reflecting on 2023 | did I achieve my reading goals?

This is always one of my favorite videos to film every year! I love to reflect on reading goals!
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booktube, booktuber, book recommendations

[@lucyleadbeater7081]

Congratulations on 5 years! I've spent many a happy hour listening to you talk books. Thank you so much!

[@jenniferbrooks]

Wow, thank you so much!! 🥹

[@JemimaRose]

the most festive background!!

[@inkiwell]

Hahaha “You never DNF?? How are you living?” Lol amen! Tfs 😊🎄

[@Thecatladybooknook_PennyD]

I love when booktubers I follow have a goal of reading from their shelves....I think it gives me a feeling of a list of sorts. And reading a majority from my shelves the past 2 years has really been helpful in giving me more space and/or let me organize where my shelves look prettier.

[@jenniferbrooks]

that's so true! reading your shelves is kind of like reading through a list.

[@ChristyLuisDostoevskyinSpace]

Your dedication to developing a reading life that fits you is so inspiring! Keep it up 🔥🔥🔥

[@joshuacreboreads]

That’s a very beautiful Christmas tree in the background!

[@neo_khedna127]

Im so glad i found your channel this year....much love from brazil 🎉

[@jenniferbrooks]

Thank you!!

[@disakland4714]

I have a lot of the same experience this year. I set goal to 15 and put away the want to read all the YA I get recommended from booktube and dived back into classics realising that’s more what I grew up loving from my parents shelf. Now I’m at almost 60 books and while not the highest number I have had I have just had a blast, hands down best reading yesr I have ever had.

[@robincapuano8216]

Merry Christmas! ❤

[@stephenn3727]

Thank you Jennifer! Merry Christmas.

[@mimishimaineko1173]

Setting goals can feel like making New Year resolutions. Congrats on your achievements, especially on being honest with yourself!🧡

[@JemimaRose]

i think you can remove books from your kindle - so you still own them on your amazon account but they're not sitting on your kindle. this might make you feel better about the idea of unhauling on there... also, your hair looks so pretty here! 🤍

[@jenniferbrooks]

Thank you!!

[@Justine_S]

I love your channel, Jennifer! Thank you for the great content and Merry Christmas! 🎄

[@jenniferbrooks]

thank you so much, Justine! merry Christmas!

[@bad-girlbex3791]

Changing goals? Changing content style? Changing taste in books? Hey, that happens to us all as we grow, age and change our priorities. Just promise that you'll never stop saying "y'all" the way you do! As a Brit I can't get away with using it in conversation (sounds very strange coming out of my mouth with my accent) although I sprinkle it in tweets, comments and text messages whenever I can get away with it; but I just love the way it sounds with your accent - to me it sounds like a proper Southern Belle. I attribute 20% of my overall enjoyment from your videos to the accent and in particular your use of "y'all"; so as long as that doesn't change, the rest is all just details. All the best for 2024! 💙 x

[@FollowSmoke]

I love your channel, especially the coverage on classics. But I just wanted to say that your hair looks amazing!

[@jenniferbrooks]

thank you!

[@josmith5992]

It sounds like you’re really doing what feels right to you Jennifer, reading what you love, not doing readathons, keeping numbers low etc.and I’m sure your viewers will follow you along with any changes. I’m going to take part in less readathons and challenges because I’m enthusiastic at first and that soon fades, it will also make reading from my own shelves much easier as well as perhaps some mood reading 😮

[@jenniferbrooks]

I'm exactly the same way! I get really excited about a readathon or challenge but it does pretty quickly fade for me too. Mood reading is great in many ways and a challenge in others, lol.

[@mtnshelby7059]

Great video. I love how you boldly assert your personal preferences. I have formal degrees in literature and I feel like I "should" read Pynchon, etc and I cannot stand that kind of pyrotechnic writing. I'm ready to go through the rest of my life not having read those writers. Absolutely nobody cares what I read but me, and I need to quit caring. For me, I could live the rest of my life reading 19th and early 20th works, and then also listening to fun contemporary novels on audio. So thank you for your perspective.

[@jenniferbrooks]

I'm with you--I'm kind of over feeling like I "should" read anything.

[@jackiesliterarycorner]

Congratulations on Five Years! I'm excited to see what you come up with to celebrate. I also am terrible at readathons and trying to follow through with them. I like the ideas of readathons and planning, but there's a sense of pressure built up and I'm no longer eager to read those books.

[@joyceredman2136]

I still have a classics list to get through. I have read a lot but I own what I want to read too. Library book sales have been good sources of decent books that I really want to read. Sometimes six books or sometimes just one. On my Kindle, I got complete works of an author to read a couple of books mostly with others that might be good too. I low ball my Goodreads list so if I go over it great. But I hate when I can't meet the minimum of 25 books. My 2024 list of books are mostly large books, about 17 categorized into genres to get a better balance for me. I like reading during lunch time. At night, I fall asleep in bed with a book. So I am a slow reader. Weekends are busy doing errands, etc. and I have little time to read more than one hour during the entire weekend. I think you will attract viewers who are interested in the books you're reading. And of course, that will change as all of our reading tastes will change. It will work, don't worry.

[@Lokster71]

OOoh Very Christmassy. I'm just sorting my 2024 reading goals so this is quite motivational. I'm caught between not planning much at all and going with the flow and having a series of very specific goals. I do know I'm trying to go through the year reading from my shelves. I own so many books I haven't read so I need to focus on getting them read.

[@jenniferbrooks]

I'm feeling the same--there are a lot of things on my shelves that I need to get to before thinking about bringing anything else in.

[@Lokster71]

@@jenniferbrooks One decision I have made is I'm going to read Anthony Powell's 12 book 'Dance to the Music of Time' series. One book a month.

[@booknikYT]

My book schedule are note cards that i can throw away and rewrite as things change.

[@melissamybubbles6139]

Congratulations on your five year booktube anniversary!

[@jenniferbrooks]

thank you!

[@melissamybubbles6139]

I'm still trying to get to my goal. My goal is 40 books. I'm almost to 39. I'm trying to figure out what I want to read next year. Do I want to read nonfiction about other countries? Do I want to read literature for the first time in a long time? I know I want to participate in Historathon. I want to do a project on American history.

[@jen-vx3ks]

It’s so good to hear how you self-reflect and choose for what you enjoy, even if that differs from what you initially planned. You set a great example 😊👌 I have fallen down the danmei rabbit hole and I’m loving it, it has rekindled my joy in reading. And I’m totally in favour of dnf-ing. My reads or mostly 5 stars, 4 stars or dnf 🥹

[@jenniferbrooks]

I have some danmei on my tbr and I feel like I'm also going to fall down that rabbit hole!

[@jen-vx3ks]

@@jenniferbrooks Yes, please do! ☺️