2023 Goals!

I was feeling chatty today! Let's talk a little about 2022, and a lot about what I want to do with my reading in 2023.
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[@thiadesg]

I really should go through my Goodreads "Want to read" shelf and clean it up, I have more than 600 titles in there! One of my goals for 2023 is to read a short story every day. I've discovered SFF magazines last year and it was so much fun, I have to try more of them.

[@timetoread1795]

I love chatty videos!! :) Hope this year has been going good so far!! My main goal, as of now, is to finish books on my chart of shame. I have waaaaayyyy too many books that I have started and not finished. It is embarrassing.

[@gorram]

Happy new year and welcome back, have missed your videos in my sub box. Happy with whatever kind of videos you want to put out it is always just lovely to have you around. Surviving 2022 feels like enough of an achievement to me, trying to not look back on it and just move forward is a good move. Some nice goals for you here, directed but interesting so hopefully that will keep the motivation going. Tackling my owned books is my goal for this year only reading goal for the year. Working in a library I come home with books all the time and just don’t make a dent in the piles I already own. Started the year by taking everything back that was on my card and picking up something from the pile that doesn’t fit on my bookshelves. Or the backlog of audiobooks I own. Or the ebooks…. 😅

[@leticiatoraci9855]

Great goals, I made a new shelf on Goodreads called 2022-TBR where I added only the books I really want to read. This shelf had around 200 books while my want to read shelf remains at around 2000. I read 50 books in this shelf without even focusing on it and the ones I didn't read are now my 2023 - TBR shelf.

[@Kalanadi]

Leticia, I think that is a brilliant idea! I've been obsessed with deleting books from my TBR, but not necessarily tried grouping ones I'm excited about. So now I've gone ahead and made an "excited" shelf for pick-up-next reads, and "tryout" for things I want to glance through from the library. Both will be very handy!

[@cosynovelniche]

Happy new year ^^ wishing you all the best life & reading wise 💕

[@Kalanadi]

Thank you! Happy New Year!

[@aliciacampos5789]

I haven’t really made any goals for 2023, but I definitely want to read more of my science fiction short story collections and anthologies. I own a lot of them and this year I think I only finished three of them. I really like sci-fi short fiction And I keep buying them because they just tempting me, lol.

[@Kalanadi]

I always think I should read more anthologies, especially when awards nominating season rolls around. But I struggle to keep up with them, and short fiction magazines, these days. Wishing you luck though!

[@katherinevdkirk]

Gödel Escher Bach just made me subscribe . No pressure, i have not read it yet either. I even misplaced my copy... but i will get through it!

[@Kalanadi]

GEB is definitely a bucket list book! It's quite an experience so far...

[@MaijaReads]

I love the stat graph reason for reading big books! 😆 I added you on Storygraph, I also use both GR and that.

[@Kalanadi]

Lol, yep - sometimes a simple stupid reason is good enough! We all love a good graph or chart, and seeing how we can get it to change. I need to figure out friending people on Storygraph. I've literally never looked at it for that... eep.

[@MaijaReads]

@@Kalanadi I like that Storygraph isn't really "for" that, that it isn't a social media. I've followed I think 4 people there.

[@MrBerniemcgovern]

Yay update! You're a fresh of breath air :) More forever

[@dorkabrain]

I’m curious who did the artwork for La Luna Negra, and whether they were influenced by the Yoshiyuki Momose from Studio Ghibli. My “Want to Read” shelf is the one thing I miss about Goodreads. It was huge, and I would have never got to most of them, but it still hurt when something malfunctioned and I lost my screenshots when I deleted my account. I hope your year ahead, both with reading and everything else, is rewarding and wonderful. And I hope I can be less terrible about starting chats with you , because I really like them.

[@Kalanadi]

I wondered that about the Selento Books art. They don't list authors or artists of any of their titles (odd?!), but all their covers have this same Ghibli-like style. Not gonna lie - it was one of the reasons I bought the book! I'm really sorry you lost your want to read list. That sucks!

