Reading Goals for 2026

                     

Image by Nong/Californong from Unsplash

Happy New Year! 

I have waffled about this post for a month: pondered ditching it entirely, altering, or leaving as is. In the end, I decided that I don't want to make any goals for 2026, apart from just reading off the shelves and only what calls to me (well . . . there will be book club reads, but that's another story). But, I'm leaving what I wrote a month ago as I wrote it below because I'll have the goals I originally intended in the back of my head and might want to refer back to them, goal-free or not. 

For now . . . my only goal is to enjoy my reading — from my home library. I'll still do the monthly wrap-ups here because I like using my blog as an additional recording device (in addition to the monthly calendar on which I record all finished reads). My December, 2025 Reads and 2025 Reads posts will be up as soon as I manage to upload photographs to the December Reads post. 

Here are the original goals/post I've decided to ditch, for now, written in early December:

New year, new goals! I always love starting out a fresh year with new reading plans. I will note that while I create specific goals and aim toward them, I have learned that life simply refuses to stop interfering with my reading plans. So, nothing is set in stone. These are just goals that I will aim for. If I don't reach them, I'm not going to be sad. I'll just move on. Without further ado . . . 

2026 Reading and Other Goals:

1. Keep reading from my home library only (as much as possible) - Toward the end of the year, when our beloved Isabel sickened and then we had to say goodbye to her (and other things happened), I made some significant stress book purchases. I don't feel guilty; I needed a little bolstering. But, I did revert to reading mostly new books and I want to resume my goal to stop buying and read what I already own. 

2. Purchases should be exceptions - This is often a #fail, although I did have one very good book-buying ban year. But I'm going to keep trying. If I absolutely can't bear not to buy a book because my library doesn't have it and/or I need it for book group discussion, fine. But, I want to minimize my purchases. I have a terrific home library and I need to focus on shopping from my own shelves. I leave myself open to the possibility of stress purchasing if needed. Books are my upper of choice. 

3. Read specific books I've meant to get to - I have a small stack but my priority book is Scarlett by Alexandra Ripley, which my childhood bestie sent me when I was reading Gone With the Wind. I put it on last year's priority list and then totally forgot about it, even though the book has literally been sitting on a chair in my living room since it arrived. Seriously, it's right there (the chair is decorative; nobody sits on it so the book only moves when we clean the floors). I am ridiculous. Others are the Lord of the Rings series, In the Beginning by Nick Girard, and Skippy Dies by Paul Murray (because my eldest son wants me to read it). I keep thinking about others I might want to add, which is probably a bad idea but I mean to be flexible so I'll stop here. 

4. A year of poetry - I am rewriting #4 as I originally planned to keep reading Persephone books as part of my challenge but then I thought, "Maybe I can just do that without making it a challenge item, again?" And, at any rate, I was going to do 1/2 Persephone, 1/2 classics, alternating instead of focusing on one or the other. However, recently I asked for advice on poetry that's accessible and I got literally 4 full pages of suggestions, which led to the purchase of a stack of poetry books. I also have a couple of books about poetry. The reason I specified "accessible" poetry is because it's not something I studied beyond junior high, so I can definitely use a bit of instruction on how to read and understand poetry, although I am of the camp that also believes it's fine taking what you feel from a poem rather than trying to analyze it to death. Anyway. Poetry. Yes. 

5. Continue posting monthly wrap-ups to the blog - I doubt I'll ever return to writing full reviews (although I'm not totally ruling it out if I ever feel like returning full-time) but I'm very happy writing the monthly wrap-ups. I keep an open file and write about each book immediately (or very soon) after reading, while they're still fresh in my mind and then all I have to do is photograph my stack and flatlay, et voilà. One exception: If I read something so fabulous I have to talk about it, I may pop in and do a full review. While I am no longer reviewing for publishers, I also leave that option open and will do a review if I ever accept a book from a publisher, again. However, I don't have a NetGalley account (mine ceased to function eons ago, so I finally just canned it) and most offers are for e-books, so it's unlikely I'll do many ARC reviews, if any at all. 

