February Reading Goals/Intentions

I am so late to planning my February reading. I am a person who very much needs a plan and every month I find myself getting mildly stressed about my TBR. This month I tried to plan my TBR slightly differently and and possibly totally over-planned but I’m feeling pretty good about my February reading goals as I’ve sort of given myself reading intentions which doesn’t include specific books but the chosen books relate to a specific goal of mine. I’m excited to see if this way of forward planning works for me

The books I’m planning to read this month are based on the following reading intentions:

I really want to read more Classics. With the exception of my festive rereads, and some october rereads, I don’t feel like I read a lot of Classics last year. I really enjoy reading Classics and I joined a reading group with the aim of reading a Classic every month. The pick for February is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen so I will be aiming to read that book this month.

Next up is a romance that I put aside with the aim of reading it in February. This was based 100% on this book being a romance. I have chosen to aim to read A Glasgow Kiss by Sophie Gravia. I’ve heard a lot of excellent things about this book and as it’s based in Glasgow, I’m so keen to give it a read.

I then chose a book that has been on my TBR for literally months, honestly I’ve been aiming to read this book for about 6 months…it remains unread. So with the aim of leaving no book behind on the TBR, I’m planning to (finally) read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh.

In the last few weeks I have seen multiple recommendations to read The Panopticon by Jenni Fagan. This all came about because of The Scottish Bookclub, we read Luckenbooth by Jenni Fagan in January and a few people mentioned that they wanted to read more books by the author. Flash forward a couple of weeks and it now feels like I’m the only one who hasn’t read it and it sounds amazing. So I’m giving into the best kind of peer pressure-book recommendation peer pressure.

While reviewing my Year in Books 2021, I noticed that I’d barely read any rereads. Usually when I love a book, I want to read it again and again and again. Not straight away but maybe a year or two later. So I’m hoping to dedicate time to enjoying a reread every month this year. Last month I reread Luckenbooth by Jennni Fagan and this month I plan and hope to reread The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I have adored that book since I first read it in 1999 when I was 13 (in the vlog I say I was 14 because I thought that 10 Things I Hate About You came out in 2000 but it was a year earlier. I bought the book immediately after watching the first showing of the film in Galashiels).

I am loving joining in with Read Christie 2022 and the February pick is Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie. Probably because the film came out this month. I also plan to go to the cinema (if cases here are low enough to feel safe to stay socially distanced). To say that I’m excited about rereading this book would be an understatement, I utterly adore this book!

My final intention of February is to finish a book that I’ve been reading since September. September! I’ve been reading this book for 5 months and still have about a small novel worth of pages left to go. But I’m ready for this book to be read, the book in question is Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer. My sister and I used to read the Twilight series together and chat about the books. When this book came out in 2020 I felt a bit weird about reading it as my sister passed away in 2013 so it felt strange to finish the series without her. Then I thought some more about it and spoke to my mum about it and she thought that my sister would have wanted us to finish the series together so I’m finishing it for the both of us. It totally counts!

How do you plan your monthly reading? Do you overthink it, like me? I’ve been thinking about making a TBR game because I enjoy whimsy and leaving it to the fates. The drama of having no control both appeals and terrifies me!