Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading Goals

Hey, everyone! I hope you’re all doing well. I’m sorry that I’ve been a bit spotty these past few weeks; school has been busy and I’m also applying for summer programs, which all have extensive applications. I meant to do an LTB post last week, but I never got to finish it, so I’ll probably post it at a later date as a non-LTB post.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @ Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits where we discuss various topics and share our opinions. Today’s topic is Are Reading Goals Worth It? (suggested by Aria).

Prompts: We’re two months into 2023 – how are you feeling about your reading this year? Do you have a yearly reading goal? Do you think that those kinds of goals help you to feel motivated to read more books, or just causes stress? If you set yearly reading goals, when and why did you start setting them? Would you consider reading without aiming for a number? If you don’t set reading goals, why not?

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My reading this year has been pretty good so far. I’ve read 8 books, with 3 different genres and 2 different age groups. I enjoyed most of them too, with 3.5 stars being my lowest rating and 4.5 my highest.

At the beginning of the year, I set my reading goal to 60 books. I read 57 books last year, so I thought this was an attainable goal. I’m feeling pretty good about it for the most part, but I’m thinking of lowering; I have some books I plan to read this year that are at a higher level than I normally read. Those will take me longer than usual, and I want to enjoy them and not feel rushed to finish.

I started setting yearly reading goals when I began blogging, so two years ago. I joined the blogosphere in late December, so people were posting yearly wrap-ups. I saw lots of people setting reading goals and I wanted to join in. I wanted to have a goal to work towards. When I first set goals, I felt motivated to reach them and wasn’t too disappointed if I didn’t achieve them. Lately though, I’ve been feeling a bit more obligated to read more and finish books faster. I’m not an extremely fast reader, so it takes me around a week to finish a book, depending on how long it is and what format I’m using.

Next year, I’m thinking of not setting a reading goal. I’ll still set goals based on what I read, but not how much I read. I like setting goals based on the books I read, like expanding the genres I read or the types of books, but I want to stop focusing on a number. It’s an arbitrary thing and shouldn’t be a reason to read faster. Reading is one of my hobbies; I don’t want it to turn into a chore and something I have to do. I want to enjoy what I’m reading and not feel obligated to read to just reach a goal.

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How do you feel about your reading this year? Do you set a yearly reading goal?