Bookish Goals & Lists For 2016

For the past two years I've had a renewed interest in reading. After I read the Harry Potter series when I was a child I became hooked on reading books and I spent a good chunk of my time reading. That all stopped when I entered high school, because I was so busy with school work and getting actual jobs that I hardly read anything that wasn't required reading. Last year my New Year's Resolution was to read more books, and I succeeded by reading a total of 120 books. This year I'm going to be so busy with school but I still have a lot of reading goals. I mentioned in my December wrap up that I'm tentatively setting my reading goal at 70 books. Obviously I would love to read more than that and at least try to attempt to surpass last year's goal. I've already read 13 books so far (but 9 of those books are quick and easy to read Sailor Moon mangas) so maybe I'll get close to reaching it!

I've had a bit of a book buying problem lately and I have a lot of books on my shelf that I haven't read. Some are books that I've been looking forward to reading and just haven't gotten around to and others are books that have sat unread on my shelves for a while. So here are a list of the books that I intent to finally read in 2016:

1. Jane Austen collection - I have been slowly collecting all of Jane Austen's book in the lovely Vintage Classic editions designed by Leanna Shapton. I have been obsessed with these covers ever since I discovered them and now that I finally have all of them I can't wait to read them. I have never read any of Jane Austen's book and I really want to read more classic books in the future.

2. The Grisha Trilogy and Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - I have heard a lot of mixed things about The Grisha Trilogy and a lot of great things about Six of Crows. I'm not entirely sure what these books are about other then the fact that they are fantasy books that take place in the same world, but are separate stories that can be read individually. Despite what I've heard about The Grisha Trilogy I bought all of Bardugo's books and I'm looking forward to reading them sometime this year.

3. Forgive Me if I've Told You This Before by Karelia Stetz-Waters - This is a coming of age story surrounding an outcast girl in a small town who is struggling with bullying and her sexuality. Every single review that I've seen on Goodreads and Amazon has praised this book and I really don't know why I've been putting of reading it but this year I will.

4. The Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi - This is a book series that I have wanted to read since the movie came out in 2008 and I never got around to it. I recently purchased the whole series and all of the books are under 200 pages so I'm hoping to finally get to them this year. Overall I really want to read middle grade series because there are so many that have come out since I was younger or that I haven't read.

5. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr - This is a historical fiction novel that takes place in France during WWII. I have heard nothing but good things about this book (and it's won so many awards). I'm really not sure why I haven't read it but it will happen this year and I really want to read more adult fiction this year.

6. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson - This is a graphic novel and from what I gather it centers around villians and dragons. It sounds awesome and I have been wanting to get into reading graphic novels and this book seems like the perfect place to start.


Along with all the books that I want to finally get around to in 2016 there are so many books that I'm looking forward to coming out this year. Most of the books I'm anticipating are sequels or new books/series by authors that I love.

Links from left to right: 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

And these are all just the books that have covers, there still the fifth Land of Stories book. J.K. Rowling should have two books coming out this year, although they haven't been announced yet, I'm hoping the fourth Cormoran Strike book (but seriously J.K. Rowling has been working on Fantastic Beasts and the Cursed Child so I'm overly optimistic about this one) and the second illustrated Harry Potter book will come out later this year. And then there's the fifth Throne of Glass book that scheduled to come out in September (fingers crossed that this keeps the September 9th release date). And theres so many books that I know I'm forgetting, I'm overwhelmed with how many good books are coming out this year.

And that just about covers my reading goals for this year! I'm probably overly optimistic with these goals, I have a good feeling that I'm not going to be able to get to every single book on this list, but I hope I can! - Jessica