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Hello everyone! I hope your solstice was peaceful and beautiful. I am still recovering from the sinus infection my kids charitably bestowed on me, but I wanted to share something I created for myself that I'm really excited about.
If you usually enjoy content about books/reading habits, this is for you!
**If you're reading this in the email, it might cut off due to length. Viewing in the browser or on the app can fix this.
At the end of November, I was looking over the books I'd read so far this year and what I was still hoping to finish before the end of 2023. Last year, using the StoryGraph and GoodReads apps1 I had set a reading goal of 50 books for this year, which (thanks mostly to audiobooks and my new reading rhythm) I have now surpassed.
For next year, I decided I wanted to increase my goal a bit (but not so much that it became overwhelming), and I thought I'd look through my “to be read” list to get an idea of what my year of reading might look like.
As I scrolled through my seven hundred (!) plus (!!) long list, I found myself feeling really overwhelmed and realized I don't want to keep doing this all year.
Thus began the creation of my 2024 Reading Queue.
I'm going to share my own queue at the bottom of the post for anyone interested, but first I want to explain what exactly it is (and isn't), and how I narrowed it down.
My reading queue is a concentrated list of the books I'm most interested in reading in the coming year. It is approximately2 the length of my reading goal for the year, with the flexibility to add or remove books as I see fit.
It is not unchangeable and will not be a source of shame should I end up not finishing every book on the list - this includes any books that I dnf3, as well as any that are still on the list at the end of the year.
Instead, it will make the experience of choosing my next book easier, as well as give me the ability to plan ahead a bit farther (by putting books from the list on hold, since most of the books I read are borrowed through the Libby app) so I don't lose my momentum.
I didn't want to make up a bunch of arbitrary rules for my queue, but I did create some simple parameters.
First, I decided to break the list into sections; this will allow me to easily find the type of book that will best suit the reading gap I'm looking to fill based on what I've just finished and what else I'm reading. Within each section, there is no particular order.
While I have a number of books on the list that are part of a series, I've included only the first book from each one; this is because I have no way of knowing whether I will want to continue reading the subsequent books in the series after finishing the first, so I didn't feel the need to clutter the list.
I also did not include many romance novels in the queue; this is not because I don't intend to read any - if you've been here very long you've probably noticed my appreciation for smut - but because I tend to read them very quickly and often stick with one series at a time, picking them up on a whim.
There are a couple of books on the list that are new releases in 2024; these are specifically from authors whose other work I love. I included their release months on my list so I don't get confused/to make it easier to plan.
As I mentioned before, the list is fluid; it's likely that by the end of the year I will have decided to prioritize some books that are not currently on the list, and equally likely that I will spiral down a lengthy series or two if any on the list end up being particularly compelling. At the end of the year, if I decide to do it again, I'll likely evaluate what's left to begin a new list for 2025, only carrying over anything I'm still excited about.
And lastly, since I'm following the War and Peace slow read (and will therefore literally be reading it all year) I didn't bother adding it to the queue; I'm already committed to it, so in my mind, it has in essence already been removed from the queue.
If you're interested in creating your own 2024 reading queue, I recommend thinking about what your reading habits are like, if you have any specific reading goals, and what books you're currently most excited about.
These things can help you decide how long the list should be, whether and how you'd like to categorize it, and what feels deserving of a place on it.
Of course, this isn't meant to be prescriptive or stressful - I specifically created it for myself to be the exact opposite. I feel energized and clear-headed by the idea of following my reading queue; if the idea of creating and using your own fills you with dread, then please honour that feeling and skip it.
Say it with me: We are not adding unnecessary stress to the end/beginning of the year, or to reading in general.
Now, without further ado (and, again, in no particular order):
✨️My 2024 Reading Queue✨️
FICTION:
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult
Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult
Grasmere Cottage Mystery by Dahlia Donovan
Darling Girl by Liz Michalski
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
Elinor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher
The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
Midnight Ruin by Katee Robert (Jan 2024)
The Book of Thorns by Hester Fox (Apr 2024)
NONFICTION:
How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell
Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality by Shannon Evans
Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Rural Life by Gretchen Legler
Everything Beautiful: A Guide to Finding Hidden Beauty in the World by Ella Frances Sanders
You Could Make This Place Beautiful: A Memoir by
Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be by Becky Kennedy
Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by
Little Weirds by Jenny Slate
How to Raise a Plant and Make it Love You Back by Erin Harding and Morgan Doane
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Untamed by Glennon Doyle
On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
MIDDLE GRADE:
The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes
The Clackity by Laura Senf
Falling Out of Time by Margaret Peterson Haddix
REREADS:
Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator by Jennifer Allison
Nobody's Princess by Esther Friesner
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Safe-Keeper's Secret by Sharon Shinn
Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet and Brett Helquist
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Are you interested in creating your own reading queue? Have you ever done this before? If so, I'd love to hear about your plans and/or experience in the comments! And as always, feel free to share if this resonated with you!
Yes, I use both😅
It's technically over my reading goal, but I believe in myself, and also the list and my goal aren't meant to perfectly overlap.
Did not finish - books that were started but that I couldn't get through; I haven't come across many of these, but you never know.
My Goodreads "To Read" shelf is overflowing and yet here I am adding a few more from your list. You'll definitely enjoy Untamed, it has been one of my favorite reads of the year.
Legends and lattes has been in my TBR for so long! I even own it. Maybe I'll read it this year.