6. Numbers - I always set my Goodreads goal a little lower than my mental goal so that I can be assured I'll reach at least one goal. I know, cheating. But, it works for me so I'm going to set my goal at 100 books while really aiming for 150. However, if I don't make it to 150 because I have a couple of very large reads in mind, no biggie. Also, in the grand scheme of things, I just like numbers so I count pages and books and  such because of my addiction to math. I'm less concerned about the goal, more about the fun. I will say I think Goodreads absolutely ruined the look of their challenge in 2025; I've only continued at GR because I already have so many records, there. I'll never understand bad updates. 

Note on comments: I still screen all comments so don't worry if your comment doesn't appear immediately. I do still check the blog and will approve and reply to legitimate comments, although sometimes I forget to check comments for a few days. I also still delete spam; spam will never show up here. No hinky links allowed, even if your comment sounds reasonable. 

Wishes for a Glorious Year to You and Happy Reading to All! 

©2026 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos. 

2024 Reading Goals

My goals are pretty simple for 2024 but I like to write them down so that I can look back, at the end of the year. So, here goes:

1. 2024 brings the return of the full-year book-buying ban. I have two exceptions, books for book group discussion and library sale finds. However, I can only bring home as much as I donate. So, if I take a single book to donate when I work in the library sale (I'm a volunteer!), I can only bring one home. If I'm miserable, mid-year, I will allow myself one Book Outlet purchase, but only one. And, I'm going to do my best to avoid even that.

2. Read from my own collection, particularly the floor piles. I have too many books, hence the buying ban. There's no longer any remaining shelf space (partly because I gave my son 3 bookshelves, last year — that's one way to force yourself to go through your books!) I do also plan to work on thinning the many remaining titles on my shelves.  

3. No floor piles by the end of the year. Good luck to me. 

4. Read what calls to me. The only exceptions will be books read for my book group and any unsolicited arrivals that appeal to me. I still occasionally get a book in the mail and I will always read those in a timely manner if they interest me. 

My numerical goal is set to 100 at Goodreads because that's usually an easily achievable number (I don't want my book goal to become something stressful) but I'd like to try to read more novels. I have a handful of remaining manga and graphic novels and I always have a nice stockpile of middle grade books, so I have books to turn to if I'm feeling bogged down and need something light. But, I felt like I read a bit too many very short books in 2023, so I want to stretch myself a bit. 

I usually choose one or two classic chunksters to try to read (last year, I read one of the two I chose). This year, nah. If I feel like reading a classic chunkster, I will. But, I'm not going to make any particular title a goal. 

The same is true of genres. I have some things I'm letting float around in my head that I'd like to focus on: more classics, some Japanese and Australian titles. But, I find that if I let books call to me rather than making a plan, I enjoy my reading more. Challenges, in particular, seem to bog me down, which sucks but it is what it is, so I'm just going to let my own needs dictate how I read. 

By the way, is that image above beautiful, or what? It was taken in Poland by someone called @freestocks and I found it at Unsplash, a great place to find free images. 

©2024 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos. 

Reading and Blogging Goals, 2023

2023???? How is that even possible? Yes, another year has flown by and it's time to come up with some new goals. 

So . . . ta-da! My reading and blogging goals:

1. The return of the book-buying ban - I confess, I let it go, mid-year. However, having lasted an entire year on a book-buying ban with only a few minor violations, I discovered that my personal buying ban definitely had an impact on my habits. I have bought some books this year, but the quantity of purchases has dropped significantly; and, since I allowed myself to buy the books I desperately wanted to read, I didn't feel like I needed to take a break and make a big Book Outlet purchase. So, I'm happy with how 2022 book buying went, in spite of falling off the ban wagon. Haha, ban wagon. OK, bad. 

2. Continue getting rid of as many books as possible - This has been going very well but since Kiddo and spouse moved into their first home and I gave him 3 shelving units, I need to get rid of a lot more. Because, yeah, I no longer have any place to put the remaining books that were on those shelves. 

