Opinion: My 2018 Reading Goals

In the spirit of New Year Resolutions (not that I’m a fan of those in general) I’ve had a think about my 2018 reading goals – I feel it’s always productive to have something to aim for and want to apply some things I’ve learnt from my first year of blogging to the range of books I read in 2018.

Last year, for the first time, I took part in the goodreads Reading Challenge and smashed through my target of 50 books, hitting 63, so I will up my game this year with a target of 65. There’s something almost therapeutic about seeing your number of read books throughout the year steadily increase. Although, saying that, I don’t want my focus to be on just plowing through books to hit numbers, so my overall 2018 reading goals are not going to be about the amount I read, but to focus on:

• Reading more classics: I ticked a few literature-greats off my list in 2017, but there are still so (so, so) many I haven’t read that it’s probably verging on a bit embarrassing, so this is something I want to rectify this year.
• Reading more non-fiction: Writing up my Monthly Reviews, I realised that, once again, a month would pass and I’d read only fiction. Yes, a lot of great fiction, but still. This year I’m going to make a much more conscious effort to strike a stronger fiction / non-fiction balance per month to expand my reading horizons.
• Discovering new authors: Whether they are emerging or established, there is something wonderful about reading a new author, with a distinct voice, that you relate to in some way. This blog has given me the opportunity to read a lot of new authors this past year and it’s something I’m keen to keep doing into 2018.

So, there we go. I have every intention of sticking to these goals throughout the year, they are purposefully attainable, as my aim is to expand the types of books I’m reading rather than set myself tricky challenges, save that for 2019…

Are you guys setting yourselves any type of reading goals for this year? I’d love to know!