OPINION: Another year of literary goals

Well, hello there! If you’re a print-only reader, this will be the first time we’ve spoken in a while. Not much has changed since we last had the chance to sit down together - I’m still a complete nerd and love to write about books. In fact, that’s what I’m here to do today.

It is officially a new year, which means it’s time for new book goals. If we’re being honest with each other, I have to admit I didn’t do great with last year’s goals.

My literary goals for 2025 included reading 175 books, bringing my physical to-be-read shelf down by 25%, buying less than 50 new books and reading the entire Bible. Well, I accomplished half of these goals, so better than nothing!

I ended the year with 92 books complete. In June, I adjusted my reading goal to 100 books, so I was pretty close to completing it, but no cigar.

Regarding my physical TBR, I definitely accomplished my goal, though it wasn’t necessarily in the way I had originally planned. On Jan. 1, 2025, I owned 189 physical books I had not yet read. Taking that down 25% would mean having 142 physical books I hadn’t read. Well, between reading the books and weeding books I was no longer interested in, I made my way down to 128 books on my physical TBR. I’m quite proud of myself, and plan to bring that down under 100 this year.

After buying way too many books in 2024, I told myself I would be limited to 50 new books in 2025. This was harder in the beginning of the year, but I kept track and actually ended up quite short of the 50 allowed - according to my list, I bought only 34 new books this year. Considering I bought more than 50 just in the summer of 2024 alone, I am very happy with this feat.

And then there’s my goal of reading the entire Bible. I was actually doing really well for a while. If I continued the pace I was at in the beginning of the year, I would have been done by September. However, the Bible I use is a self-study version, so there’s lots of annotations and historical context inside it. This makes reading it take twice as long, though I certainly get an more in-depth understanding of the material.

I powered through some of the more boring parts, like the many rules the Israelites have to follow in Leviticus, but it was Psalms that really held me up. Without any real storyline, the poetry of David goes really slowly. I guess my goal of finishing the Bible will continue into this year, starting where I left off in Psalms.

What else do I plan to do in the new year? Well, in an effort to focus on our physical TBRs, Cheyenne and I have put together wheels to spin. We put 26 books we own but haven’t yet read on the wheel, and every two weeks will spin it to see what we have to read next. My first spin of 2026 has me reading “12 Years a Slave” by Solomon Northup.

We also make each other a short must-read list every year. It had been five books, but we didn’t do so well on that last year, so our 2026 lists have only three books. This year, I have to read “The Compound” by Aisling Rawle, “Atmosphere” by Taylor Jenkins Reid and “Dinner for Vampires” by Bethany Joy Lenz. Nick also wanted to add a book to each of our must-read lists, so I will also be reading “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead.

Though I didn’t quite reach it this year, I’m going to stick with a goal of 100 for the year. Between the wheel, my must reads and book club, this will take up about half of the books, leaving me only half to chose for myself.

My final literary goal for the year actually focuses on writing. With the amount of research, writing and editing we do at the newspaper, I usually have a hard time making myself do any of it for fun off of work hours. However, I’ve had an idea for a novel for years and know I will never make progress on it if I don’t set time aside. Plus, even if the novel doesn’t go anywhere, it should help me improve my writing skills for here!

Even if I don’t hit any of my goals, I know I’ll still be reading good books, so I can’t go wrong. While Cheyenne and I often have large numbers for our reading stats, I want to remind you that any reading is better than none. According to The Washington Post, reading just two books in a year will mean you’ve read more than half of U.S. adults. Reading 50 or more books puts you in the top 1%.

Life is busy and hard. If you get even one book finished in the year, I’m proud of you.