This year I read 82 books (unless something gets finished in the next 48 hours… which I doubt).
Of those, 76 were romance novels.
On some level, I have been coming to grips with the fact that romance has just become my go-to genre. But I also feel like a lot of the romance novels I’ve read recently have tried to be more diverse. They’ve tried tackling topics that you don’t necessarily expect to find in romance. There’s been discussion of neurodiversity, deafness, loss of mobility, gender inequality, and so much more.
My goal this year was to read 72 books (or 6 books a month). I surpassed that goal by 10.
So for 2024, I’m going to try to do things a little differently.
I’m setting my total number goal to 84 (or 7 books a month), but I’m also going to try to diversify a little bit. I know I can hit 84 easily by reading romance (sometimes on repeat – yes, I count repeat reads). So, instead of giving myself a hard time if I don’t hit 7 books per month, I’m going to work on trying to read more of categories I know I like but sometimes have trouble finishing. Mostly – Mystery. I declare 2024 the year of the cozy cottage mystery novels!
In that vein, I am adding the Read Christie 2024 reading challenge to my to do! Each month is a different Agatha Christie novel, and the theme this year is by decade. (I’m already a little bit ahead on October, as I am currently reading The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side.) You can see the FAQs on the Agatha Christie website here. Join me on Bookstagram/Threads for updates on my January reading of The Mysterious Affair at Styles.
Also – anyone know when the next Mr. Darcy and Miss. Tilney book by Claudia Gray is coming out? I need answers after that last book….
In other news, there is more history content now available from me via Substack! Foxtrot Firefly’s History Inquiry is live now and will have content posted on the third Wednesday each month about various historical rabbit holes I find myself digging into.