Hi there!
We’re exactly a month into the new year, so hopefully not too late to talk about my reading goals for the year! I’ve always tried to set some intentions with what I read, because with new releases and recommendations arriving every day, it can be hard to keep track of what books I want to read.
Although I have to admit, I haven’t really had a proper reading goal in quite a while – for most of my studies, reading was more a stress relief. I didn’t really have the time or energy to think about which books I’d want to read or which goals I’d want to achieve. I just read whatever seemed like a fun vibe, which can be great too! Now that I do have more time, I find myself wishing to be a bit more intentional with my choices. So that’s what I’m slowly adjusting to now, and I have to say, it’s working great.
My reading goals for 2025:
Read 50 books
I want to read 50 books this year! This feels like a happy medium between what I know I can do (I’ve read 70+ books in one year) and what can be comfortable for me (20ish books a year). I want to challenge myself a little bit to read more than I did last year, namely 43 books, so fifty seems like a reasonable challenge. I know it might seem like a lot to some, and very little to others. I know I’m quite a slow reader, but I also know that I am in a very lucky position where I can make time to read this much. In the end, it’s all up to what you are comfortable with! I also have no qualms about adjusting my challenge, depending on how the year is going. I’m here to have fun, not stress. So we’ll see how the challenge looks at the end of the year!
Halve my physical tbr
Anyone who reads frequently, will probably recognize the feeling of their never-ending stack of books they want to read. For me, some of these books have been on there since 2017! So I decided it’s high time to tackle my to-be-read list. I currently own about 75 books that I haven’t read yet. I’m hoping that by end of this year, I’ll have cut that number in half. A lot of them are Young Adult books that I collected at the peak of my reading years, but years later, I still haven’t gotten to. Some are classics, found at second-hand bookstores, that I’ve been too intimidated to read. I’ve already read a couple of them this month, with varying success. But it feels good to finally read these books I’ve been wanting to read for so long!
Booksandlala’s buzzword challenges
Lastly, I wanted to join a fun monthly challenge, that could help me achieve the above two goals. I found that in Booksandlala’s buzzword challenge: a challenge she puts together every year, where she creates a list of buzzwords that are frequent in the publishing industry. Your challenge is to read one book with a buzzword every month! She’s also made a buzzword challenge for covers this year. Instead of buzzwords in the title, the challenge is to read books with certain elements on book covers. Both of these sound incredibly fun to me, so I’m attempting both! I’ve never done a challenge like this before, so I have no clue how it will go. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!
To conclude
I hope these three challenges can give me some orientation and motivation on which books to pick up. I have a history of being quite hard on myself about challenges like these – eighteen year old me would’ve had an aneurysm if she ‘failed’ a challenge – so this year I’m purposefully trying to keep it fun. Failing is not only allowed, but strongly encouraged. Because there’s really no point in working your ass off to meet arbitrary deadlines you set yourself.
Please let me know what you hope your reading year will look like! What are your reading goals this year? How do you keep it fun? I’ll keep you updated on all my reading this year on this blog and on my Instagram. Be sure to give me a follow on both, if you haven’t already!
I’d love to hear from you!
Wishing you the best,
Marjo
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