Bookish Goals and Lists For 2017

For the past couple of years, all of my New Year's resolutions have been book related, including the various books I want to read and the number of books I want to read during the year. Last year I gave myself the initial goal of reading 70 books and then I bumped it up to 130, because I ended up having more reading time than I expected. This year, I'm setting my reading challenge at 140 books and I'm hoping to stick with it but due to school this year, I might have to change it. Over the past three years I've been slowly increasing my reading goal by 10 books and I'm slowly working my way to reading 150 books in a year.

While last year I made a list of the specific books I wanted to read last year, and I didn't do the best job of completing it. Even though I didn't get to read all the books on that list, it was still fun to compile and reflect on those books at the end of the year. But I also making these type of lists because I find it very satisfying to cross a book off of my TBR list. So here are the books that have been lying on my shelves that I want to get to in 2017:

1. More Middle Grade - This first goal is pretty general, but I just finished rereading the first four books in A Series of Unfortunate Events and I was reminded of how much I love the genre. I'm hoping to finally get to The Spiderwick Chronicles, which was one my list last year, and there's still a ton of Rick Riordan books that I've been wanting to read.

2. Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst - This is a fantasy novel, centered around Princess Dennaleia, who is betrothed to marry a prince of another kingdom where her magical ability is considered illegal, and she starts to develop romantic feelings for the prince's sister. This book has been on my radar for a while, and I have been dying to read it. The plot sounds so intriguing and I absolutely love reading books with diversity in them.

3. Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare - This is the first book in Clare's new trilogy set in the Shadowhunter universe. I finally read The Mortal Instruments series and The Infernal Devices trilogy last year in the span of a month and enjoyed them, but by the time that Lady Midnight was published, I was a little burnt out from that world and so I never felt like picking up this book. I definitely want to get to this book this year, especially with the sequel coming out in May.

4. Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie - I was obsessed with the Disney movie when I was a little kid (I would watch it almost every day). I somehow have never read the actual book, and I hoping to finally read it this year.

5. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake - This is a fantasy novel, centered around triplet princesses who have to kill each other for the crown. This is another book that has been on my radar for a while, but I didn't get to read it last year. I've heard great things about this book and I'm hoping to get to it before the sequel is released this year.

6. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab - This is the second book in the Shades of Magic Trilogy, I read the first book almost two years ago and absolutely loved it, and I have no excuse for not picking up this book yet. The last book comes out next month and I'm meeting the author in March, so I have to read this book before then.

7. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - This is a dystopian novel set in a world where people spend time actually living in video games. I have heard nothing but good things about this book, so I'm hoping to pick up this book soon.

Along with all the books that I finally want to read in 2017, there are also a TON of new releases. Here are some of the releases I'm most looking forward to:

Links (left to right): 01. 02. 03. 04. 05. 06. 07. 08. 09. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.

And those are just some of the books coming out in 2017 that I'm looking forward to, they're mostly the books coming out during the first half of the year and only the ones that have official covers released. I'm already feeling accomplished because I've read three of the four books on this list that have already been published. So I've obviously got a lot of reading I plan on doing this year and so little time. - Jessica