Happy New Year! Who doesn't love a good year-end round up?! Join us as we talk about our year in reading, our favorite books of 2023, and what we're looking forward to reading in 2024. We discuss the pros and cons of setting reading goals, complete with research that will not only let you off the hook with your yearly reading goal (if that's what you want) but will also get you out of having to walk 10,000 steps a day :) ----------------------- Books we talk about in this episode:   2023 reads we haven't talked about on the podcast: Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez Ready Player One by Ernest Cline In The Likely Event by Rebecca Yarros Homegoing Yaa Gyasi A Secret Sisterhood: The Literary Friendships of Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and Virginia Woolf by Emily Midorikawa, Emma Claire Sweeney, Margaret Atwood (Foreword)Under the Henfluence by Tove DanovichThe Hobbit, Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers by J.R.R. TolkienThe House in the Cerulean SeaA Rip Through Time by Kelley ArmstrongOur favorite books of 2023: Happy Place by Emily HenryRomantic Comedy by Curtis SittenfeldBooks on our TBRs for 2024: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis HallThe Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane HowardDeath Comes to Marlow by Robert ThorogoodSong of the Huntress by Lucy Holland1000 Words: A Writer's Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round by Jami AttenbergThe Paris Novel by Ruth ReichlThe Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu MandannaMain Character Energy by Jamie VaronMy Life in France by Julia ChildRebecca by Daphne du MaurierThe Fragile Threads of Power (Threads of Power #1) by V.E. SchwabRuthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2) by Rebecca RossHouse of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City, #3) by Sarah J. MaasFunny Story by Emily HenryThy Empyrean (The Empyrean #3) by Rebecca YarrosLe Fay (Morgan Le Fay #2) by Sophie Keetch -----------------------  Sources listed in the order they appear in the episode:      Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. 2015. "Why Counting Your Steps Could Make You Unhappier." Dec 21, 2015. https://www.fuqua.duke.edu/duke-fuqua-insights/etkin-counting-steps. Etkin, Jordan. 2016. “The Hidden Cost of Personal Quantification.” Journal of Consumer Research 42 (6): 967–84. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucv095.Maintenance Phase. April 25, 2023. "The 10,000 Steps Myth." https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/12713294-the-10-000-steps-myth ----------------------- Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves. Do you have thoughts, questions, or ideas for future episodes? Email us at [email protected]. And if you want to learn more about the podcast, visit our website at allbooksaloudpod.com. If you liked this episode, please consider leaving us a review to help us reach more listeners. And if you'd like to see more bookish content from Martha & Elizabeth, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @allbooksaloudpod. Read on!