We hear a lot of about growing older and not having enough time. How there just isn’t enough time in the day for going to the gym, or to dinner with your friends, or anything else that’s inherently good for us. All important, but there’s one activity that I just miss so much it tugs at my soul sometimes.

Books.

It used to be that you couldn’t find me spending downtime on anything else. Always a book in my hand. Always some ink on my nose. But, as the years go on, I understand more and more the complexity of balancing every single aspect of life. Work, school, social media, home life, and then comes recreation and mental self-care.

Not to say that I don’t read at all anymore, but four times a week for 10 minute stints just isn’t enough for me. It just seems so much easier to zombie-out in front of Netflix or The Sims for the hour in between homework and sleep than to work those reading muscles that I’ve been neglecting since my teenage years.

This is not a new year’s resolution, this is a pledge to myself to jump back onto the reading rainbow, and with a little help from our readers!

I’ve brainstormed a bit on what sorts of stories I’m interested in reading as I build my way back up the literature ladder, and I’d love to hear any and all recommendations. Comment below or tweet me @bekahbabble or @fanspeakfiles and help a fellow story-lover out.

You can’t be a writer without being a reader first, and I’m excited to see what kind of writer I become in 2016.

1. Female-led mysteries
2. Books similar to The Queen of the Tearling (dystopian-adult, or dystopian-YA)
3. Non-superhero graphic novels
4. Books being adapted for the screen this year
5. The autobiographies I already have on my bookshelf
6. A romance novel the every day person can relate to
7. Wizarding stories for adults (please, someone tell me this exists and can be good)
8. The Silmarillion (gotta get all the way through that thing at some point, right)
9. Stories about friendship
10. Old favorites, either mine or yours
11. The Jane Austen works that I haven’t touched yet

If you have a suggestion that doesn’t quite fit any of these descriptions, please still send it my way! I’ll keep adding to this list as I go along, and I so look forward to reading with you.