I’ve been spurred into action by this week’s Top Ten Tuesday meme: Bookish Goals for 2025. The host Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl gives some hints on how to tackle this topic. I could write about:
- How many books I want to read this year.
- Any plans to read outside my comfort zone.
- Catching up on my backlog by tackling books meant to read last year but never got around to them.
- Authors I’m hoping to read for the first time.
To which my answers would be:
- No specific target. I prefer to go for quality than quantity. While I might set a goal on Goodreads that’s purely so I can easily track what I’ve read and when.
- Again, no specific plans. If a book comes my way that sounds interesting but isn’t my usual reading fare, I’ll give it a go but I’m not setting out deliberately to read science fiction or fantasy for example
- Yes and no. Yes because there are some books picked from my TBR jar that I’d still like to get to. But then again no because if I did that I’d probably never get to all the books I’d like to read this year. What’s gone is gone.
- No firm plans. Last year I read 29 authors I’d never read previously without really trying to and my feeling is that the same thing will happen in 2025. I don’t need to go after the new/new just for the sake of it.
- Not that there is anything wrong with reading goals or plans. Some bloggers love them because they give a framework or a direction. They also seem able to cope with multiple challenges far better than I can.
if by now you’ve formed the impression that reading goals are not going to be a big feature for me in 2025, then you’d be right.
I used to set all sorts of complicated and ambitious targets and plans — and rarely, if ever, achieved them. I didn’t enjoy the experience. So the last few years have seen me back away from that approach. instead I prefer a more relaxed approach. Rough ideas and directions rather than fixed goals and targets.
Most of these ideas will be continuations from last year.
1. Back to the Classics
I’ve been nibbling away at my second Classics Club list. So far I’ve read 13 and abandoned six, leaving me 37 still to read. I might refresh the list, taking out books that seemed like a good idea at the time but now I’m not so sure I want to read.
2. Further Adventures in African Literature
This project got off to a very slow start last year with only three reads from Africa. I’d like to believe I can do better than that in 2025.
3. Discover more TBR Treasures
One upon a time I’d go to a bookshop, buy a novel and read it within the next few weeks. The idea of a TBR shelf never entered my imagination. Then I became a book blogger and suddenly started acquiring books like there was no tomorrow.
I’ve forgotten buying many of the 250 or so unread books on my shelves. i can’t even remember what spurred me to buy some of them. They’ve been stuck at the back of the shelves for years. Having decided mid way through 2024 to back off all reading challenges and goals, I’ve been able to re-discover what’s lurking on those shelves. If I’d kept plugging away at those challenges I’d likely have missed the delights of books like A Thousand Cranes by Yasunari Kawabata and Johannesburg by Fiona Melrose.
So for 2025 I plan to continue to dip into my TBR Book Jar and mining those TBR shelves for more hidden treasures.
Will I still buy books? Will I continue to take books out on loan from the library? That’s like asking will the sun rise tomorrow. I may have hundreds of unread books but that doesn’t stop me wanting more, whether I buy them or borrow from the library. Apparently I’m on the same wavelength as Umberto Eco who is unapologetic about his vast collection of books:
“Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”
Just One Priority
All the ideas I’ve mentioned so far are just that — ideas. I won’t get stressed about them or distraught if I choose to abandon them part way through the year.
My only real objective — and it’s non negotiable — is: Read What I love and Love What I Read.
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