[@ianhanschen]

Theory of mind is engaging stuff. Hope you enjoy Hofstadter. You might enjoy reading Daniel Dennett’s essay “Where Am I?” if you get bored of Hofstadter.

[@aneweliseonlife]

Yay for surviving 2022! 🎉 I barely made it haha This year my goal is to start reviewing what I read. I’m not yet sure if I want to share my reviews, but I want to focus on quality of thought over quantity of books/pages this year. Also my reading project of reading around the world I started last year and plan to continue. Here’s to a great year!

[@Kalanadi]

Have you tried a private reading journal? I've kept one for three years now and it's been so nice. I use it to just make messy reviews and figure out how I really feel about something, and no one gets to see that thought process but it's very helpful!

[@aneweliseonlife]

@@Kalanadi I haven’t tried a reading journal, but that seems to be exactly what would fit best. I will try and commit for a couple months and see if I can make it a habit

[@charlessmyth]

You can get the entire DS9 series on DVD that has the dialogue in English, Italian, German, French and Spanish. That's 180 hours of something you might enjoy :-) Many other DVDs have a similar option. The Good Wife, for example :-)

[@ThatsSoPoe]

Oh, I love the idea of trying a chapter as a way to cull a TBR! I love doing try a chapter vlogs, so maybe I'll try that this year too. My list of books tagged in Libby is out of control. 😁 And your chatty Friday reads are some of my favorite videos, so I'm looking forward to seeing whatever you end up posting! Also, any time you want to buddy read something, just let me know. 😊

[@Kalanadi]

You know, I think a lot of people like my Friday Reads videos but I always feel like they are disorganized chaos, so I avoid them... eek. On the other hand, I like the opportunity to talk about more personal stuff in them, which has never really fit into my wrap-ups and reviews. I absolutely love doing Try a Chapter to cull TBRs. I found extremely effective before when I was dealing with 90+ books on my physical TBR. It's a method that really made me more comfortable with "giving up on" books, even after I'd bought them. I will DM you about buddy reads - we'll figure out something soon! I'm very excited!

[@allthegoodthings707]

One of my on-going reading goals is to read more series. It's so hard to start one because I have so many other single titles to read. For 2023, I just set the same goal as every year: 52 books. Have you read any Peter F. Hamilton? I read the Commonwealth duology - Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained - in 2022. Both are right about 1000 pages, so hefty, but very good reads. They expanded my understanding of what SF can be, mostly regarding scale. I recommend writing down a few quick notes about each character when they are introduced.

[@Kalanadi]

I really considered adding a series goal this year too, because I have not read from many that I started years ago. Good luck reading more! I usually find I have the opposite problem with too many series and not enough solid standalones, especially in genre fiction. I did read Pandora's Star some years ago, and decided not to continue. I liked Hamilton's type of SF - his ideas and such - but I really hated how he wrote female characters. That's the one thing that's stuck with me unfortunately! Perhaps someday I'll try a different series by him though.

[@SarahEverMotionBooks]

Happy Late New Year! 😁 I have definitely done a similar TBR cull on Goodreads before and it could just be me and how much I love lists but it was so satisfying, so I 100% understand that 😅

[@Kalanadi]

It IS so satisfying! I mean, nothing better than crossing items off a list, and then making other spiffier updated lists, right? I spend way too much time staring at book lists...

[@SarahEverMotionBooks]

@@Kalanadi Oh my god me too. I live by a good list. Make it a Book List and I'm so ready to party 😆

[@bethd4739]

I really enjoyed Babel by R.F. Kuang, and I think you might as well? My goals this year are to read 12 books per month, read more diverse authors, and read one NF book each month, We shall see!

[@Kalanadi]

I read about 20 pages of Babel when it first came out (then lost it back to the library and a long holds list...) and was so interested in it! That's why I'm considering buying a copy so I can just take my time with it. I may be completely wrong about this, but it almost gave me Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell vibes (though, different time period, place, etc. Hard to explain, maybe it's just how I reacted to it was so similar).

[@bethd4739]

@@Kalanadi If it helps, BABEL made me tear up on public transportation at one point near the end? YMMV, of course, but I got very invested in the characters.

