Although I’m not a huge fan of making New Year’s resolutions, I invariably make them. AND, like a lot of other people, I sometimes don’t keep them. This year I decided to make ‘reading resolutions’, which I hope will be easier for me to complete.
#1 Like many NetGalley members, I got a little crazy when I first joined. There are just SO MANY wonderful titles available that I was like a kid in a candy store. I requested more than I could keep up with. For over a year I have been trying to once again reach the coveted 80% feedback ratio that NetGalley recommends. I’ve been hovering around 70% for many months. It seems as soon as I make headway, a publisher will invite me to read a novel and provide a NetGalley widget, or, one of my favorite authors has written a new novel – I just can’t help myself. It is a sickness. At present my ratio looks like this:
#2 What with blog tours, impending publication dates, and individual publisher requests, I often have to shuffle my reading queue to accommodate them. This results in some titles lingering on my NetGalley and Edelweiss lists for far too long. I’ve decided to ensure that in 2017 I would read the ten titles that have been waiting longest – come Hell or high water. These titles are:
- “The alphabet house” by Jussi-Adler Olsen
- “The truth according to us” by Annie Barrows
- “Somebody I used to know” by David Bell
- “Brush back” by Sara Paretsky
- “The little Paris bookshop” by Nina George
- “Everything she forgot” by Lisa Ballantyne
- “Deadly memories” by S.D. O’Donnell
- “What she knew” by Gilly Macmillan
- “The collector” by Anne-Laure Thiéblemont
- “The guise of another” by Allen Eskens
#3 Every reviewer will tell you that it is difficult to balance a personal ‘want to read‘ list with review commitments. For some time now I’ve neglected my own personal TBR in favor of honoring my commitments to review. So… I’ve decided that 2017 is going to be the year to be selfish. I vow to read the following five titles for my own selfish pleasure. (I will also review them of course. LOL)
- “Coffin road” by Peter May
- “Call of the undertow” by Linda Cracknell
- “Her” by Harriet Lane
- “The yellow house” by Patricia Falvey
- “Whisky from small glasses” by Denzil Meyrick
My review commitments number 132 as of today, so inserting these 5 titles will be a challenge.
How do you manage your TBR? Have you made any reading resolutions for 2017? I’d love to hear from you. Happy New Year!
Fictionophile 
Pingback: Hello February! (Fictionophile updates and January #bookhaul) | Fictionophile
My resolution this year is to read, at least, 35 books. I also want to regularly update my blog with book reviews. (I want to do weekly and I know I’ll need to read more than 35 book but I’m trying to take things slowly. I have reviewed queued for now.)
Good luck on your resolutions! I’m sure you’ll meet them.
LikeLike
Good luck with your reading resolutions as well. Thanks!
LikeLike
Thanks for the informative post which, for me, also serves as a warning. One of my 2017 goals is to get involved with NetGalley. After your post and the great replies, I may have to rethink that.
OK, did that. I am going to take the plunge. At least now it is an informed decision.
LikeLike
Ron I wish you every success with NetGalley. It has been a wonderful addition to my reading life. The only warning I can give you…. Have willpower!
LikeLike
Ron you might want to read my blog post for new NetGalley members: https://fictionophile.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/fictionophiles-tips-for-new-netgalley-users/
LikeLike
My goals are pretty similar NetGalley ratio up, backlog down and one book a month that is mine. Here’s to a successful 2017 – Happy New Year 🎉🎉 xx
LikeLike
I hope you have a successful reading year in 2017 Jill. Thanks for your continued support.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Definitely joining in with the 80% resolution 🙂
LikeLike
Good luck to both of us then!☄📚
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love your resolutions! I have the same ones……I’m stuck at 49% and the 80% badge is the only.one I do not have!! Good luck!!
Happy New Year!!
LikeLike
I have every confidence that we will both get the 80% in 2017.
LikeLike
I need to make some Netgalley resolutions as well, like no requesting until I reach at least 60%. I have been hovering at 55 for quite awhile. Happy New Year! May 2017 be a great one.
LikeLike
Thanks Carla. Who knew that NetGalley would take over our lives the way it has. Good luck to you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love this! Good luck.
LikeLike
Thanks. I think I’m going to need all the extra luck I can get. LOL
LikeLike
I am similar in my goals for 2017- I’m saying goals and not resolutions! I have 10 books for NetGalley waiting to be reviewed. I have read 10 so far. I am at 50% for my feedback ratio. I have a list of books also waiting to be reviewed from other places. I am staying away from NetGalley unless it is to post a review!
Once I catch up on the books for review- I plan to be more selective with NetGalley. I also hope to get more of the books I want to read for myself read. I have a list ready for that as well! When I sign up for blog tours I make sure my post is a content post and not a review post.
I had a publisher email inviting me to read a book that comes out mid-January. I really hated it, but I said no. I would not be able to fit it in. I did thank them and ask for consideration for books come March or later. **Plus my site says I am not taking books for review currently.
Good luck to you!
LikeLike
I admire your strength and choices. Perhaps I’ll try to adopt some of them.
LikeLike
I’m impressed. I have overdue library books I’ve renewed over and over again because I start them, I love them and then neglect them for the other piles of books. I’m pulled in so many directions! It’s worse than raising my children. 🙂
I also have multiple lists strewn all over the house (New Year’s resolutions on a daily basis).
LikeLike
“New Year’s resolutions on a daily basis”. Love it! We should all have them!
LikeLike
Lynne, being selfish about reading what you want, when you want and the pace you want isn’t selfish, but healthy, and it is a commitment I am also adopting. For so long, I have been reading three books at a time ( with only one being a book of my personal choice—-the others are for review. I have decided my life and time are few too precious, and because I also work full time, perhaps, I may now make time to pick up my own writing.
LikeLike
Sounds like a reflective and thoughtful resolution. Good for you!
LikeLike
I hope it’s okay I posted your 2017 photo on FB…it does have your website (but let me know if you want me to take it down)…and I don’t know if I can NetGalley diet…but it is a great idea…Happy New Year.
LikeLike
I’m sure it’s okay. Thanks for the comment. Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Best of luck with it all, especially NetGalley. I’m on limited rations until I catch up 🙂
LikeLike
Ha-ha Jen. Limited rations. Yes, I’m on a NetGalley ‘diet’ as well. It is as hard as being on a real diet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Actually my TBR manages me. 😉
My reading resolution is simple: Keep reading and – keep enjoying it.
Happy New Year!
LikeLike
Ha-ha, Karen. That’s the spirit!
LikeLiked by 1 person