This week’s theme is bookish goals. You would think that this would be a pretty simple post to build, and it probably should be, which means I'm inevitably going to make it hard for no good reason. Let's go.
1) Read 125 books.
Pretty straightforward right. Last year I read 209 books, but I have a different job now where I have far less reading time and I'm not sure when I'll feel competent enough at my job to listen to audiobooks while I work. So I'm aiming low.
2) Read every book for book club before the meeting.
You'd think this would be easy right? And it would be if I was only in one book club. But I just joined two new ones yesterday, bringing my total of book clubs to 12. Which is still absolutely doable, as long as I plan out my reading accordingly. I've technically already failed this, but since it only just now became a goal, I get to start fresh right now.
3) Read backlist books.
A few weeks ago I featured some books that have been on my Netgalley TBR for like a decade. This year I want to knock out at least 12 of those books, just one a month (in addition to my 12 book club books each month).
4) Write reviews shortly after finishing books.
Seems like a given, but I have over 170 reviews to still write from last year (and a couple from 2023). They get harder to write the longer past reading I get, so prioritizing writing reviews would be a good idea.
5) Get my Netgalley feedback over 50%.
I swear, every year one of my goals is to drastically improve my feedback percentage on Netgalley, and I usually end up pretty much just breaking even (although if I'd get all those outstanding reviews written, I should be close to 50%).
6) Read one nonfiction book per month.
Ideally these will be truly educational books. In reality they'll probably be celebrity memoirs.
7) Finish all the books I currently have started.
Doing this will actually give me at least three months of my nonfiction book reading that aren't memoirs. But it means I've gotta plow through 25 books, some of which have been sitting on my currently reading shelf for over a year already (both non-fiction).
8) Stop requesting books from Netgalley*.
*At least until I get my review list under control.
This is going to be the first goal I fail at I'm sure. And Top Ten Tuesday will probably be the reason why. But it's fine, adjacent.
9) Build my physical book spreadsheet.
Last year I finally got all my adult books back on my bookshelves where they belong, and now I need to go through and create a spreadsheet with at least book title, author, and what shelf each book is on, so that when I offer to let people borrow my books, I know exactly where to find them. This task will 100% not be completed this year.
10) Not get burnt out reading.
This one will be a bit of a challenge if I keep all 12 of my bookclubs, because having books chosen for me makes reading them more like work than fun, so I'll have to be careful. And I may just have to skip some meetings some months for no reason beyond I just can't keep up. We'll see.
And that wasn't nearly as difficult as I feared it would be.
What about you? What are some of your bookish goals for the year?
If you're stopping by from the linkup, please be sure to drop a link to your post below so I can return the visit when I have a minute. - Katie
I'm pretty terrible not staying current on my reviews. Often I delay writing reviews if I care how the review looks or if I want to do some additional research and then often I feel less passionate about it because of that delay. Good luck on your goals.
ReplyDeleteMy goals and challenges: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/p/2025-reading-goals-and-challenges.html
Stop requesting books from NetGalley... good luck with that one! I've adopted a 'one in one out' in policy (I can only request a new title when I've reviewed an old one) and used reading challenges to target the oldest books on my shelf
ReplyDeleteYes, reviews are definitely harder to write as more time passes. I often start writing them while I’m still reading. Or at least take copious notes about what I did and didn’t like about a book so the final writing product will be smoother.
ReplyDeleteI joined in on a book club last year, and hope to be able to participate more this year. It's not a normal book club, but more of a bookish social group. We get together once a week at a local library, and read for about an hour. We have friendly discussions before and after that hour. I like it, because it's really casual, and no assigned reading.
ReplyDeletePam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/goals-for-2025-book-and-blog-goals/
I think your last goal is the most important one of the list, I know how it feels to get burned out, it is not a pretty picture, it took me a while to get back to where I am now. Hope you achieve all you set out to do and it is alright to let go of those reviews you didn't get to, from 2023. Might make you feel better if you just decide to let them go.
ReplyDeleteHappy reading!
Irene @ https://www.witchyreads.nl/post/books-to-prioritize-in-2025
Good luck! I'm definitely trying to work through my backlist as well.
ReplyDeleteCheck out my TTT: https://never-anyone-else.blogspot.com/2025/01/top-ten-tuesday-2025-movie-releases-im.html
You're in TWELVE book clubs?? That's crazy! I can barely keep up with the ONE I'm in. LOL.
ReplyDeleteI used to be like you with tons of back reviews to write. Then, I started reviewing the books I read as soon as I finish them on Goodreads. Sometimes, I only write a few sentences, other times a few paragraphs. That way, I get my thoughts out while they're fresh. Then, if I want to write a more in-depth review on my blog, I can use my GR review as a starting point. It's helped me not to feel like I have to write a long review on my blog for every book I read. It's been very liberating!
Good luck on all your goals and Happy TTT!