[@TheFancyHatLadyReads]

Let's do a buddy reeeeaad!!! (What's on your TBR that I might also have? I can also stalk your TBR shelf on Goodreads and come up with suggestions.)

[@TheFancyHatLadyReads]

Update: I have done the aforementioned stalking, and I would suggest Spirits Abroad, The Mythology of Salt and other Stories, or A Song for a New Day. We could also go with any number of newer releases, but those three have been on my shelves for longer, and I need some encouragement to pick them up.

[@Kalanadi]

Omg, YES, to A Song for a New Day, especially, and also Spirits Abroad. I think I will love Spirits Abroad and it's very fun to discuss short stories with others... but A Song for a New Day is one of my cursed books. I need a buddy read to get me to actually read this one - it's a rare Nebula winner I haven't even attempted! Even though I've checked it out from the library three or four times! I'll DM you.....

[@FinalBlowJoe]

A skip year is totally understandable as of lat with world events. Your goal of reading twelve bigger books makes me think that I think I'm in a similar situation with my books being a little shorter for some reason. I haven't seen the duo-lingo changes yet and I'm wondering when it will be applied. I know you'll do well with all your goals for the year. I can, obviously, help with the buddy read one. Also it makes me smile to see the Christmas cards behind you.

[@Kalanadi]

Huh... I wonder if Duolingo is rolling out the changes more slowly? I have had the updated version for Spanish since November. I'm a little upset I lost some of my progress, because the organization of the units is a bit off from the old levels, but otherwise it's more "bite sized" for me. I knew you would be looking for the Christmas cards, haha! :-P

[@FinalBlowJoe]

@@Kalanadi That's got me thinking, I seem to remember something about how they were going to not do the roll out in one big go. I put more value on the cards nowadays than I ever would of guessed I would when I first started booktube.

[@FinalBlowJoe]

@@Kalanadi I will let you know when I see the changes.

[@1book1review]

Numbers based goals are great to know what you have achieved. Good luck with all those and looking forward to hear how things are going. My goals are less quantitative as usual, but want to focus on reading a German author per month and finally finish the Dirscowrld series reread. Alos tackling some more of those classics I want to have read at some point. Also made a bunch of non bookish goals as usual hoping those will help 2023 be less exhausting and overwhelming than 2022.

[@Kalanadi]

I really admire your Discworld reread - I've wanted to do that for so many years and just haven't gotten in the groove. I don't know, it seems like 2022 was exhausting and stressful for everyone, and I've seen so many people saying it really impacted their happiness and mental health and things they usually enjoy... it was just horrible. Good luck with 2023!

[@1book1review]

@@Kalanadi Thanks Rachel. If you need a motivation for a discworld reread, Lianne from novelmenagerie is hosting a really fun readalong that started this year. With all the readlong perks and different templates.

[@thekeywitness]

Those SF Masterworks on your shelf would provide plenty of motivation for me. I expect to read umpteen SFM titles this year.

[@Kalanadi]

I hope you enjoy them!! Once I finish the few masterworks I own, I'll be picking some new ones to buy. Really, it's a neverending list, I cannot keep up with the new ones! 😄

[@amosfamous5836]

Oh and GEB is amazing!👏 I'm going to reread that this year!👍😃

[@Kalanadi]

I'm two chapters and two dialogues into GEB and it's fascinating! It's also kind of breaking my brain (um, metalogic has never been my greatest strength) but the writing is really pulling me along. Plus I love learning about the history of the various concepts and fields he's pulling in. So interesting!

[@Aramsam-Sam]

Good luck with your reading goals, I hope this year will be much kinder to you!

[@Kalanadi]

Thank you! It's already started off great, so I'm feeling very, very optimistic, haha

[@Aramsam-Sam]

@@Kalanadi Fingers crossed!

