2023 Reading Projects

Happy New Year, everyone! Though the blog was neglected by yours truly for the better part of the final stretch of 2022 (a combination of my finishing up college and a much needed break from internet content creation as a whole), I’m looking forward to the fresh start of the new year and sharing my reading with you all in 2023.

With the new year brings new reading challenges and goals. I’m all about intentional language so I’m intentionally not using the word “resolutions” to keep the pressure off. My reading habits and taste have changed a lot over the last year, and I’m sure they will continue to evolve, so I want these reading projects to be low maintenance and fun.

The Count of Monte Cristo Reading Challenge

Upon the completion of my undergrad studies in English, I have developed a renewed interest in reading classical works that I was never assigned in class. It’s a bit ironic how now that I am no longer an English student, I want to read more backlist classics, but I was dragging my feet to read them while taking the courses. Ha. I figured that I might as well hone this interest toward reading a very large tome, so I chose The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas which clocks in around 1,200 pages. I read the first chapter or so and was immediately intrigued so I have high hopes. It’s going to be quite the challenge for me since the book is extremely long, but I’ve got the year to do it. Fingers crossed!

The Annual Austen Read

Over the last two years or so, I’ve made it a personal goal of mine to read at least book by Jane Austen during the year. I did not complete this goal in 2022, unfortunately, so I definitely want to get back on track in 2023. I’ve previously read both Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed them way more than I initially expected. I now own Persuasion and Northanger Abbey in my personal library (thank you B&N sale!), so I’d like to check off at least one of those.

Continue & Complete Incomplete Series

This project is the one that I’d be the most proud to make some progress in this year. One of the downsides to reading so many books each year is that I inevitably start and stop a ton of series. So it’s time that I buckle down and try to get some of them done, or at least continued. It’s so easy for me to read the first few books in a series, but, somehow, I always lose steam towards the end, especially after I finish a weaker installment. DNFing series is also an option, but typically if I at least own the series in its entirety, that signals that, I–at some point–had the intention of reading it from start to finish. So I think it’s only fair that I at least try to see that through. And if it doesn’t stick then I’ll at least feel a little better about parting ways with the books and making more shelf space.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of all my unfinished series. I didn’t include any that are still on-going, and I only listed a few that are currently at the top of my radar. So long as I make progress toward finishing one or two of my previously started series this year, I’ll be happy.

• The Storm of Echoes by Christelle Dabos (The Mirror Visitor #4)
• Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #4)
• The House of Hades by Rick Riordan (Heroes of Olympus #4)
• Kill Switch by Penelope Douglas (Devil’s Night #3)
• The Kingdom of Copper by S.A. Chakraborty (Daevabad #2)
• Lover Mine by J.R. Ward (Black Dagger Brotherhood #7)
• Mister Impossible by Maggie Stiefvater (The Dreamer Trilogy #2)

And that’s it! These three projects are more than enough to guide some of my 2023 reading. Here’s to a great reading year :).