve done reading challenges the past two years where I just track what I read, but I am definitely printing this and using this for 2024!
I’ve already X’d out two squares, and I feel so powerful! The only challenge I’ve ever done is the annual Goodreads “how many books are you aiming to read this year” one, so this is definitely new to me–but I felt like I needed the extra motivation to really dig into my TBRs if I’m actually going to try not to buy any new books this year.