Reading Resolutions

[Licencedtodrill]

I like to make reading resolutions- usually trying to achieve a certain number by the end of the year.
For 2026, I’m going to resolve to read more non-fiction (I read a bit, but mainly fiction.)
Also, to get back to re-reading favourites. I used to do this a lot, and find it really comforting but have fallen out of the habit.
What are your reading resolutions?

Same as every year, get into the tbr pile and all those books I’ve bought at 99p on my kindle and then never got round to. Ask me again this time next year!

My reading resolution is to stay away from the challenge threads and do my own thing.

I joined the 50 books challenge on here this year and it has killed my love of reading. It is so competitive. It feels as if you're two months in, on book 10, think you're doing fine but someone else is on book 243. And they're all highbrow, intelligent and wordy so it makes you feel shite for reading romantasy or witchy stuff or whatever.

So that's it, my resolution is to stay away from those competitive threads and just read for pleasure.

I just set my own personal targets. I've read 72 books so far this year. I will choose reading over watching tv if it's a particularly gripping book. Always read before bed. Take my kindle with me everywhere and read when ever I can. I'll read when I'm eating my breakfast or lunch then find myself still sat at the table 30 minutes later.

On holiday I will read 10 books over 2 weeks. I just love reading.

Wow, 72 books this year makes my 45 books look puny in comparison!

My TBR pile is quite modest (about 8) but I did resolve earlier in the year to avoid adding to it. I only read physical books- I have a long list of recommendations on my phone and finding one of them in a charity shop for a couple of quid is a not insignificant pleasure in life 😀I often return the books to the charity shop after (unless I will definitely re-read it), so it’s all good.

I always aim to read 20 books a year. It's an achievable target for me, although I'm on course to do 25 this year.

I resolve to read a book a week. If I can do more, then great.
I hope @CoubousAndTourmaIet that your experience won't put you off reviewing books here. I'm always interested to try books I've never heard of (and there are plenty of those) and different genres too.

I’m exactly like that. Reading is my refuge. I read all sorts. I have used a reading app for the last couple of years & the first year set my target at 52 books & this year also 72.

I want to read 12 classics next year, 12 Japanese literature (or fiction set in Japan) to prepare for our trip there, 12 books from my TBR shelf and then everything else free pick from the library. I think I should be able to achieve 48 books in a year.
I reserve the right to completely ignore my own plan though and just read what I want. I enjoy reading everything, from romantasy to classics.

I'm going to read more non-fiction next year.

Attack the tbr pile mostly. I've read a lot this year but I keep buying books that are recommended to me instead of getting into the pile.
I also try to read some Booker prize winners each year. Managed 3 this year and really enjoyed them.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

To borrow from the library more

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).