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Unpopular opinion: I hate reading goals. For me and many of us, reading is an escape and a form of self-care. Setting goals makes it feel like a chore or a competition and I’m not too fond of that.
For my GoodReads, I will set a goal of 52 books for the year, just like I did for 2022, but at the end of the day, I’m not going to put much emphasis on that number. If I read more or less than 52 books in 2023, my goal for me is to read books and enjoy the time I spend in fictional worlds.
1. Read more diverse books (Characters, settings, etc.)
As a white woman from a small town, I am very sheltered and uncultured in many areas. Since joining the online book community, I’ve become even more aware of my privilege, as well as my ignorance of many subjects and topics that are day-to-day life for many individuals.
One of my goals for 2023 is to diversify my reading, put an emphasis on BIPOC and LGBTQ+ authors, and continue to expand my knowledge on subjects I have been in the dark about for too long.
Any recommendations or suggestions you have, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
2. DNF more books
I feel like DNF-ing books get such a bad rap on the online book community, but when I personally decide to stop a book, that doesn’t mean it’s a “bad book”. (I HATE WHEN I HEAR PEOPLE SAY THIS) It just means I wasn’t enjoying it and that is fine.
I have DNF-ed plenty of books, but this coming year I’m going to make it a goal of mine to not force myself to read a single thing that isn’t keeping my attention.
Finding yourself bored with a story but forcing yourself to read it anyway is a prime way to shove yourself into a reading slump.
3. Donate more books to Free Little Libraries
When I first started reading again in 2019, I was set on not buying physical books anymore. I was strictly going to read on my Kindle. I didn’t want to store books because now that I am an adult with my own home I just assumed I’d hate the idea of finding space for them. Fast forward to 2022, give me all the books and I still haven’t parted with any of the books that I was going to donate from my teens/the early 20s.
That being said, the online book community increases my TBR every single day by billions upon billions of books, so I feel like there are many books I should part with.
4. Listen to more audiobooks
I never expected to love audiobooks because I have a really garbage attention span but I discovered my love for them in 2022 and want to listen to more in 2023. I love that you can pick the speed of the audio. A game changer, truly.
http://Try Audible PlusI’m currently listening to the audiobooks of Zodiac Academy on audible and I am listening to The Bonds That Tie series on Scribd.
Scridb actually gives me the ick because they have a lot of pirated books in their “documents” section. I will not be subscribing and do not recommend the platform
5. Remember why I read
Is this a goal? Yes, actually, it is. When I joined the online book community, something I didn’t anticipate is to start to feel inadequate when it came to how fast or how much I was reading. While it doesn’t matter what I read vs what others are reading, sometimes it’s hard not to fall into the human nature of the comparison game, so my goal is to not lose sight of the fact I read to escape, to take a break from the world, for enjoyment, and not to race the rest of the book community.
Do you have any bookish goals for this New Year?