Do You Plan Your Reading?

It’s the time of year when we start seeing lots of recaps of the year that’s ending and suggestions for planning the year ahead. And with the latter comes suggestions of how to plan your reading list for the year.

I’ll admit, until maybe two years ago, the idea of planning my reading list for the year would never have occurred to me. My reading goes something like this: see a book, think “Ooh, that looks good”, read the book. Repeat. This leaves me lots of freedom to pick up a book based on a whim or how I feel at that particular time. And I can grab a re-read whenever I feel like it as well. (I love to re-read — it’s like sitting down with old friends.)

This year, however, I’m considering taking on a reading plan. I doubt, very much doubt, that the plan would encompass everything I read throughout the year because…well…I read a lot. (I’m looking at 156 books so far this year and I’m not actually positive I added every book I read, nor does that include books I beta read for other authors. I do plan to try and squish in 4 more books before the end of the year though so I hit a nice round 160.) So it isn’t as if mood and feeling would be totally pushed aside, right?

And yet, I still find myself waffling. It feels…like I’m tying myself to something and sucking just a tiny bit of joy out of the book discovery process. (It shouldn’t. I realize that. I’m not sure why it does.)

Anyway, I’ve contemplated a couple of reading challenges that a friend has shared on Facebook (these two and then also this one) and I’m not sure they quite meet what my brain is hankering for. In some ways, this list of the “100 greatest novels of all time” is tempting — though I’ve read many already. Or…I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll put together my own list with many of the books I keep meaning to read but don’t get to on it. If I do, I’ll share it here. And if you want to join in, feel free.

In the mean time — are you planning your reading for 2017 or leaving it for the whims of the moment?