Huskybleu Reading Plan for 2023
Welcome to The Dying-to-Reads, The Classics, and The Big Bad Beefy Books a.k.a the categories you've always wanted.
If you thought your New Years reading resolutions were good on December 31st, well do I have news for you! In February they’re going to get even better because you’ve subscribed to this newsletter and I have the plan you need. I’ve been puzzling until my puzzler was sore (name that source!)1 for the last couple of months and this is the plan I’ve come up with and I love it. So keep on reading and see what’s coming for Huskybleu in 2023.
You will have undoubtedly seen the newsletter from Wednesday with the first Huskybleu podcast episode in it:
I wanted to be sure to follow it up by giving you a condensed version of the 2023 reading plan that I discussed in Episode 1.
Now I know it was a long first episode but I covered a lot of my thoughts behind why I wanted to start a podcast, what my plans are for its release schedule, and an in-depth chat about each book I choose and also the timeline for the books in each category. I highly, highly doubt all future episodes will be that long, it was just to get us going and put up a plan to start somewhere. For clarification:
The Three Categories:
1-The Dying to Reads = 1 month
2-The Classics = 2 months
3-The Big Bad Beefy Books = 3 months2
Each of these categories and its corresponding number are meant to indicate how long I am setting aside for them to be read. Meaning that 1 = one month, 2 = two months, and 3 = three months. I’m really hoping that makes sense…. You may notice as you go through this schedule that there are blank spaces in some of the Dying to Reads categories and that is by design. I want to give myself room to pick out a book spontaneously to read for the month or maybe plan on reading a new one that is being released. Just an FYI, when Emily Henry’s newest title Happy Place hits the shelves in April you’re going to be HEARING about it. If you haven’t given yourself the gift of her last story, Book Lovers, you are missing out!
As I mentioned in the podcast episode, for February I’m going to be trying out a daily schedule during the week for the books, meaning that I’ll be reading the weekly reading goal for each book and then do a podcast episode about what I read on a specific day. For example we will be doing The Hobbit on Mondays, Age of Myth on Tuesday, etc. I think this will #1- be a tremendously fun way to look at each book and discuss it, #2- give people the opportunity to tune in on a specific day if they’re reading along for that book only, and #3-cut down on the length of each episode. Your time is precious, my time is precious, and I can think of only a tiny fraction of people who want to listen to someone prattle on every single day for an hour plus - myself NOT included in the fraction!
For Fridays there will be a newsletter going out to briefly chat about the week’s episodes, where we’re headed into the next week with reading, and maybe some personal thoughts. I enjoyed writing the Saturday book review last year, but I also found that the weekends is when I wanted to catch up on reading and l think this is a nice way to meet in the middle. Besides, if I want to wing a wildly personal newsletter out there, it would be fun for that to go out on a random Saturday. And don’t even get me started on the interviews that are going to be appearing. Maybe that will be for Saturdays…. Saturday Sessions? Saturday Series? Saturday People? The title ideas are endless.
This post will be updated as we go into each month and I will have it pinned to the top of my newsletter home page so you can find it throughout the year as things change. In March we’re going to be adding in paid subscriptions, so there will absolutely be updates that you will want to check in on!
The layout below for each month translates as:
1(the Category)-Title/Author-Day of Podcast Episode-Weekly Page Goal
And with that, here is the list:
February 2023 Books:
1- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien - Monday -105 pages
1-Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan - Tuesday -148 pages
2-The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - Wednesday - 66 pages
3-The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer - Thursday - 95 pages
March 2023 Books:
1- The Baker’s Apprentice by Judith Ryan Hendricks - Monday
1-Age of Swords by Michael J Sullivan - Monday-
2-The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas-Tuesday-66 pages
3-The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer-Tuesday - 95 pages
April 2023 Books:
1-?
1-Age of War by Michael J. Sullivan
2-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3-The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer
May 2023 Books:
1-?
1-Age of Legend by Michael J Sullivan
2-Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
3-Fellowship of the Ring - J.R.R. Tolkien
June 2023 Books:
1-?
1-Age of Death Michael J. Sullivan
2-All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
3-Two Towers - J.R.R. Tolkien
July 2023 Books:
1-?
1-Age of Empyre Michael J. Sullivan
2-All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
3-Return of the King - J.R.R. Tolkien
August 2023 Books:
1-?
1-Rise and Fall Series Book #1- Nolan by Michael J Sullivan
2-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3-The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
September 2023 Books:
1-?
1- Rise and Fall Book #2: Farilane by Michael J Sullivan
2-Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3-The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
October 2023 Books:
1-?
1-(Hoping) Rise and Fall Book #3: Esrahaddon by Michael J Sullivan
2-Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
3-The Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
November 2023 Books:
1-?
1-?
2-Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
3-We finished the Big Bad Beefy Book3 list, whoop whoop!
December:
The Year End Reflections newsletter goes out to all members.
Paying subscribers will have access to a year end Huskybleu group discussion about which stories we all read and which were the absolute best and then all will descend into mayhem as we bicker about the choices.
The Reading Kit package goes out to founding investors, it will arrive in the mail with a handwritten letter.
The special Christmas Eve newsletter goes out.
Could not be more thrilled that you’re reading and I sincerely hope you join in the reading or discussions of any of these books I’ve talked about or planned to read. You don’t need to follow my weekly page goals, you don’t need to have a plan, and you can certainly think its all stupider then stupid to plan it out like this. That’s fine, this is just the way I’ve found that helps make it more enjoyable to dig into some of these bigger, longer, denser reads or to get through that big series that seems like it will take forever. If all you’re looking for is someone to read Pride and Prejudice with and swoon over Mr. Darcy, I got you. Want to listen to someone get really excited about the plot twist at the end of The Silent Patient?
Get your woo girl on, I’m ready. Need another person to have a sudden and unrelenting desire to get into horse racing after devouring Seabiscuit?? Get your best hat, we’re going to the Kentucky Derby!!4
The only big bullet points in this is that you don’t come on here intending to win the fiction v. non-fiction debate, i.e. which one is better, no one learns anything from fiction books, blah blah blah nonsense. Not going to fly, if that’s your game take it elsewhere. We like people reading, we like encouraging people to read what they like, and its no longer cool to malign people for enjoying fun stories. Same goes for audio books v. physical books. We encourage all the reading, all the time. Full stop.
And with all that said, I think I’ve got it covered.
As always - Ask my about my books.
XO,
Elea
The Grinch by Dr. Seuss
Each of these categories correlates with the amount of time I am setting aside to read the book that I have assigned to it, so I have put the number next to the title to reflect A) which category and B) the length of time.
Definitely going to need a t-shirt.
If you haven’t read Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand, get it immediately. It’s absolutely fantastic and I cannot recommend it highly enough.