January TBR For Hearthside Books

It’s finally January! First, how the heck did that happen, and second, who is ready for some new reading goals? Last year, my goal was 120 books. I am happy to say that I reached it! So now let’s start with my reading goals.

This year, I want to keep my goal at 120 books. While I did reach it last year and am utterly proud of myself for it, I also know it was a struggle. I do read a lot, and I even listen to books. I am also okay if I don’t reach it next year. Whatever I can read is good for me! I mainly focus on my monthly reads. I want to try to read 10 books a month, and if I can do that, then I will reach the end goal. I also accept that I want reading to be my hobby, and so when it feels like a job, I tend to pull back and read a little less. I also wanted to say that you don’t have to set reading goals for yourself. I started setting goals for myself years ago, and it began with reading five books in a year. If you’re not a reader and reading one book per year is a great goal, you should be proud of yourself for that. Reading is part of my job and also one of my favorite pastimes, so I tend to go through books like candy. I also listen to a ton of audiobooks while I work or clean around the house. So believe me when I say that if you come into the store and notice an earbud in one of my ears, it’s a very good chance I’m listening to a book. I do pause and take them out when I have customers, though. I try very hard to give anyone at the checkout my full attention, and I also love to have conversations with customers.

I also want to create a monthly to-be-read pile and stick to it this year. As I mentioned before, my goal is to read 10 books a month, so here’s my January TBR list:

That leaves four books, chosen at random. I am also a mood reader, so having four books selected at random helps with that. Two of each TBR will include the monthly book club book and a new release. The other ones will change. This one, however, I chose four genres that I either want to read more of or are comfort-read genres. I do love to read romance and fantasy, so those will probably pop up a lot in my TBR’s. I will try to post reviews for each of the pre-chosen books; however, I only post books that are three stars or more. I can eventually do a separate post about how I personally do my own rating system, but it’s more of a feeling than anything, too crazy.

​Lastly, the book of the month is Brigands and Breadknives by Travis Baldree. I loved his other two books and couldn’t help but want to read this one. So when I finally got my hands on it, I couldn’t put it down! Also, if you don’t like reading a physical book, the audiobook is read by Travis and is excellent too! By now, the review should be up!