I’m not a big believer in New Year’s resolutions, but regular readers of this column know that every January 1, I set myself some reading goals for the year to come. If nothing more, they give me a sense of purpose as I embark on my reading journey. In truth, my track record for actually sticking to them is spotty, but who keeps all their New Year’s resolutions? Here are four for 2024:

Dive into a series. Is there any greater pleasure than encountering a fictional character (or characters) that you’ll get to keep hanging out with? Even better if a few series titles are already in the can, allowing for an uninterrupted binge read. As fate would have it, there’s a new Finlay Donovan mystery, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Minotaur, March 5), on its way—giving me three months to catch up with the comic adventures of this struggling romantic suspense novelist and divorcée who keeps being mistaken for a hired killer. Finn’s three previous outings earned author Elle Cosimano a spot on our list of 13 Mystery Writers Who Are Transforming the Genre, so I know I’m in for a treat.

Explore a writer’s backlist. We all have gaps in our reading—books and writers that we’ve meant to read but somehow have never gotten around to. Why haven’t I read more Percival Everett? I read and enjoyed So Much Blue several years ago, but my exploration of his oeuvre ends there. Everett has been writing smart, inventive fiction since the 1980s and has won multiple literary awards; American Fiction, the new film adaptation of his 2001 novel Erasure, has exposed him to a wider audience. The publication of his latest novel, James (Doubleday, March 19)—a reimagining of Huckleberry Finn that centers the enslaved character of Jim—offers the perfect excuse to go back and read such Kirkus-starred backlist titles as The Water Cure (2007) and American Desert (2004).

Get to know an artist/musician/celebrity better. Among other things, 2023 was the year of well-received memoirs by public figures. Prince Harry’s Spare, Britney Spears’ The Woman in Me, and Barbra Streisand’s My Name Is Barbra impressed critics and found enormous audiences who wanted not just dish but psychological insights and backstage access. This year, I’m eagerly awaiting The House of Hidden Meanings (Dey Street/HarperCollins, March 5), the memoir by Drag Race producer and queer icon RuPaul. Kathleen Hanna—Riot Grrrl trailblazer and frontwoman for Bikini Kill and Le Tigre—promises a front-row perspective on the indie music scene in Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk (Ecco/HarperCollins, May 14).

Discover a new classic. The literary canon is continuously evolving, with little-known authors at last gaining recognition and underappreciated works receiving renewed attention. In recent years, efforts to elevate work by marginalized writers—especially queer writers and writers of color—have expanded our sense of what makes a classic. This spring, I’m eager to discover the work of Pedro Lemebel, a Chilean artist and writer whose crónicas are collected in A Last Supper of Queer Apostles: Selected Essays, edited and translated by Gwendolyn Harper (Penguin, May 14).

Tom Beer is the editor-in-chief.