Thoughts on Planning a Reading Schedule (and September Library Haul)

It's been awhile since I did a library haul update! It's partly because I purposely downshifted posting over the summer, and partly because I became a Little Brown and Company book ambassador - YAY! In the last month or so, they have graciously added EIGHT complimentary review copies to my never ending TBR pile. 

(To be clear, this is NOT a complaint! Look at all the bookish goodness!) So I picked up a little less from the library last month and have read two of these, so far, that will be included in my monthly reviews.
Since I was feeling a little overwhelmed, albeit in a good way, I took a spare moment during my kid's soccer game warm ups the other day and nerded out with a SCHEDULE. (Please do not dwell on my left handed scrawl. Handwriting is something I think about trying to improve upon quite often...) 

With the exception of advance copies, I really don't plan my reading or posts ahead of time. Just thinking about it gave me the heebie jeebies. Which is funny, because in all other aspects of my life, I am a type A, organizational, habitual freak (see also: menu planning). But when it comes to books, it's about what is speaking to me RIGHT NOW and my mood. Yet, with the influx of Little Brown books, the new 'Lucky Day' shelf at the library, and the Net Galley requests that can get out of control, I thought I should at least experiment with some planning.
My very simple method was to write down every single book that I hope to read before the end of the year and try to shoehorn them into the remaining months of 2017, with my average of six books per month. I started by looking at ARCs to review and realized that, since reviewing The Trick, I only have one in the queue: ARTEMIS by Andy Weir (of The Martian fame) squee! It's always so very tempting to request new books to review, but I shall refrain until the new year and I scheduled Artemis for November - the month of it's release. 
Next, I went by what I felt were seasonal reads, like First Frost and Winter Solstice and scheduled them for October and December, respectively. Lastly, I went through and tried to evenly schedule backlist titles and this year's releases into some remaining slots. I assigned four specific titles per month total to read, plus a TBD Newberry Honor book and left the sixth slot (perhaps more) for a mood read from the master list. I may also try to do one or two on audio, or add in an audio book not on the list. I figured this is a good compromise to hopefully get through my current stack, but also keeps things from feeling too structured.
In general, this was a really fun exercise and I can't believe I haven't done it before! I spend a great deal of time looking back on books (with every year end favorites list, or Goodreads challenge) but hardly any time looking forwards in such an organized way. I can't imagine doing this as a yearly endeavor, but perhaps quarterly... Fellow book nerds, do you do this? How do you plan? How far out do you plan? Or do you shun the idea completely? 
Here are the books on zee big list, I won't go into the minutiae of each month, because it can/will probably change. And as for the library stack, I will have some of those reviews in the monthly wrap up. But I can quickly say that Castle of Water was worth the hype, When Dimple Met Rishi was not quite worth the hype, and I found Mrs. Fletcher to be highly entertaining satire.

Current/2017 Releases
Artemisby Andy Weir
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Killers of the Flower Moon Moon by David Grann 
The Party by Elizabeth Day
Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
Fitness Junkie by Lucy Sykes and Jo Piazza
Fierce Kingdomby Gin Philips
The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand
The Good People by Hannah Kent
Sourdough by Robin Sloan
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti
My Absolute Darling by 
Unbelievable by Katy Tur

Backlist I've been putting off for too long/really want to read:
First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
A Darker Shade of Magic V.E. Schwabb
City of Thieves by David Benioff
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
To the Bright Edge of the World by Eowyn Ivey
11/22/63 by Stephen King

July Library Haul

I wonder if I was drawn to blue and yellow subconsciously for summer? It is a lovely coordinating stack, and more than I can handle in a month, as usual...

I feel as if I am the last of the book blogging/instagram community to read Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett. Thankfully, it was on the library Choice Read shelf, which means it's mine for at least three months! 
As usual, Anne Bogel is influencing my reading pile, having mentioned Sarah Addison Allen on her podcast several times. I had just finished Beartown and went on a spree of putting holds on books that might be lighter fare, and magical Southern fiction sounds like just the ticket with Garden Spells. 
I enjoyed Jennifer E. Smith's This is What Happy Looks Like, and heard great reviews of her latest: Windfall. 
I caved to the hype from The Skimm and the description of The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo. This is what I am currently reading and, as someone who was also a 'twentysomething' during 9/11, it is grabbing my heartstrings. 
The initial buzz on The Reminders by Val Emmich didn't grab me - singer and actor who wrote a book? Hmmm. But it's gaining momentum in gushing reviews, so I have my fingers crossed for a great heartwarming novel. 
The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor (who I just realized is Sue Monk Kidd's daughter!) is the second book I'm checking off from my Summer Reading List. 
I just finished reading A Hundred Summers by Beartriz Williams and I'm so glad I finally read one of her books! More thoughts to come; for now I'd say that if you enjoy Elin Hilderbrand books, as well as historical fiction, you will enjoy her work.

Also in the queue...
NetGalley/ARCs:
Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin

Other Digital Books in the Queue:
The Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
The Whole Thing Together by Ann Brashares
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
Marrow Island by Alexis M. Smith 
Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham 
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry

As always, I would love to hear your thoughts or recommendations!