3. Continue reading exclusively from my own shelves (including from my personal electronic library) - Almost everything I read, this year, was from my personal shelves. I did check out two library e-books and finished my remaining ARCs during the first months of the year after I decided to go to once-a-month blogging. But, it went really well. I had a particular shelf I was aiming to read from and I read 9 books from that shelf. However, I stepped on my own toes by immediately filling any blank spots with more books (because, ahem, I have many, many books stacked on the floor . . . still true, but I'm working on it). So, eventually I couldn't remember which books I'd planned to read and which were tucked in after something else was removed. I totally forgot that I'd posted an image of the shelf in question on my blog. Ah, well. I consider my attempt to read exclusively from my shelves a success. 

4. Read at least 100 books - This one is flexible. I have a lot of goals that may interfere with my reading time. Plus, I like to leave room for chunksters. Anyway, 100 books is usually doable for me. 

5. Continue to turn down ARCs - Not a problem, since most of the ARCs I've been offered have been e-galleys and I haven't been able to get Netgalley to work in years. There were a couple times I was tempted to read an ARC and return to the blog to review it, this year. In all cases, the fine print at the bottom of the email said, "We are not sending physical ARCs at this time." Screw that: auto delete. I don't even like e-books. I have had a couple physical books arrive unsolicited and one of them is on my TBR. I do plan to read it and review. Which brings me to . . . 

6. As of now, I've decided to continue doing only one post per month - If there is a particular book that either really stands out and I just have to write about it or if I just feel like posting, I will. I'm not going to stop myself. However, burnout is a real thing and I still feel like I've reached the end of the line when it comes to regular posting. I will make an exception for the unsolicited ARC that's currently on my TBR (if it grabs me, of course – I can never guarantee I'll finish reading a book) and any other unsolicited books that appeal to me, if they should appear in my mailbox. 

7. Chunksters of the year - After I read Gone With the Wind, a friend sent me Scarlett to follow it up because she enjoyed the modern continuation. I haven't read it, yet, but I needed a break from that world before continuing on. So, that's one book I'd like to read, this year. My classic chunkster choices of the year are East of Eden by John Steinbeck and The Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle. I've glanced at East of Eden longingly for years without picking it up, so I think it's about time. I also need to read the next two books in The Expanse series and then return them to Kiddo because he says I can't keep them. Big meanie.

8. Read a classic per month - This used to be a standard for me but I've slipped away from it in the last couple of years. I think first up will be Call of the Wild and White Fang by Jack London because that book also belongs to Kiddo and I need to give it back to him. 

As an aside, I am still at Twitter but no longer going there for any purpose other than to drop a link to my monthly round-ups. I no longer scroll through Twitter but I've decided to keep my account open so that nobody has the opportunity to replace my account with a clone and a paid-for blue check mark. 

I miss Twitter. It was my favorite social media hangout. I tried Mastadon and Post.news and settled on Post, where I am @bookfoolery. At Post I'm limiting myself mostly to cat and book photos, at the moment, with an occasional re-post of whatever interests me. It's full of refugees from Twitter and so new that they're constantly adding new features; it's really being built from the ground up, at this point. Patience is necessary but the atmosphere is extremely upbeat. I'm really enjoying Post. 

Hope you have a fabulous reading year!

©2023 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Reading and Blogging Goals for 2022

Click on image to enbiggen (and please pardon the dust). 

I've been mulling my 2022 plans for literally weeks, waffling about whether or not I want to make major changes. Last year, as you know if you read my blog regularly, I made a pretty major change in that I opted to go on a full year book-buying ban but offer myself a few exceptions and also to rarely accept ARCs. So, what's in store for 2022?

Reading and Blogging Goals for 2022

1. The return of the book-buying ban. I've given myself a couple weeks in which to purchase some of my most-wanted titles. I can't get all of them, of course. The wish list grew enormously, last year, as I found that a way to keep myself from immediately buying was to just add to the wish list. But, I've chosen a few and will probably buy a couple more. My ending date for allowing purchases is January 14.

After that, I'm going to continue with last year's rules and exceptions to the buying ban. The exceptions are books by people I know personally, dirt cheap books, and maybe some F2F group selections. However, I'm going to allow myself to return to checking out books from the library so I'm hoping my F2F books will be available there to prevent having to purchase. Again, I'll allow myself a mid-year purchase, but I hope to limit myself to a single mid-year order.

