Back in March, I decided that I wanted to start Project Shop My Shelves (known as PSMS going forward). The goal of PSMS is to read twice as many books per month than I buy, but there are a few sub-goals that are equally important:
- Don’t buy new books unless they are from marginalized authors (indie or trad)
- A 2:1 ratio of old books to newly bought books every month (or more if possible)
- Read through the older books to finally get them off the TBR pile
- Be realistic about my enjoyment of an author and what medium I prefer to read them
- Post quarterly about my progress with this project
I figured now was as good a time as any to update my progress with this self-imposed project. TL;DR: [INSERT]
Stats
October: I bought 8 ebooks, 0 ARCs, 8 physical books, 1 audiobooks. I read 11 books, 2 of which were preexisting, 17:11 bought to read ratio.
November: I bought 4 ebooks, 0 ARCs, 4 physical books, 0 audiobooks. I read 8 books, 5 of which were preexisting, 1:1 bought to read ratio.
December: I bought 1 ebooks, 0 ARCs, 5 physical books, 0 audiobooks. I read 8 books, 4 of which were preexisting, 3:4 bought to read ratio.
I am actually really happy that I managed to read more than I bought twice in one quarter. I’m still not able to reel in my buying or expand my reading enough to hit 1:2 bought to read, but I will happily take 1:1 for now. I will say that December looks especially good because I don’t count books I got for Christmas as part of the bought books.
Buying Books: A Breakdown
Part of the success I’ve had this month comes from the fact that Christmas was coming. You can see the hard cut-off in November when my buying dropped off significantly. I try very hard to buy less the last couple months of the year. This is further enabled by most writers not having preorders in December. A lot of the books I bought were the next volume in graphic novel/manga series I enjoy. The other major chunk of books I bought were friends’ books that were on sale. I am a sucker for picking up the whole series at once if I think I’ll enjoy it. In this case, it was A. K. Faulkner’s Jack of Thorns and Trudie Skies’ entire gaslamp series.
I feel like this was the first quarter where I was pointedly mindful about my book purchases. I end to impulse buy books, and I tried this quarter to take a second and be like, “Do I really want this? Will I get to it any time soon?” It’s harder when it’s an author of color or a queer author because I want to make sure they’re supported/their publisher knows people want their work. That’s where I tend to get stuck.
Reading Books: A Breakdown
Looking at the reading numbers, you can probably tell that I was a reading fiend in October. I was just blowing through books and loving life. Then, November hit, and I got caught in a reading rut. I think trying to finish the book and grading a shit ton of papers just made it really hard to focus and get through books in a timely manner. T. Kingfisher and Martha Wells are quickly becoming comfort authors to me, so when I am in a reading slump, I just read T. Kingfisher book after T. Kingfisher book. Thank god she has a giant backlist.
The downside to that is that my reads for Q4 are rather white (15/27 books were by white authors), but this was also counterbalanced by the manga and graphic novels I have been reading along with several other authors of color. I would like to mix it up a bit more. During a reading slump, it’s very hard for me to make myself read something else. The comfort authors just stick better, no matter how good the other authors are. It’s frustrating.
Q1 2026 Outlook/Goals
Once again, I am aiming for at least a 1:1 ratio between bought and read. I’m pretty sure I am going to fail that in January because I bought a bunch of manga after a few series I liked wrapped up last year. The reading slump continued into January, but I feel like it’s getting better now. I’m really hoping that I can read much more in Q1 and read much more widely than I did in Q4.
When it comes to purchases, I am going to try to be mindful about mindless buying. I don’t have many preorders for January and February, which will help to keep my purchasing to a minimum. I’m also hoping to focus on reading what I have already, especially books I preordered in 2025 that I never got to. On my phone, I have a list of preorders that I mark off and later delete when I read the book. One of my goals this year is to go through the books on that list from previous years and knock them out. I also need to utilize my TBR coffin because I forget it exists.
Kara Jorgensen 