Reading Goals for 2025

Yes, I know January is already half over. Humorously, I have been thinking about my goals for 2025 since early in December, but I didn't bother to write them down then so here we are. In general, I try to go easy on the goals. Usually, I start to forget my goals halfway through the year but it's nice to go back and see what I planned and how that turned out. Anyway, without further ado . . . 

2025 Reading Goals and other bookish plans:

1. Back to the book-buying ban with two exceptions: 

a. Books purchased for group discussion are allowable, although I'll check Hoopla to see if an ebook is available and will check any out that I can. 

b. One Book Outlet order is allowed mid-year if I feel like I need a break from the buying ban. 

I don't know if I mentioned falling off the proverbial book-buying ban wagon, last year. Did I? Well, I lasted till August only buying books for group discussion. When I failed, I failed hard. After I didn't succeed at going back on the ban, I realized I just needed to let go of that goal and my husband even shrugged and said, "You did well." So, that eased my. mind a bit. I think the problem was that I didn't allow myself the possibility of a single order to give myself a break. I needed the break, didn't get it, got stressed, and took that buying break anyway, then kept buying a book here, a book there. Sigh. Better luck in 2025, I hope. Still, I did start to see spaces opening up on shelves in 2024 and that's a huge positive.

2. Read from the bedroom stacks. I have stacks on the dresser (see photo, above) and a couple of floor piles, both in the master bedroom. I've decided to focus on those particular piles of books, this year, as well as the books on my bedside table. But if I decide I want to read something from the floor piles in my home library, that's fine. I won't kick myself. I also did not succeed at reading through the floor piles last year, but I made progress. 

3. Read some specific titles that I keep thinking about and not getting around to reading. Among them:

a. The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy - My dad's copy, which I took (technically "stole" because my mother said, "Don't touch anything!") to have something of his that was not valuable when he died. Side note: this is apparently common? I saw someone on a TV show saying, "I took this when he died. I just needed something of his, something to connect me to him." Whoa. Yeah, that. 

b. Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley - My childhood bestie sent me a copy of this after I read Gone With the Wind but I was tired of Scarlett, the character, and not in the mood to follow up one chunkster with another so I decided to read it later. It's been a couple years. 

c. Fobbit by David Abrams - Ohmygosh, I can't believe I haven't read this. I've been friends with David for years. He writes on Substack, now, but we met through blogging eons ago. I've read his most recent novel and a short story of his that was published in an anthology but for some reason Fobbit just keeps getting carried from room to room and not read. THIS IS THE YEAR. 

4. Read one Persephone book per month. I have quite a nice collection from our years of traveling to London (we haven't returned to the UK since Persephone moved to Bath). Since it's already mid-January, I have succeeded in reading my January Persephone book, which was Saplings by Noel Streatfeild. 

5. Post monthly wrap-ups to the blog. I've been doing this for a couple years now, I think? It works well for me. I have not felt the urge to return to full-time blogging and short reviews satisfy my need to blab about books a little. 

That's it! My reading goal at Goodreads is 100 books but that's pretty much meaningless. It's a minimum goal, not a maximum. Generally, I just try to read as much as I possibly can and I started setting my goal to 100 a few years ago so that I know I'll at least hit the goal mark. Anything read after is gravy but I'm a fairly slow reader so I consider 150 a fantastic year. 

Note on the blog: I still check for messages regularly because I'm here to write up my brief reviews after each book I finish. I also still moderate comments. So, if you leave a comment and it doesn't show up for a couple of days, hang in there. It'll show up and I'll reply eventually, unless you're a spammer. I delete spam/anything with a suspicious link. 

Happy Reading to all!

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