2. I will read exclusively off my shelves, the exception being the occasional library check-out. I have a specific shelf that I plan to tackle, first. That's shown above. I have so many books that they're piled up on the library floor and were also piled on the floor in other rooms (the books on the library floor remain but the rest have been moved off the floor, now). The books shown are actually my bedside pile, which has been shifted to the top of a shelving unit. I'm not going to limit myself to only reading off that shelf but I'm going to try to focus on getting through those, first. 

3. Read at least 100 books. That's my Goodreads goal; however, I have discovered a new love of chunksters so I'm not going to kick myself if I decide to read some bigger books and don't make my goal. 

4. Continue reading from an anthology or collection of short stories at all times. Last year, that went pretty well. There were times I focused on a single read and the anthologies fell by the wayside, but I got through quite a few and want to keep that going. 

5. Accept no ARCs. None. That is going to be so hard. But, the next goal should make it somewhat easier . . . 

6. Only write what I feel like writing. If that means only a monthly reading update, fine. If it means 25-word reviews, fine. I've found that after 15 1/2 years, I don't really want to write a full review of absolutely everything I read, although I like having a record so I'd like to write something about each book I read, regardless of length. I am, at this point, leaning toward eventually going to a "Monthly Reads in Review" post as my only method of reviewing. But, along with that I'm considering continuing Monday Malarkey and Fiona Friday. On these details, I haven't decided so the blog will continue as it has been until I make a decision and then . . . well, I guess we'll see. Opinions on this are welcome. Would you even drop by if I only post once a month? Would Monday Malarkey and Fiona Friday keep you coming back? Is blogging passé?

7. Get rid of as many books as possible. This means going through older books as well as letting go of finished books a little sooner. I have found that I require a cooling-off period before I let books go and that's fine. But, I need to be a little more mercenary about getting rid of anything I won't read again. 

That's it! OK, more goals than I expected but most of these are holdovers from last year and I did pretty well, last year. The one goal I utterly failed at was my goal to read books by Native American authors. I read a few but let that one slide, after a time. I'll keep that as an unofficial goal that I'd also like to work on but since I'm not buying, it'll mean reading what I already own. 

It's so nice to start a fresh, new year! 

©2022 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Happy New Year! and reading goals with a cat photo

Happy New Year! Here's hoping 2021 is better in every way than 2020. I know we have some rough times ahead with Covid-19 surging and overwhelming hospitals but I have my fingers and toes crossed that the incoming administration will improve upon the current inoculation plan so that we can move toward herd immunity. 

My 2021 reading and bookish goals:

1. A year-long book-buying ban. I have a couple of exceptions. One is books by friends, the other dirt cheap books. But, the latter usually come from library sales and our former library with the perpetual sale corner is currently on curbside checkouts only, no entering the building. So, it should be easy to avoid buying any cheap books for a while and, to be honest, I'm so excited about reading off my shelves that I don't have any interest at all in buying, right now (although I did do a little last-minute panic buying). There's one more possible exception to the no-buying goal and that has to do with a second goal . . . 

2. Read books by Native American authors or about Native American history. I have plenty to start out with, so I won't need to buy any, right away, if at all. We shall see. There was a Native American reading challenge I wanted to join in on but if I saved the list of monthly reads, I sure can't find it. I was going to go ahead and pre-buy a few titles for that. If I ever come across the list and I've drained the titles I already have from my shelves, I might buy a couple. At the moment, I'm not interested in buying anything at all, though. I'm also not going to stress about quantity. I'd like to read one per month but I want this to be a relaxing reading year. 

3. Read off my shelves. That means not only no buying but no checking out books from the library and only children's books for review if they're offered. 2020 was not a big year for ARCs and that's good. I've loved reading books in advance of publication and being a part of the publicity machine because I love helping authors get attention, but it's time for me to take a step back. Children's books are the exception because they're quicker to read and there is always, always a need for children's books at local schools, so it's easy to find new homes for them once I've finished.

