Reading Goals for 2026

I didn't really know what I wanted my goals to be for this year until I reviewed last year's goals. Here's what I have come up with!

First goal: Read 12 of the wrapped books on my shelf. This was on my list last year and I haven't done it. I got very heavy into ARC reading in 2025 and not so much reading what I already own. At the time I'm writing this, I have 136 books wrapped on my shelves and I'm trying very hard to finish the books that I've already started this year before the end of the year so I can start reading my own books. I want to try to read at least 1 every month which is why I picked 12 as the specific number.

Second goal: Read/Listen to 55 books. The last several years I've been close to or over 50 books read which astonishes me. Since I want to dial back the ARC reads this year I want to shoot for 55 books. I have a ton of physical books, eBooks, and new releases coming out that I know I want to read and listen to so this year will definitely be a challenge for me!

Third goal: Using Reading Journal and StoryGraph Daily. I have a few reading journals but one that I got is spiral bound and I want to use that to track my reading daily as well as StoryGraph. StoryGraph has more detail than I care for in my reading but I'm seeing Indie Authors asking for that url when signing up for their ARC reads. I think it will also be interesting to see a different breakdown of how I read this year!

Fourth goal: Donate/give away books that I don't want to keep/read again (or were DNF'd). This is the same as last year because...well...I didn't read any of my physical books but I will keep track of the books I DNF or decide to donate so I can share that with y'all!

Fifth goal: Make 1 video book review a month. This one isn't so much a "reading" goal but a goal centered around my reviews. I don't know why it's so hard for me to record book reviews because I can talk forever on my IG stories and gush about the book that I'm reading but sitting down to do an actual book review video has me all over the place so I want to get better at that and if I can review the 1 book I unwrap off my shelf every month then I can call that a win!

How did I do last year with my goals? Let me tell you!

I did track my books for a cross stitch project. However at the time I'm writing this I haven't stitched anything since June because I have misplaced my project.

At the time this is written I just finished my 70th book of the year (go me!).

I have already noted that I haven't touched a single book I physical own (not counting any that I have set aside for book club).

I already noted that I didn't read any of my own books so I haven't donated much but I have a small pile of books that we don't want that I need to put in Little Free Libraries around town.

Lastly I definitely branched out more. I read a lot of fantasy this year and I am not mad about it. I definitely didn't read as much thriller, horror, etc that I normally would but a lot of cozy mysteries too.

I would love to hear what your reading goals are for the coming year. Go ahead and drop them in the comments. If you want to get back into reading or looking for something new, join my Virtual Book Club. We have a group on Facebook that you can join by clicking here. Make sure that if you request to join that you answer the questions (super easy, how are you going to participate and what is your fav book/series) and agree to follow the group rules. If you don't have Facebook, fill out this Google Form and you can be added to our email list. You get 2 emails a month from me. One on the 15th of the month announcing the next month's book and one the morning of our discussion with a Teams link to join the discussion. Our discussions are the last Saturday of every month (except November and December: due to the holidays those months discussions are usually the second Saturday) at 4pm Pacific/7pm Eastern and last about 1 hour.

HAPPY READING!