This week’s Let’s Talk Bookish prompts are all about reading goals! As we start a new reading year, I am sure that many book lovers are creating goals for themselves, regardless of whether or not they have a blog or bookstagram.
Creating goals for ourselves is a natural part of life, but should we create goals for something we are doing for enjoyment? Let’s discuss!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a bookish meme that was created by Rukky @ Eternity Books where each Friday, bloggers write posts discussing the topic of the week. Since April 2022, it has been hosted by the lovely Aria @ Book Nook Bits.
Did you set reading goals for 2024?
Yes I did! I have a blog post scheduled for the next Top 10 Tuesday that is all about my 10 reading goals for 2024. My main reading goal is to read 100 books this year. I’m all for setting a target because it gives me a push to read more often. But hey, I am also not super strict about it either. Life happens, and I am in a career that requires a lot of extra time. If I hit 100 books, great! If I don’t, I’ll probably be a little bummed but then I’ll quickly move on!
My other reading goals are more specific. One of my goals for this year is to read more of the unread ARCS I have on Netgalley. I have so many books on there from 3-4 years ago, and I would like to waltz into 2025 without the pressure of getting my Netgalley ratio higher.
Another big one for me is conquering my physical TBR this year. I’m hoping to restart my series on BookTok, so I am planning on diving in to more of the unread books on my shelves.
Have you set reading goals in past years?
I have set reading goals for myself every year since 2020. I would say that 2020 was the year I took my goals the most seriously, mostly because I was working less often due to COVID, and I had way more time on my hands to read.
Post-2020, life got busier. I still set some of my goals for myself, but I definitely didn’t hold myself to those goals strictly. I became a first-year teacher, then I decided to go to grad school for two years, and then I coached volleyball for two years as well. Because I keep my plate full, I learned to be kinder to myself about reaching those reading milestones.
Do Reading goals motivate you to read more, or do they make reading more stressful?
This question does not get a very straight-forward answer for me. Depending on the goal, I sometimes get extremely motivated to pick up certain types of books. For example, I have a physical TBR goal I started last year which led me to read 40 of my 213 unread books in 2023!! Because of this, I decided to complete a similar goal this year for my 187 unread books.
However, there are definitely times when I get stressed out because of a goal. I think this was mostly because I set goals that were too difficult for me to realistically get done. Or, the difficulty overwhelmed me, causing me to abandon the goal altogether.
One example of this is one of my goals from 2021 (I just dug this out of the depths of my iPhone notes out of curiosity): “Read all of my unread Book of the Month books from 2018-2020”. On the surface, this seems like a pretty attainable goal…except I didn’t only order one book a month…and I had 25 books on this list. Spoiler alert: I didn’t make it.
In 2021, I read 54 books. That means almost half of the books I read would have had to be Book of the Month books! As someone who has learned since then that I am a mood-reader, there was no way I ever could have completed that goal.
Since then, I attempt to make goals more realistic. For example, a goal on my list this year is “Read 10 books from my Book of the Month backlist.” I am able to choose any of the books from my backlist to read and I am not pressuring myself to read every. single. book.
What kinds of goals, if any, are the most motivating to you?
As I said above, now that I am about four years into making reading goals for myself, I have learned that simple, attainable goals motivate me more. Sure, I’d love to read all 187 books on my physical TBR–I’d even love to read 90 books on my physical TBR–but goals like that would just overwhelm me. Instead, I made it my goal to get the number of books down to 40% of the total books I own.
Have you noticed a change in your reading since you started blogging? How about goals you set?
I have blogged off and on for about six years now, but only four of those years has been mainly focused on books. Looking back at previous posts on my blog, I noticed a shift in content in about 2019-2020, which makes sense because I was reading so much more.
Before blogging, I would choose to do other, “more fun” things. Basically, I was a lot more social than I am now.
But as I started to follow more people in the book community who loved reading as much as I did, it made me feel more comfortable with the amount of books I wanted to read. Now, reading isn’t just a hobby for me; it’s a core part of who I am.
Just for fun, I decided to look at the number of books I have read in the last 8 years. After seeing the numbers, I think it is obvious that blogging majorly impacted my reading. Since 2019, I have read at least 50 books a year with 2020 and 2023 being the years I read almost 90.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Reflecting on my reading journey and the act of goal-setting, not only now but in the past as well, I have learned a lot about my reading habits. Initially, setting ambitious targets like reading 100 books a year or conquering my mountainous TBR seemed daunting, even paralyzing. However, over time, I’ve discovered setting achievable, flexible goals aligns with my lifestyle and motivations much more.
The idea of being a mood reader has also been a huge realization. I do not even create set monthly TBRs for myself anymore because I know I will never stick to them. Understanding my reading personality helped me make my goals more realistic and enjoyable. I want to make sure reading remains a pleasure, not a chore.
That’s a wrap for this week’s discussion!
Let’s chat in the comments! What are your thoughts on setting reading goals? If you have any goals of your own, what are they?