Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Goals for 2025

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic is a really great one: bookish goals for 2025!

FIRST OF ALL. Did you see this adorable artwork of me and my two cats that Senny designed for me? You can find her on Instagram at @sennydoesarty. She’s amazing. I can’t recommend her enough. I am redesigning my blog banner to include these images, but it’s taking me forever, and I can’t wait any longer to share them.

This year, I plan to repeat some of the same reading challenges that I’ve been part of before. It does seem to help me read backlist titles more consistently, and it’s fun to look for books that meet each prompt.

Organization is still a goal, but I’m struggling to clarify what that looks like for me. I’m having a hard time keeping up with the clutter in general, and having a ton of books coming in and out of the house for review doesn’t help that, but I haven’t hit on a great solution yet.

At any rate, here is my list of goals.

Bookish Goals for 2025

1. Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge

This will be my third year participating in the Beat the Backlist Reading Challenge, hosted by Austine Decker. This one REALLY helped me tackle backlist titles. In 2023, my first year doing the challenge, I read about 30 books from my backlist TBR. Last year, I read more than 60. (I probably added double that to my reading list, so I’m still making negative progress toward reading all the books, but hey… there are worse problems to have!)

2. Book Riot’s Read Hard(er) 2025 Reading Challenge

Read Hard(er) is another challenge that I tracked last year and really enjoyed. I like that it helped me make more inclusive reading choices and think about the topics in the books I was reading. I’m excited about doing this challenge again this year, and some of the prompts for the Read Harder 2025 Challenge look awesome.

Reading diversely has been a longterm goal, and this list helps me pick books purposefully and broadly.

3. Read 200 Books

Last year my goal was to read 200 books, and I’m sticking with that for this year. It’s a comfortable goal for the amount of time I’m able to read.

4. Read 3-5 More Classics/Critically Acclaimed Books, Especially Those by Marginalized Authors

This is part of an ongoing quest to read more inclusively. There are a lot of great writers and stories that didn’t make it into my (very white) public school education, so it’s time to make up some ground. Topping my list at this moment: James Baldwin and Octavia Butler.

5. Feature Books in More Themed Lists

I love sharing reviews, but I am not sure those are the most helpful posts about books. I love reading lists about different kinds of books: great books about summer camp, or kids in foster care, or kids going to a magic school. I’d like to write more list posts like that this year.

6. Continue Using a Reading Tracker Spreadsheet

I spent some time customizing the reading tracker spreadsheet I’ve been using, and I’d like to tweak it even more this year. I love having interesting stats and reminders and reading challenge progress all in one place. The original sheet came from a blog called Addicted to Romance. The blog no longer exists but you can find the blogger on Instagram.

7. Donate More Books and Support Bookish Charities

I can’t keep all the books I review, and even if I could, what good are they sitting on my shelf? I want to find homes where they’ll be read and enjoyed. This year, I’m going to try to send out one box of books or make a monetary donation to a bookish charity each month.

8. Take Reading Breaks When Necessary and Stop Feeling Guilty About It

This year, I had several periods when I couldn’t keep up with my reading plans. Sometimes, it was because I was unwell. Other times, I was just so busy that by the time I sat down at the end of the day, I fell asleep. Stress and anxiety played a role as well.

I spent a lot of time worrying about the authors and publishers I was letting down by falling behind on my reading. A few noticed and sent emails. Some may have noticed and not said anything. Others probably didn’t notice at all.

This is another reason I’d like to get better at list posts as a way to talk about books when I don’t have the time or energy to read them all.

9. Connect with Other Bloggers/Reviewers

I’ve had a great time connecting with other Kidlit reviewers this past year, and I’d like to continue that into this coming year. I set up a link on my home page to click into WordPress Reader and keep up with my blogging friends’ posts easily.

10. Read a poem every day.

Poetry is an art form that I don’t feel well informed about or very good at reading, and I’d like to broaden my experience with it and deepen my ability to understand it. In one of the books I read this year (Why We Read by Shannon Reed), the author had a similar struggle and decided to read one poem per day. She found it a much more manageable amount of poetry to consume at a time and a helpful habit. I’ll give it a try and see if it works for me.

What are your bookish goals for 2025?

I’d love to hear about your reading plans for this year. Are any of my goals similar to the ones on your list?

If goals are too structured or anxiety-inducing, leave a comment and let me know what bookish event (book release, conference, author event, book you want to read, etc.) you’re most looking forward to this year.