4. Read some of those chunksters I've been afraid to read for fear that they'd set me behind on ARCs. If I don't have many ARCs to deal with, I can spend more time reading fat books. Along with this goal goes the idea of reading fewer books. I'm going to wind back my normal Goodreads goal, probably to 75 instead of 100 books, just so I have an obtainable goal that will be enjoyable but lacks the pressure of shooting for reading a larger number. This has worked well for me, in recent years. 

5. Read a short story per day. I have a lot of anthologies and collections that have just been sitting around collecting dust and I so enjoyed the experience of reading a short story a day during Advent that I decided to continue reading short stories in the new year. If I don't succeed at reading one every day, again, not going to fret. But, I'm looking forward to it and have already picked out my first collection to dive into, by Isaac Asimov. 

That's it! I will post my last reviews for 2020, next week, including a post about any books I neglected to review. I did not set aside my favorite books, this year, so I'm not sure if I'll get around to doing a favorites list but I'd like to. Again, we'll see. This blog is getting a little loose and fluffy around the edges, after 14 1/2 years. I keep thinking of Goldie Hawn's line in the movie Housesitter, "I change myself all the time!" I love that line. Change is good. I spend more time doing creative things like painting, now, and my life feels a little more balanced because of it. 

Because it's Friday, here's Izzy Kitty looking crazy-eyed with a catnip Christmas gift:

Hope everyone had a nice, safe and happy transition into 2021! Happy reading!

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

6-month Review

Well, there went half a year. Whoosh! Time to revisit the reading goals and see how things are going. Here's my post about my Reading Goals for 2019. I won't repeat every detail; instead, I'll just say how I'm progressing on each of my goals.

1. Recently Dead Guys Personal Challenge - 0/3

Bummer. I've been thinking about this one, off and on, and was aware that I haven't read a single one but it still sucks to have to admit it.


2. Perfect Little Gems Personal Challenge - Ugh, 0

Double bummer. If I don't get to it in 2019, though, I will definitely fold this one over into 2020.


3. Books I bought in hardback because I was sooo anxious to read them and then didn't get around to reading them challenge - 2/6

Better. I've read What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Old Baggage by Lissa Evans, from this list. Both were excellent, in my humble opinion.


4. Personal Classics Challenge - 4 titles read 

I've read Howard's End by E. M. Forster, Franny and Zooey by J. D. Salinger, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, and Forbidden Area by Pat Frank. I didn't read any classics in May or June.


5. Fewer ARCs/Upcoming Releases in 2019 - Umm, okay. I started out really well and then, gosh darn it, I went overboard. I have a backlog, now – exactly the thing I was trying to avoid. My current plan is to attempt to accept no books at all (children's books are always an exception) in November and December so that I can make sure that I've either read or attempted every ARC I've received in 2019.


6. Spend less time on social media and more time reading - This has been going quite well, although occasionally I will find myself refreshing either Twitter or Facebook obsessively for that dopamine hit. When I become aware of it, I usually take a week off from social media and that always does the trick. I like my life better without social media but not enough to give it up entirely. In fact, I just put a force hold on my Twitter app to keep me from checking it via the phone because I felt I was overdoing my Twitter usage. I'm on the verge of removing the app from my phone entirely.


7. Progress on annual Goodreads goal - 81/100

I've been ahead of my Goodreads goal for the entire year, although I came close to falling behind, at one point. I'm not going to bump up my goal at the website, although my mental goal is now 160 because I think it's reasonable to try to double what I've read in 6 months. But, I'd be fine with 140.


8. Books my kids insist I must read - 1/2

I've read The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber (recommended by eldest) but not Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey by Joseph E. Persico (recommended by youngest). And, I'd totally forgotten about the Casey book, so I'll have to remember to get to that ASAP.


Bottom line . . . I'm reading at a decent pace and not doing so hot on my personal reading challenges, but I knew I was setting some lofty goals when it came to the personal challenges and anticipated not succeeding 100% at all of them. Still, I'd like to do better in the next 6 months. It's going to be a challenge, given the backlog. I just got some UPS notifications and there were so many of them that I did a double take and then checked the shipping numbers to see if they'd sent me duplicate notices. Nope. Next week's ARC stack is going to be a doozy.


