2025 Bookish Reading Goals

photo of Kathleen Haagenson wearing a navy blue shirt standing in front of her bookshelf with hands in the air smiling about her 2025 bookish reading goals

I’m excited to finally have my 2025 bookish reading goals all planned out. There’s so much I want to accomplish this year regarding my reading hobby to further my enjoyment and share my love of books and reading with a wider community. I’ve settled on fifteen goals and I’ve included a couple of non-bookish goals to balance things out. Without further ado let’s jump into it!

2025 Bookish Reading Goals

I have a few general reading goals that I’ve set for the year that involve how many books I want to read this year, how many pages, and how many hours I want to devote to reading. Let’s start with my reading goal. Last year my reading goal was 35 books and due to books and reading becoming my entire personality, I quickly surpassed that goal and finished the year having read 88 books.

This year I decided to push myself a little and have set a yearly reading goal to read 160 books. I’m fairly confident that I can easily achieve this goal as long as I read a minimum of 14 books per month currently I’m reading around 14 to 15 books a month so this aligns with my reading habits.

photo of Kathleen Haagenson holding a stack of books wearing a black shirt and a large grinAnother metric that I want to track this year is how many pages I read. My goal is to read 180,000 pages this year. That breaks down to 15,000 pages each month and roughly 500 pages per day. This is for sure a stretch goal for me as I’m currently struggling to hit my daily page allotment but I’m doing my best to work my way up to it and we’ll see how everything lands at the end of the year.

Lastly, I want to track how much time I spend reading. My goal is to read more or less 6 hours per day. I’m flexible with this goal because well between life happening and me exploring other interests and pursuits I don’t want to lock in a ridiculous number that will be unrealistic for me to reach.

I’m using this amazing app I found in the iOS App Store called Book End which does a fabulous job of tracking how many pages I read and how long I read. It also gives you a breakdown of how long it will take you to finish a book which is so helpful to plan and structure your reading time if you’re into that.

Now let’s talk about my other bookish reading goals that focus on my overall reading experience.

Diversify My Reading

I consider myself to be a fairly diverse reader. I’m passionate about reading and the art of creating and crafting a story that has the power to make a person feel, think, shift their perspective, and alter their mindset. I just want to read all the stories and read about all the experiences and viewpoints. I always have and always will love the transformative power of reading.

And while I strive to read from a multitude of genres I must admit that last year I fell short on this and mostly stuck to Mystery, Thrillers, Literary Fiction, and some Fantasy. I feel I can do better than that and this year I’m seeking to break out of my comfort zone.

I want to explore books from genres such as Horror, Sci-Fi,  History, Politics, Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy. While I know I’ll favor books from my favorite genres a bit more because it’s what I love. However, I do plan to structure my reading to include books from these genres to challenge myself to include them more consistently.

Support Books Written by Indigenous, Arabic, and Muslim Authors

The key to reading diversely is to be intentional and make it a practice to seek out books from people who are different from you and provide a fresh perspective or unique experience that you can learn from. It’s not always reading from someone you relate to. How else are we to grow if we don’t push beyond our perspectives?

And, I’ll be honest and say I haven’t made an intentional effort to read books by authors from these groups. However, this year I’m challenging myself to do better and purposefully seek these authors and stories out.

 

Have Fun and Participate in Readathons and Reading Challenges

photo of Kathleen Haagenson sitting on the floor beside her tbr cart in front of her christmas tree and bookshelves with a stack of books beside herFor me, the trick to making reading a consistent habit is through structure and gamifying your reading habit. If you feel you have to compel yourself to read a book and it becomes a boring chore there’s no way you’re going to stick with it or enjoy it. So, I want to make sure that I’m keeping this hobby fun and sparking joy every time I pick up a book.

Hence why I believe joining readathons and doing reading challenges will not only make it fun and interesting but also work as a great way to diversify my reading.

Collect Special Editions

I don’t know when it happened but somewhere along the way I stopped being a diehard paperback girlie and discovered the beauty and comfort of a good hardcover. Now, I’ve become obsessed with collecting special editions of books that I find beautiful or that are my favorite reads.

I’ve already started building my collection of special editions and have The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin and A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid. I’m anxious to add more to the collection!

