Reading Resolutions

My reading resolution is to carry on attending the monthly book club which is focused on ‘all the books you’ve wanted to read but not got around to it!’ It’s got my reading mojo back and I’ve read both books on my TBR pile as well as trying some other modern classics I wouldn’t have ever read.

I sadly have a number of health conditions but would like to manage at least 20 books next year.

And if you can't get to the library try the borrow box app so you can download the library books that way. Although sometimes I find it a bit limited or you have to wait ages to borrow them.

I just want to read more! For the last decade or so I’ve read around 60 - 70 books a year, but this year I had an awful unexpected illness and a bereavement and I just lost the focus to read as much as usual.

Plus, for some reason I got into reading some really long fantasy books that although easy reads, took me ages because of the sheer volume. So I really want to get back to reading as much as I can and I’m also going to restart my book reviews blog.

@CoubousAndTourmaIet I've been on the 50 booker threads for a few years now after finding the 25 book thread too slow. I have to plan my reading carefully with lots of novellas and graphic novels if I want to hit 50 (some of the biggest readers are listening to audio books which also helps boost numbers but I like podcasts so don't), but mostly I don't worry about numbers, this year I'm on book 32. The thread is manic at the beginning of the year (I tend to quietly avoid it for a bit) but many people drop off quite quickly and as it settles down later in the year it's much easier to keep up with and everyone is lovely and there's no snobbery. If you find it intimidating and want to try it again I'd recommend waiting till March, there are some people who join throughout the year.

@ShadesmarBead thats an impressive range of tomes.

I am hopeful of convincing the current readalong thread (Les Mis on 1 Jan) to do Moby Dick at some point.

I echo @AgualusasL0ver and @EineReiseDurchDieZeit about the 50 Bookers @CoubousAndTourmaIet all reading tastes and numbers very welcome. I’m one of those people who does hit a ridiculous numbers of books read but it’s how I spend most of my free time- and being without children, I have more of that than most Mumsnetters.

My reading resolutions this year are

• to read more of what I own instead of buying new releases (a new Read What you Own thread will start soon for 2026 for anyone interested)
• to focus most of my reading on authors whose previous books I’ve loved.
• to read Ulysses by James Joyce (this is a buddy read)

Keen user of the library. If you look at my house you’d never suspect I’m a keen reader. I am. All borrowed, and returned, to the library. One of life’s greatest luxuries. And the best bit, do not have the malevolent tbr pile. And another one, a book request will seemingly suddenly arrive and I can’t remember why I was so keen to part with my 60p reservation charge. A little surprise every time. I also get really good recommendations from MN.

The current thread is about 8 threads down on ‘what we’re reading’ so you can gauge the pace- it never uses up more than 1 thread in the year! I think the 50-bookers get well into the teens for amount of threads!!
definitely people including audio books. It’s my favourite mumsnet thread every year - it gives me a little target but no pressure to actually get there.

also so sorry for your bereavement 💐

I’m going to do the year long slow read of the Wolf Hall trilogy with Simon Haisell on Substack this year, having nearly finished the year long read along of War and Peace this year. So good. Am going to have the worst Tolstoy hangover on New Year’s Day.

Also planning a buddy read of Moby Dick with some friends.

Want to read Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment and Don Quixote too.

Will be tempering the classics with some fantasy, sci-fi and fairy smut on audiobooks for the commute.

Almondflour On a different thread someone recommended The Phone Box at the Edge of the World. It's set in Japan and looks good.

My own resolutions are to read more books not set in the UK, to reread some favourite classics and to read more non fiction. And to make some new cushions for my favourite reading spot if that counts.

Oh and the books aren’t numbered in my journal (I do have a notebook with a list since 2013 numbered but that’s just titles so abit meaningless).

To borrow from the library more

I use the journal for anything I consider ‘cultural’ - in the loosest sense of the word. If I go to the theatre, a concert, watch an adaptation of a book I’ve read - I include things about the place, so the venue, the people I saw etc. I’ve never kept a diary or journaled but I’ve really enjoyed this.

My goals for the year are to always have a book on the go, and to not be afraid to DNF a book. I managed to avoid DNFing this year until literally this month, but some of the books I schlepped through were such a chore that I then didn't read for weeks (months 😬) afterwards.

Thank you @Yuja, I had no idea that existed. I am setting the same resolution as last year, to read 25 books. I include audio books in that. I have managed 28 books this year, five of them audio books. I think I'd have managed two more but we've had a very rough four weeks with a close family bereavement last week and my concentration has been shot.

I struggled to keep up with the speed of the threads @AgualusasL0ver and gave up by February. My concentration has been dreadful this year, I do need to try to remedy that somehow. My total count of completed books for the year stands at 21, the DNF total is at 7. I've normally been at 60-80.

A reading journal sounds like a wonderful idea. I currently just jot down title, author, date started and date finished but perhaps expanding on that would help me to work out why I'm having so many DNF's lately. I'm really not sure if I'm making bad book choices or if it's just my current state of mind.

Echo @EineReiseDurchDieZeit here @CoubousAndTourmaIet - my reading never matches the thread and this year is the second time since 2013 that I have ever got near 50. I set my target (which is unecessary) to 24, but I like the speed the chat moves at (perhaps not the Jan chat which speeds along), though I have enjoyed the 26 thread in previous years too.

My goals are:

• do more literary things, last year I wanted to do more lit travel and did a bit but not as much as usual
• continue to keep my reading journal, I have enjoyed having a nice notebook and pen and doing this just for me
• I'm going to keep reading Agatha Christie via Audible
• Keep on with a non fiction as soon as I finish one

Thank you @EineReiseDurchDieZeit , that's really kind and very helpful. Perhaps I'll lurk a while when the new challenges are starting, to see if my mindset is any different than it was at the beginning of the year.

Im on book 13 which i will finish this year, this is pretty good for me. My aim was 18 but ive fallen very short. Still, i didnt read at all for 3 months and took ages to get through a couple of the books i did read.

It isn’t intended in the least to be a competition but I can see how those who rack up huge numbers might seem intimidating @CoubousAndTourmaIetbut that’s a minority. We do say all books and genres are welcome. My last review was for the new Hunger Games book. I’ve also reviewed Tarot books and that sort of thing before. I’m really sorry for your loss and if you do try us again just give no fucks either about your book count or your taste. You don’t need to justify yourself to anyone else!

To read 50 books next year - I don't normally set number targets because it doesn't matter how many books you read really, it matters that you discover books you love. Buuut my real goal is to get off my phone and reading 50 books might motivate me to put the phone down and stop doom scrolling.

Also would like to make every third book I read non-fiction because I've done that challenge in the past and it led to really quirky and interesting topics that I wouldn't have found otherwise e.g. a book on duelling in 18th century and the autobiography of the guy who wrote Each Peach Pear Plumb.

Thank you.

It may be that it just wasn't the right time for me to participate. When I signed up for it, I was still in an emotionally raw state, having lost my mother a few weeks earlier. Truthfully, I felt out of my depth there. But I'm glad that others didn't share my experience. It's very worthwhile if it helps to motivate people into reading more.

edited for punctuation

That’s sad @CoubousAndTourmaIet as it’s not my experience of the challenge thread at all I genuinely wouldn’t be without it. I’m sorry that’s your experience

Read a physical book I own once a month. To read in my lunch break. To not buy 99p Kindle books that will be available from the library the following month.

Join the 26 books thread instead. It is waaaay slower, not at all competitive and no one much makes it to 26. This year I have made it, but not for the previous two years. It’s a nice thread