My 2024 Reading Goal: 25 Books and Beyond

My reading goal this year is down to twenty-five books, which is down from forty, which is down from fifty-two, which is down from, well, you get the picture. These things happen. The thing is that I would prefer they not happen again. That is where I want to take the reins early, and that means now, before 2025 is upon us and I have new releases and two blogs to manage and all of that good stuff.

cat for scale

Enter the current iteration of reading journal. The cover is by Dyan Reavely, and made of canvas. It fits very nicely into a small canvas bag, along with whatever paperback I am reading at the moment and has two inserts at present.

Insert one (needs cover embellishment, but the faux leather cover is textured) is from Pen + Gear, and is for my daily logging. Right now, that is date, title, and what page I started reading. If needed, that’s also where I can put notes. The faux leather cover is refillable, so when I fill this insert, I can slip another right in there. I haven’t decorated these pages yet, but I know me, so I probably will at some point.

Second insert is a hardcover notebook by Archer and Olive (similar) and is for long-term planning. I find I work best visually for this aspect, so here is how I am keeping track of my long term TBR:

My goal here is to group books that I want to read together: series, the works of particular authors, specific settings, etc. I am still working out the exact information I want to record for each book, but this is not a place for in depth reviews; more like the essentials I want when I need to jog my memories. So far, this is working pretty well. I want to say the book tape is from Paper Studio, but it might be Archer and Olive. Having a visual representation of future reading probably does scratch some of the browsing a bookstore shelf itch.

These days, I get most of my books electronically or from a similarly inclined bookish friend. I still want to dig my books out of storage, because yes, I can get most of the books I want elsewhere, but there is something about having one’s own books on hand in physical form. I am working toward that. I will also be leaving space for group reads chosen by some of the historical romance reading groups I follow on FB. Discussion is a good motivator.

In the meantime, the next float in this parade is to make a regular, consistent reading routine. I am looking forward to that. My reading nook is almost ready for its closeup, and it’s pretty darned comfortable. I don’t know yet what my reading goal for 2025 will be, but I do want to set one. I am fairly confident I won’t need to move the goal posts any more before the end of this year, especially as I am trying out audiobooks to multitask with when doing other things. I’ll decide closer to the start of next year.

How does your 2025 reading look?

as always, Anna