©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

2019 Reading Goals

I spent some time in December thinking about my 2019 Reading Goals when I probably ought to have been working on a Year in Review report. Ah, well. I like thinking ahead.

Reading Goals for 2019:

1.  Recently Dead Guys Personal Challenge - I bought 3 books by authors who then promptly died in 2018. I can't find one of them but I just bought another and 3 seems like a nice challenge number, so I'll stick with the 3 unless I find the 4th and decide I'm in a hurry to read it. The challenge books:

• A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
• Cruising Paradise by Sam Shepard
• A Tale of Love and Darkness by Amos Oz

2. Perfect Little Gems Personal Challenge - After reading News of the World by Paulette Jiles a second time, last year, I spent a lot of time thinking about books that are short but perfect little gems -- which News of the World definitely is, in my humble opinion. When I took a writing workshop taught by Simon Van Booy, he mentioned the fact that it's not necessary to write a 300-page book when you're starting out (and I've been away from fiction writing long enough to feel like I'm starting all over again, although I've written several novels). Instead, he said, focus on reading really well-written short books and trying to write a shorter work.

I've been literally pondering that advice for years without doing a thing but the longer I think about it, the more I miss writing fiction and want to return to it. So, I want to spend some time looking for and reading shorter works of excellence in 2019. I have a few titles that were recommended to me and a list that contains a few more I'll eventually buy. The challenge books, so far:

• Articles of War by Nick Arvin
• The Wedding of Zein by Tayeb Salih
• The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker
• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (I've misplaced this one but will be searching for it)

I've got quite a few shorter novels shelved around my house and some have come highly recommended (pretty much everything by Italo Calvino, for example) so I will probably add one of Calvino's shorter works like Under the Jaguar Sun to that list and see what other books I've got that get high ratings and happen to be short.


3. Books I bought in hardback because I was sooo anxious to read them and then didn't get around to reading them -- another Personal Challenge:

• Transcription by Kate Atkins
• Warlight by Michael Ondaatje
• In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne
• Old Baggage by Lissa Evans
• Savage Country by Robert Olmstead
• What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton (admittedly purchased mostly because so many men were telling her she should sit down and shut up)

I'm still equally excited about these titles. The thrill of having them ahead of me on the TBR piles has not worn off. 

4. Personal Classics Challenge - I plan to return to the usual 1 per month challenge that I've kept to in recent years except while reading one particular title. In 2018, I set a goal to read two really long books: Don Quixote and Gone With the Wind. Don Quixote was so memorable that I often set it aside for weeks before returning to it for a while (with no trouble recalling where I was in the story), then I'd set it aside again. The result was a full 6 months of reading the same classic. When I finished, I was both elated and drained. I thought I'd wait a month or two and then start Gone With the Wind. I never got to it, so I'm folding Gone With the Wind into my 2019 Classics Challenge and it's the one title I'll let drag on a couple months, if necessary. I'd like to read no fewer than 9 classics in 2019.

5. Fewer ARCs/upcoming releases in 2019 (exception: children's books) - I'm going to try my darndest to read more off my shelves and request fewer ARCs, although I already have a substantial number of ARCs for January alone. Wish me luck. This one is hard. I've been blogging a long time and I receive a lot of requests to review. I have no problem fitting in the children's books because so many of those that I review are middle grade or picture books -- very quick reads. Plus, I'm crazy about children's books and would be happy to review even more. But, I'm not going to go out looking for them. I'll just stick with the publishers with whom I already have a relationship.

6. Spend less time on social media and more time reading - If you're on Facebook or Twitter, you've probably seen the article that says you can likely bump the number of books you read in a year up significantly (they say 200 books but I don't know if that's possible for me) if you give up social media. I've been trying to work on that, already, in spite of the fact that I actually started up an Instagram account, a couple months ago (I'm @Bookfoolery on Instagram, if you're interested in following me there). I like the fact that Instagram is something I don't want to spend a lot of time on and adds a little fun because it makes me think about visuals -- posing books instead of just posting cover images.