 

Support Independent Bookstores

I’m a die-hard Barnes & Noble girlie and have a premium membership. So, it’s second nature to go there to purchase the majority of my books. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with that there are small independent bookstores that provide so much value and support to our community and we need them now more than ever. Hence why for 2025 I want to prioritize supporting local independent bookstores.

Do More Book Thrifting

So many people say that books and reading have become an expensive hobby but this is so not true! Between libraries and book thrifting, there are so many ways to get your hands on books without spending exorbitant amounts of money.

And, this year I need to put this into action as your girl’s wallet is tapped and she needs to divert her funds elsewhere. So, I’ll be doing more book thrifting and purchasing my books second-hand to protect my coin.

Utilize the Library

phot of Kathleen Haagenson book shopping at her local barnes and nobleI’ve been doing good the past few months acquiring more reads from the library and will continue to do so the rest of the year. But, I want to enjoy the library for all it has to offer including its community services. It’s so easy to only see the library as a place to check out books and media but they have so many impactful community events that I want to participate and engage in to show support for all my library does and ensure their doors remain open so they can continue to spread literacy and education.

Read More E-Books

I got the Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday last year complete with all the pretty and stylish cases. I even signed up for a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Yet, I still fail to read books on the darn thing! This year I’m making an effort to read more books on my Kindle and make good use of my Kindle Unlimited subscription. I’ll also utilize the Libby app to access E-Books from my library that I can read on my Kindle so two problems are solved at once.

Monitor My Book Consumption

As I mentioned earlier 2025 is the year of fiscal responsibility as I have some major financial goals I’m focused on this year. So my budget for books is going to be decreasing and I’m going to be relying on the library, Kindle Unlimited, Libby, and being smart about what books I spend money on and add to my collection.

The other reason for this is because I don’t want to collect more books than what I can read. If you have an enormous TBR that’s so cool and I’m happy for you. However, it’s not feasible for me as I rent and don’t have the space and availability to store an endless amount of books so I have to be intentional about what I buy and add to my collection since space matters.

Start A Book Club

I want to start a book club this year preferably an in-person book club where I can engage with people in my community that share similar interests as me. Plus it’s a great way to increase accountability and ensure you’re following through with your reading habit. Additional benefits are getting to share and discuss books with someone else who’s read it.

 

Phase Out Book Tracking Apps like Goodreads

photo of Kathleen Haagenson holding the book vampires of el Norte by Isabel Cañas wearing a black shirt and a smileWhile book-tracking apps are a convenient way to track your reading I’m beginning to prefer utilizing my tracking methods due to these apps either being outdated (I’m side-eyeing you Goodreads), or just not robust enough for me. Plus I enjoy being able to track the stats that I care about in the way that’s tailored for me.

So, this year I’ll be backing away from book tracking apps in favor of focusing on utilizing my book journal and my reading tracker journal. I’ll still use Goodreads to track my books because I like the end-of-the-year book wrap-up and also it’s easy to add books that I’m interested in reading on the fly.

Build My Music Collection

I was such a music lover and had an extensive collection in my teens and twenties. And while having a digital collection is cool and super convenient nothing will top owning Vinyl or CD for me. Call me old I don’t care argue with a wall. I’m going to live my best life owning all the awesome music that sparks joy.

Create A Journaling Routine

I love to journal. I love to write. The process of self-reflection is so healthy and beneficial for processing emotions, making sense of thoughts, and evolving as an individual. This is why I want to get back into the habit of journaling because it’s such a cathartic practice to follow.

Play Board and Card Games

I love playing board and card games. They’re the perfect activity for a homebody who would rather cozy up at home and enjoy a nice glass of wine while playing a fun game with her friends. I need more game nights and friendly competition in 2025 and I’m determined to bring it back.

Explore Hobbies Outside of Reading

While reading will always remain my favorite number one hobby I know that it’s healthy to explore other hobbies and interests. Not only does this prevent me from falling into reading slumps or becoming bored with reading but it makes me a well-rounded person that people can enjoy being around allowing me to touch grass and get outside of my head for a little bit.

Some hobbies and interests I want to explore this year include learning how to play pickleball, hiking, wine tasting, photography, home decor, dancing, and scrapbooking.

 

I’m planning for 2025 to be a full and joyous year where I enjoy reading improving my experience and deepening my love for it. I also want to explore other hobbies in an attempt to be a well-rounded person and enjoy my life to the fullest. What are some of your bookish goals for the year? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time happy reading!

 

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