Making My 2026 Bookish Goals & Revisiting 2025 Bookish Goals
2025 Goals Check-In
Goal 1: Read 75 books. "Really, it's 100 books. It's always 100 books."
Accomplished! I got to exactly 100 books and then let myself start five books at once, which is something I never let myself do as a reader. I'm not good at trying to be realistic with goals when I know there's a more extravagant one I really want, so I was always angling for that 100 books. I think I'm retiring a specific number goal for 2026, which will be the first time in 8 years I have no specific goal.
Goal 2: Try out new bookish tracking systems
I did this! I kept updating my spreadsheet I've had since 2016 cause there's a real security in the things that live on your computer, not at the mercy of these other companies. But I did branch out to trying Fable and Storygraph. Fable had a major AI scandal issue at the start of the year, and I just didn't click with their interface as much. They're trying to be too much of a social app for what I was looking for. I did keep up with logging all of my reading in Storygraph, though, mostly because I wanted the cool end of year graphics. My only complaint is that I wish it was better synced between all the editions of books. If I put the physical copy on my TBR but then read the ebook, suddenly it's a whole process to clean up my digital TBR shelf.
Goal 3: Read 3 classics.
I did this! I mean, I'm maybe stretching the definition of "classic" by including Black Swans by Eve Babitz, but I honestly don't feel like it's that big of a leap. It's not from the last twenty years, and people are writing biographies about her. Anyway, the other two are The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (because if I'm going to spend most of my time hanging out in the townhouse where he was born, I should get familiar with his work) and The Great Gatsby, which I somehow missed in school but thoroughly enjoyed. I also read many bits and pieces of The Dubliner by James Joyce but have yet to read every single story.
Goal 4: Finish reading my physical TBR before I leave home and make a big dent in my digital TBR.
Whoops. I made it a good way through my physical TBR, at least the books I still sincerely wanted to read, but the digital TBR is an utter disaster. That's a rollover goal for this year to stay more on top of it.
Goal 5: Enjoy UK bookstores.
Welp, I moved to Ireland not London like I thought when I made all my goals (you should see all the cross outs in my personal notebook). But I have thoroughly enjoyed the bookstores of Dublin, so mission accomplished.
Blogger Goal 1: Keep up the momentum even when things get busier with work, move, school, etc.
This I did to varying degrees. My reading, after the spring when I was entirely unemployed and had nothing better to do, was strongest in October. I think being excited about the written word and having more free time than when I was working even with classes inspired lots of reading. Plus, exploring bookstores and buying tons of books will give material. How consistent I was blogging, however, is a different story.
Blogger Goal 2: Go to as many bookish events as possible.
As possible might be a stretch, but I did go to a couple different bookish events. I explored the James Joyce house, went to book launches, went to a few Dublin Book Festival events. So a good mix of different book related opportunities. I will admit that I definitely got lazy there at the end and didn't attend some of the lit mag events I truly intended to.
2026 Bookish Goals
Goal 1: Move past total book quotas.
This is a big deal for me. I've had a concrete books read goal the whole time I've been a book blogger. This fell off a bit in college, but it's always in the back of my mind. I don't think the impulse to try to read as many books as possible will ever fade. There's just a lot I want to read! But I also want to stop holding myself back from reading in the way I want to just for the sake of maximizing books read. At the start of the year, I enjoyed starting and reading pieces of many books at once. That wasn't the fastest way to get books on the board for January, and many of them, I felt satisfied after just reading pieces, especially with exploring more nonfiction and classics. I want to free myself to spend reading time on things that are exciting and enriching but might not add to that final total. I want to start a really long classic and not worry about when I finally finish it. I want reading to feel fun and not like a job or a competition. That's one way the blogging/bookstagram mentality that cemented into my head as an impressionable teenager has got to go.
Goal 2: Be more relaxed about reading. Sink in and enjoy. Don't make it a guilt thing.
To what I said above, I think I've developed a lot of "rules" around reading for the sake of trying to have consistent blog content or meet my reading goals. I really don't need that mentality anymore. I don't need these goals to make myself read consistently. I do it because I love it and because I'm curious. I want that to be more at the heart of my reading choices than it has been for the last eight years. I want to feel more free, whether that's in picking older books or longer books or books I only read parts of.
Goal 3: Read 3 classics.
I'm stealing this goal from last year. I think the better thing to say would be "read classics more consistently", but we're so short on quantifiable goals here that I feel like calling it 3 is a good place holder. I've already finished 2 as my first 2 books of the year, so we're going strong, though I'm so ready to get into my 2026 reads next.
Goal 4: Read wide and don't worry about necessarily finishing every page.
This goes back to what I said about trying out different kinds of books and authors. I think to truly judge a book, you have to finish it. But to get a taste for someone's writing? I'm okay with dabbling, with reading slowly, setting it down and returning later—or not. I want to go with what feels fun and exciting this year. What I've experienced so far is that sometimes you get more out of an experience reading lots of books at once, letting them all inform each other.
Blogger Goal 1: Don't let blogging get in the way of reading for fun.
I think I'm slowly getting better at this. In 2025, I struggled so much with the new releases that reading for the blog pretty much went out the window, but I still had a lot of guilt associated with it, and reading still very much felt like a job. I just want to find that pure, childlike wonder with it, and maybe I've grown out of it, but I'm hoping to get that spark back.
Blogger Goal 2: Find my blogging voice again.
You probably haven't noticed, but I've been playing around lately with the way I review books, moving off of my tried and true formula of rating characters, plot, and writing. I still think it's a useful approach, but maybe not all the time. I want to re-find my voice as a blogger, the kinds of posts I feel excited to create, and reignite the spark with things. I think I've felt bogged down in the last few years by doing things the way I always have. But I'm a lot older now, my tastes have changed, and I want to find a fresh perspective to talking about books. Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Who knows. But I'm looking for that sense of excitement around posting again instead of the "oh no, I've had this review written for weeks and I just can't bring myself to bother to post it." That's not where I want to be.
Blogger Goal 3: Stay on top of reading ARCs in a timely manner.
I will admit I was baaaaaaad about this last year. Despite my phases of apathy with it, the blog has done phenomenally well lately, and that's brought me many more opportunities to read amazing ARCs early. I'm finally breaking into the adult space after transitioning from YA, and I want to make sure I'm honoring those opportunities and getting those books read in advance and the ARC reviews posted in a timely manner. Just to be a good literary citizen. That's truly the only rule I want to impose on myself with reading or blogging in 2026. Not let it get away from me like last year.
End of Year Content:
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