Reading Goals for 2025

Come and join me in my reading next year.

If you read my newsletter on Sunday, you will know I am trying to simplify my life to recover from burnout and look after my health. My writing is not the only place I have simplified life; I have also looked at my reading.

Reading should be fun, and I think we have all been guilty of putting too much pressure on ourselves to complete those books and read those recommendations. If you spend time on BookTok or Bookstagram, your wishlist will grow at a rate no one can read.

The first action I took to simplify my reading was to go through my TBR (to be read) and ask myself, do I want to read this book, or did advertising sway me? I cut almost 3/4 of the books. Sure, I may wander into a charity shop and see one that I have removed and pick it up, but there is no pressure of seeing a list I have no hope of completing.

The second area I have looked at is the reading challenges I set myself every year. These are the changes and challenges I am hoping to complete in 2025.

Reading Challenges

For years, I have set my Goodreads score super low; I aim to read only 24 books yearly. Mainly because this is a straightforward goal that offers no pressure. Most years, I read more, but even if I read 24 books a year, that is still very much above the reading level of many people.

The one challenge I have loved all this year and am doing again in 2025 is to read one classic piece of literature a month. I have listed the books I would like to read next year and assigned them to a month regarding the season. A spooky read in October, that sort of thing.

In addition, I have a short list of 12 books I would like to read next year in no particular order. This is a mix of physical books and audiobooks.

Apart from these 24 reads a year, I am not setting myself a book-reading goal. If you have a high reading goal, you will find yourself reading quickly and missing parts of the book to help you accomplish your goal. Instead, I am setting myself the task of reading for 40 minutes a day, broken into 10-minute bite-size chunks.

Extra Goals

In addition to my reading challenges, I have decided to use the library more for my reading to save some space at home and money. This means I can not write in my books as I enjoy with marginalia, but using Post-it notes, I can still experience this without damaging the books.

I also have a collection of easy fiction that I want to read at night. Easy fiction is ideal if you want to chill out before sleeping. If you read more in-depth non-fiction, you will find your brain does not shut off, so easy fiction at night is essential. The more challenging books I can read during the day.

Book Club

The last thing I would like to experience next year is to be part of a book club. So, I am setting myself up one through the chat feature on this newsletter. I will read a different classic novel every month, and I urge you to join me.

The only thing better than reading is talking about the books.

Here is the list of our 2025 reads; join in for one month or all. If you have already enjoyed the book, then why not have a re-read or join in the chat regardless? I look forward to chatting with you all.

2025 Classic Book List

• Jan - Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

• Feb - Burmese Days, George Orwell

• March - East of Eden, John Steinbeck

• April - The Mill on the Floss, George Elliot

• May - Persuasion, Jane Austin

• June - Villette, Charlotte Brontë

• July - The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell

• Aug - Katherine, Anya Seton

• Sept - The Lost World, Arthur Conan Doyle

• Oct - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Bronte

• Nov - Emma, Jane Austin

• Dec - Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens

You can also find all my book chats on Threads and Instagram.