[@amosfamous5836]

Hello 👋 Rachel! Happy New Year!🎉 Excellent 👏 goals especially the Spanish language reads 📚. I've been trying to read new Science Fiction all year but have added a few classics that I've missed for next year. 🤔 Thanks for all your suggestions this year!👍 Cheers! 🍻

[@charlessmyth]

For an audiobook, the rate runs to close to a bit more than 9,000 words per hour. So 15 hours is a safe measure for 500 pages+

[@Kalanadi]

That's what I typically look for! I like my 15 or 20 hour non fiction books, and then I listen to them at 1.6x speed, so it only takes 10 hours, heh.

[@charlessmyth]

@@Kalanadi That will work for the likes of a Scott Brick drawl of a read. I prefer to take it an hour at a time :-) There are quite a few of the Simon and Schuster Star Trek books (read by the cast, in many instances) that they slashed down to a quarter of the printed book length, yet claim it as the full book :-)

[@ReadBecca]

Yay for goals! I'm dropping that 12 over 500 goal for myself this year, but I had it the past couple years for the same reason as you and it did put chunky books back in my reading. GEB is a real undertaking! I havent read it but I have it, and I follow /r/GEB for whenever I do because I know there is so much to it. Good luck with all your intentions!

[@Kalanadi]

There must be a reddit thread for *everything*, haha! I will have to check in with that. So far, just about 15 pages in, I'm rather surprised at how readable DRH's writing is... just, he seems to have a sense of levity too? I like it!

[@InfiniteText]

I also felt like 2022 was meh...I decided to journal more in the year to come. I gave myself a word of the year which is "Recovery" and a theme which is "Slow Living." I'm hoping by keeping those two at the forefront I'll bounce back. I like that your goals are flexible and allow for changing your mind. Congrats on your duolingo progress! I remember you keeping up with it in Chicago! I have a good feeling about this year Rachel!

[@Kalanadi]

I really want to amp up my journaling this year. I have fresh notebooks for my diary and my reading journal, and I've also added a gratitude journal to see how that goes (so far, I really look forward to it!). I like your word of the year - "recovery" seems so appropriate right now.

[@WorldsinInk]

Happy New Year! Those are great goals and quite a few of them are similar to mine. My biggest goal is to host the Speculative Fiction Invaders reading challenge. I was sneaky enough to have the prompts include most of the goals I want to achieve. A) Finish more series, B) Read 500+ page books, C) Read more short fiction and D) Read what I already own. That way I get to tackle all my goals in a gamified way and other people can join in too. 😄

[@Kalanadi]

Very sneaky but smart :-) I hope you get a lot of good things read this year!

[@WorldsinInk]

@@Kalanadi thanks! After the disaster that was last year I really need a good year. I'm sure you'll far exceed all your goals (like you normally do!).

[@Kim_Traveling_in_Books]

Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is a better year for you than 2022. I wish Duolingo helped me to learn languages, but I always come out of the experience feeling like all I can do is parrot back the sentences it taught me. I need a human instructor to walk me through sentence construction and whatnot. So congrats on your progress there, and good luck getting to the end of the course!

[@Kalanadi]

I think there are definitely limitations with how much Duolingo can teach. I use the mobile app and have noticed recently that I can speak my answers sometimes (and then correct the transcription...) - and that's been a real level up in terms of forcing myself to think through the translation, and not just put together puzzle pieces of words. But I feel like that was not an option early on in the course, weird!

[@keeley_reads]

You have such great goals! I'm on day 424 of learning Japanese in Duolingo and I'm a total chickenshit when it comes to moving to the next section lol. Great job hitting over 600 days! that's incredible! I can't wait until my physical TBR is under 100 books lol. You can totally hit your goals!!!!

[@Kalanadi]

Gosh, the older Duolingo system just had these really long topic units and long levels that I could never hit the end of. I'd start and unlock like 20 topics and then take months to finish them. 424 days with Japanese is amazing though!! If you want a language buddy, I'm kalanadi on Duolingo too.

[@bretgrandrath2935]

Happy New Year! Re 500 page books, my brother-in -law has a theory. He only reads books over 400 pages because if the author doesn't put in that much commitment he doesn't feel it's worth his time. My theory is the editor was afraid to cut it down. Re reading Spanish, my English speaking great-nephew is in 3rd grade and is in some kind of Spanish immersion program. He showed me some of the books he got for Christmas and when I told him I didn't know what they were saying he was able to tell me. So the program seems to be working.

