You know some people chose a word of the year to live by…? I’ve always thought that was kind of dumb, as how could you possibly capture your goals for an entire year in a single word? Well, guess what: I think I might just have a word for 2020: Enjoy.

Due to a number of circumstances, 2019 has been a year of hard work, and “surviving” rather than “living”. In a way I carried that mentality with me into my reading by setting a lot of goals, creating lists to check off, obligating myself to review every single book I finished… There were times this year where I loved reading, but also times I forgot why I do so in the first: to relax, to escape, to enjoy.

For 2020, I’m still setting some “goals” for myself, but they’re a lot looser than they were last year.

1. Pledge no more than 50 books in my Goodreads Reading Challenge. For the past 3 years, I’ve read over 100 books each year, and I notice that a times quantity took priority over quality in my mind. In 2020 I want to cut down on the number of books I read, and only pick up books I’m actually really excited for.

2. Take a break from ARCs There were month where I had fairly strict TBRs this year, mostly because of the ARCs I was receiving that had to be read before their release-date. Although I’m honoured to have been given the opportunity to read these books early, I’m going to take a break from accepting them, in order to remove the “obligation” for reading and reviewing them within a certain time. Obviously: I can make exceptions for the ones that I really can't pass up, or ones that are less time-sensitive.
   

3. Branch out in genre’s Taking a break from ARCs and new releases also means that I won’t be bound to certain genre’s like YA all the time. That doesn’t mean I won’t read those anymore, but it will give me a bit more room to branch out into genres I don’t often pick up, like I started to do with horror and thrillers in 2019.
   

4. Don’t review everything I read I tried to review (or at least talk about) everything I read in at least a monthly wrap up this year. Not falling for that again: when I’ve just read a book for fun, and have nothing to say about it, I’m not forcing myself.
   

5. Stop feeling guilty This is a very personal one that branches out to more than just reading. Ever since I can remember, I struggle to do things just for me. When I take time to relax for an hour and read, I feel guilty for not doing something useful. When I spend 10 euro’s on an audiobook subscription for a month, from which I get a huge amount of enjoyment, I feel guilty for spending that money on myself. I really hope to be able to let go of some of that for 2020.
   

2020 Master TBR All of these are backlist titles (mostly fantasy) that I’m very excited about, but just haven’t been able to get to. This included some rereads I’ve been wanting to do for years, but have always felt like I had to prioritize reading new books. New Rules for this list: I’m not going to feel bad for not completing these all by the end of 2020. For all I care these are goals for the decade, or just inspiration for me when I don’t know what to read. 2020 is going to be the year of No Pressure Enjoyment.

1. Read more Brandon Sanderson I don’t even care what: I want to read all of this mans work at this point.

2. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (and possibly continue this series!)

3. Darkdawn by Jay Kristoff

4. Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

5. Re-experience the Harry Potter Series on audio This one is ambitious, but I’ve been wanting to do this for years, and never got to it.

6. Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky

7. The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton

8. When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore

9. Reread The House of God, and continue with Man's 4th Best Hospital by Samuel Shem

10. The Secret of the Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
    

This final post marks the end of my Year in Review Series for 2019. I had a lot of fun creating these posts, reading and watching other people's list, and looking on all that has happened book-wise in 2019. If you joined me this year, followed my series over the past few days, friended me on Goodreads or did anything of the sort: thank you. I'm still honoured evertime to know that people actually read and enjoy the stuff that I'm shouting into the abyss that is the internet.

I wish you all a very happy new year, and all the best for 2020. Happy Reading, and I hope to see you back soon! Love, Renée