It’s the start of yet ANOTHER year and I’m still trying to improve my reading again. I’ve been a reader since I was litte, devouring multiple books a weeek. And yet, since becoming an adult I’ve been finding it harder and harder to read as much as I would like to. So with this in mind I’ve done what I do with other areas of my life like work and health, and have decided that 2023 is the year I’m going to work on some goals and resolutions purely about reading. Of course I’ll also have some goals that aren’t book related, but for now let’s talk reading 👀.
Reading Resolutions 💡
1. Read 100 Books in 2023
Whilst last year my Goodreads goal was a firm 50, I did have a lot of other things going on when I was thinking ahead. So this year I am hoping to bump this up just a little bit to 100 books. However, once you take a read of my other goals too, you’ll realise I am planning on reading some small books (a LOT of my classics are short!) and I’ve also got an audible subscription so I’m gonna start training my brain to listen to books this year too (hopefully!).
2. Read at LEASt 5 of the classics I already own
In 2022 I catalogued all the books I owned and found out that Classics is my second most owned “genre”. Admittedly it is because this includes a lot of the Little Black Penguin Classics, and also the Modern Classics collections which are all tiny pocket books. But, I did realise I’ve owned a lot of classics which I was gifted as a kid which I’ve just never read, and I think I’ve been missing out. So I want to read at least 5 of the full novel sized classics I have on the my shelves.
3. Read Daily
This is a habit I already mostly stick to as I’m a reading before bed everynight kinda gal. But I did keep it my reading goals to ensure it stays top of mind, especially when traveling. I’m hoping to track this with my kindle app on my phone which auto tracks, but also a physical reading journal so that I can track those days that I’m picking up physical or audio books over ebooks.
4. Unhaul books on my shelves
You may be thinking that unhauling books is the complete opposite of trying to read more, but I do have some logical thinking behind this. I currently own over 1200 books in my flat, and there’s a fair amount of these that I haven’t read because until 2021 most of my books were stored in family homes rather than with me. In those years that I didn’t have immediate access to read those books, I’ve probably lost interest in picking up some of them – either due to changing tastes, reading other books my the authors that I didn’t enjoy, or reviews from trusted friends.
So I’m going to unhaul some to firstly give me more room for more books, but secondly to also help reduce decision fatigue. Instead of walking into my room and having to pick from loads of books, I want to be able to pick from a smaller selection so I have MORE time reading instead of choosing.
5. Read a wider variety of genres
2022 has shown me that I try to read a LOT of high fantasy, and a lot of huge series. Whilst I will definitely still be doing this because I love that kinda book, I am going to try and break that up with a few different genres too. I have so many sci-fi, contemporary, thrillers and more genres on my shelf, which I definitely also love but often forget about picking up.
6. Read more of the books I purchase, when I purchase them.
One of my current bad habits is that I’ll often pre-order a book, or pop into a bookstore and just “pick something up” and then the book will be sat on my shelf for months (or years) without me ever reading it. 2023 is the year to curb this issue, and to start reading the books as I buy them and justify my spending habits too.
TBR List 📚
And here’s just a sneak peak of some of the books that I have on my TBR for this year 👀