[@Kalanadi]

I'm with you - if I see super long books, my first thought is "was this edited brutally enough for the story to have an actual shape?" Because when you do read a massive tome that needs to be that long for the fantastic story, you can just *tell*. I'm very jealous of kids today in language immersion programs. They don't seem common but are so much more effective than diving into your first foreign language in high school! Also - side note - did you get my message on Patreon?

[@bretgrandrath2935]

@Kalanadi got it now, took a while to figure out how to find it.

[@Alchimystic]

Maybe a good option for a 2nd Spanish book would be... Cuentos Completos, by Jorge Luis Borges. It will not be easy, but it was recommended by another youtube channel as a collection of short stories that linger in our mind long after finishing it. It also has more than 500 pages. There is no Portuguese translation for it (my native language), but despite there are English versions, i might give it a try in Spanish. I was very impressed by the entusiasm of the youtuber describing it

[@kilimanjarocruz660]

Regarding Borges in Portuguese: I'm not sure what country you live in, but Companhia das Letras has published most - if not all - of his work in Brazil. From what I could glean, the translations were pretty good. And I really have enjoyed the books I've read so far, both the content and the edition. Edit: Typo

[@singaporeghostclub]

Is Anna Karina a good read? I’m reading Brothers Karamazov and I’m getting into Russian lit recently. Any recommendations?

[@aliciacampos5789]

Hi, Rachel. I always enjoy watching your videos. This late night comment is brought to you Courtesy of my insomnia. I was thinking about you earlier today because I was watching a video about sci-fi books to recommend to fantasy readers, The name of the channel is Words in Time. The recommendation that came to mind immediately was The Steerswoman Series by Rosemary Kirstein, which I learned about from you and it is one of my all-time favorite science fiction series. I wonder if she will ever finish it.

[@Kalanadi]

Yay, the Steerswoman! I'm no longer holding my breath for the rest of the series, but I would love to reread the four that are out. They were just so good. Occasionally I check on Kirstein's website to see if she's had any updates, but since 2016 it's been pretty much the same thing... drafts, revisions, life stuff getting in the way.

[@aliciacampos5789]

@@Kalanadi lol, I also occasionally go on her website to check. Not holding my breath, but hopeful 😊

[@tarabyt3]

Ahhh projects that will not end. If you're interested in Priory of the Orange Tree, I'll buddy read it with you. I've been on the fence on it because at almost 900 pages I am intimidated so I just keep putting it off. >.> If not... I'll just keep putting it off lol. Dang, girl! Get that Duolingo streak! Maybe I'll join you in the down-to-12-owned-unread-book challenge... I only need to read like 10 to get there so I think it's doable! I had to clear some books from my want-to-read on Goodreads because I'm just not interested in a bunch anymore, but there were so many I only got partway through lol.

[@Kalanadi]

Do it! We should buddy ready something from your TBR to help get that number down! I'm really not sure about Priory of the Orange Tree. I think I would be very conflicted about it based on what I've heard from other people, and yet it's also so popular...? (I could be convinced to give it a shot.)

[@tarabyt3]

@@Kalanadi I'm not going to try too hard to convince you lol. The conflicts also pushed me away a bit. I'll let you know what I have and see if you want to read any of them. :D

[@allthegoodthings707]

What are the two books not on Goodreads? I have librarian status and should be able to add them.

[@Kalanadi]

I just found one of them (I think GR's search just wouldn't bring it up before), and the other is a Space Family Robinson Annual from 1967 that doesn't have an ISBN. I suspect it's not considered a "book".

[@dugebuwembo]

Kalanadi you started reading the first chapter of the Dragon Griaule by Lucius Shepherd and liked it are you going to complete & review the rest of the book?

[@Kalanadi]

Yep, I will still finish it! It's one of the older books on my TBR I'm quite interested in returning to.