I haven't gone beyond a paragraph when I posted about a finished book on Instagram, so far, and I like that. I've even considered eventually giving up the blog and just posting at Instagram someday. But, I'm not there, yet. It's an option for the future if I seriously get back to regular fiction writing, but until then . . . I need to write so I'll keep the blog going until and unless I am doing some other kind of writing that satisfies that particular primal need.

7. I've set my annual Goodreads reading goal at 100, again, although I read 131 books in 2018 and my unstated goal is shifting constantly. At this point, I'm really hoping to reach 150. But, I like keeping the Goodreads goal lower because I don't want it to be something that stresses me out.

8. A late addition: Books my kids insist I must read. There are only two, at the moment:

The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber
Casey: The Lives and Secrets of William J. Casey: from the OSS to the CIA by Joseph E. Persico

One recommended by each son.

That's it! I've given myself a lot more reading goals than I did in 2018 and I'm not going to kick myself around the block if I decide I need to ease up on some of them. But, for now, it's January and I'm jazzed and looking forward to a fresh, new reading year!

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Thoughts about the new year

". . . Bookfool flossed every day."

". . . Oprah called Bookfool for advice."

". . . Bookfool took dancing lessons."

". . . who knows?"

What I most love about a new year is that it's a blank slate, or rather a good mental starting point for clearing the slate and reinventing oneself.

I typed that sentence, along with a few paragraphs of gibberish, then I found myself coming back the same sentence, repeatedly. Why should January be the only time of year we visualize as a time to set goals, the time of clean slates and resolutions? The more I thought about it, the more I realized that every day can be and is--given the chance--a clean slate. That means any old time can be a time to reevaluate, draw up new goals and/or change things that aren't working for you.

Point being, I've got a few reading and blogging goals but nothing elaborate because I want to think of every day as a day in which I can change anything or everything.

Some thoughts that involve an expanding butt:

In the past few years, my life has been wrapped around the computer, the internet, email, facebook, twitter, the blog. I've pondered that a good bit and decided there's no way I can call my life "balanced," even after last year's goal to make 2010 a year of "finding balance." It didn't work out. However, that doesn't mean I can't keep trying. Balance means not allowing your life to be skewed too much toward one activity and to find it involves shifting some weight around. Obviously, I'm going to have to devote less time to blogging and other online activities to make my life more balanced.

So far, I've actually succeeded to a certain extent. I'm spending more time updating my home so Kiddo will have plenty of places he can comfortably study. I've been reading, deep cleaning, purging . . . having fun making the place more livable. I'm getting plenty of exercise, apparently. Housework is definitely making my pants fit better, although formal exercise is on the agenda, too.

Bottom line: I realized that the blog simply cannot be my #1 priority in 2011. That doesn't mean I'm giving it up because I'm not. It does mean I will make some significant changes.

My blog and reading goals for 2011:

1. Continue to blog, but in more of a swoop and dash way. No more editing myself to death, writing lengthy posts. At least, that's the plan. Feel free to cross your fingers and toes. I can use help on this one.

2. Google Reader Must Die. I've spent more time stressing about not being able to keep up with my reader than I should, so I'm altering my method of blog-hopping. In 2011, blogging efforts will be reciprocal. If someone visits my blog and comments, I'll read their blog and comment. I'll also visit a few favorite bloggers regularly and will try to visit all of my blog friends, now and then, but I'm not going to be a slave to the reader, this year.

3. Read what I love/love what I read. This was one of my goals in 2010 and it went quite well. I granted myself permission to set aside any book that didn't grab me and I was happier with my reading. I'm going to continue that practice.

4. No challenges, except maybe the R.I.P. because I love deliberately reading creepy books in the fall. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

5. Mix it up. At this point, I'm still accepting advanced readers, but that may end. For now, my plan is to finish up the review books I've got but work at mixing in more books from my TBRs. Specifically, I've set a goal to empty one shelf at a time, so that I'll have a visual to work with. I'll devote a separate post to this concept. My first "shelf" started with books from the bedroom closet but it keeps changing.

I have a few other goals that have nothing to do with reading or blogging but this is a reading blog, so there you go. You might say 2011 will be The Year of the Cat, since most of what I'm planning involves relaxing, enjoying, mixing in play time with the work.

©2011 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.