I only have one goal for next year: I want to reread one book per month. I have so many five star favourites but I never get to them a second time because I prioritise new books. I want to change that! :)
My main goals: no set amount of books, buy second hand over new, read owned books and use library more ( no impulse buying), read more banned books, use my book journal I bought off etsy the whole year!
My reading goal for 2024 was 80 and I’m over 100 now. So I’ll make my 2025 goal 100 so I can feel motivated but not pressured. Thank you for all the recommendations this year. Honestly thanks to you and Emma I’ve found my love for reading after 2 years of reading 5-10 books. THANK YOU 🩵
my goal this next year (other than reading a ton hehe) is to start my middle education degree, to one day be able to teach middle schoolers about the joys of literature 💕
I never really have a goal of the amount of books that I’d like to read each year, but it’s fun to count how many I’ve read at the end of the year. I love keeping written lists too. I recently bought my first fountain pen which I love! I feel so elegant when I write out my lists now. 😅
1. Embrace the DNF: Why waste time on trash? 2. Read 125: Totally doable, I've read 127 so far this year. Thank you audiobooks and novellas 3. Avoid FOMO reading. I don't need to read something just because everyone else is. 4. Read more children's books. They are fun and I like the pictures.
You look so good in green! I Love your goals! Can't wait for your TBR. I don't have a specific number goal yet; I'm trying to focus on enjoyment this year. Reading slowly. My reading goals are to read the books on my shelves. I have about 45 unread books, and four have sat unread for 10 years. TEN YEARS....the shame. Another goal is to wait to purchase any new material until I've read my existing books. Fortunately, I'm looking forward to reading all of my books.
My reading goals, 1. 40 books. 2. Tackling some of the biggies like Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina... 3. Keeping a book journal 4. Read more contemporary Lit Fic (I'm a classics/Modern Classics person)
Great goals! (And…congratulations on your soon-to-be new home?) My number one goal is to pick up a book first thing in the morning, rather than my phone. I always tell myself I’ll do it and then fail, but now I’m planning to tell my husband to hide the phone every night, and not tell me where it is before I leave the house unless I really need it.
Amazing goals. My life is so busy I set my goal to 12 books a year and I swear I’m always trying to fit half of those into the last couple of months of the year. lol. 🤣
I never had reading goals but I would like to have some in 2025. 1. Visit new book stores. 2. Keep a journal of books I read. As a poet and journaler I prefer longhand. I"d also like to find new outdoor places to read. 3. Read more classics and literary fiction.
Oh wow, I love your goals Carolyn! I’ve had total number of books goals and specific books goals but I never thought of creative over arching and bookish goals but I have been putting thought into goals that celebrate the spirit of my love for reading. Here are some of mine for 2025: 1st: (and I actually plan to start doing this before the end of 2024) I notice so many year end book rankings give more weight to 5 star reads read later in the year and many phenomenal reads from Jan, Feb, etc. get lost in the rankings. When I noticed I was doing this too, I realized that I was reading new books to the very last day of the year, not giving myself time to go back to the beginning of the year and revisiting my favorite reads, characters, passages, moments that made me laugh and cry. Starting this year I want to dedicate the last week of the year (not racing to fit one more new book into the year, but) going back through the great year of reads that took me on dozens of adventures, to read through my highlighted passages and visit again with my favorite characters and remind myself of the value of each and every book I’ve read throughout the year, take time to remember and reflect, and appreciate all the literature that I read this past year, the books that effected me, changed my view of the world, improved the person I am. Before the new year rings in and I’m diving into my new 2025 reading goals, I want to take the time to hug and say thanks to all my books of 2024… all the books that were my best friends during the year. I plan to add this as a new yearly end of year goal. 2nd: I want to support more Independent smaller Presses (two of my favorite 2024 reads came directly from Independent Presses). I have a goal to buy and read at least three lesser known books from Independent Presses. 3rd: (and, Carolyn, this one is thanks to you)… after watching your Anna Karenina Translations sampling video last year… in 2024 I read 4 different Anna Karenina translations simultaneous… Garnett, Maude, Pevear & Volokhonsky, and Bartlett… what an experience… Each translation was unique and each had their stunning moments… I so enjoyed seeing how translations changed through time. I loved Anna Karenina and I found reading 4 translations in parallel so rewarding that I plan to do another parallel reading in 2025, this time 5 different translations of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. I find language and the power of storytelling through different translations intricately interesting. I’d like to do a parallel read of different translations of one classic each year. I’m looking forward to following all your reading adventures next year. Thanks for a great year of videos and review. You continually inspire me to read better and more deeply and more meaningfully each year.
Green has been my favorite color since I was a tiny girl. I begged my mom to paint my room green when I was 4. She didn't want to but she did paint it green. I still love green! 😃💚 My reading goal for 2024 was 25 and I've read 41 so far! 📚
1. Among my reading goals: Read two books that I have had since I was a teenager, but have not read. Also, reread two books that I have not read since then. 2. Because you love making lists, I highly recommend you listen to the fun song “Girl of 100 Lists”, an underrated, but great, song by The Go-Go’s.
I love this time of year with all the planning and goals :D A reading goal I always have is to pick one or two authors and one or two series I have already started or read some of - to complete. Just contemplating and choosing which series and authors I would like to pick is really informative.
Let's see... I at least want to read all the Shakespeare plays, don quixote, war and peace, finish in search of lost time, and finally get to the lord of rings i've had unread on my bookshelf for years
My reading goals for the past 5 years is to read a book a week. (52 per year) For the past couple of years however, I’ve extended it to one physical book per week and one ebook per week. (104 per year overall) Mainly because I was doing it anyway but I wasn’t counting the ebooks. So now I do! 😁
1. Learn to dance the Mazurka [Hey!]; 2. Get a cat; 3. Write a poem in French; 4. Reread Proust; 5. Improve my body (weight, teeth, hair, et cetera). That's about it. In the meantime, I'm waiting for some kind of group read of East of Eden, which is queued up in my Audible player; and I'm hoping to make progress on one my long-term life goals. Thank you and have a happy New Year: you and all of your loved ones.
I always start my number of books on a lower number and increase it as needed. I started this year at 75 but have read 150ish. I’m planning to read a big book every month next year so I’ll probably keep my goal on the lower side. My main focus will be to read from my shelves and try to get my physical tbr down. I’ve been on a book buying ban since the beginning of November so I’d like to continue that. I’ve neglected my classics a bit this year so I definitely want to get back to that in 2025. I have a quiet little rustic cafe in my very small township so I’m going to aim to read there once a week too. I’m also a list person. I’ve made so many bookish lists in the last week in anticipation of the coming year 😂
So, hear me out. This year (and last year) were insane reading years for me. I read 173 books last year, and so far I've read 189 books this year. I read a wide variety of books (literature, nonfiction, business, manga, etc) and was very lucky that the quality of the books were QUITE high. However, I have some goals next year that are going to take up a LOT of my time and therefore I expect in 2025 that I'll read somewhere between 80 and 100 books. I had an interesting mix of books this year, but like you - I want to make the spread a bit more balanced. I LOVE your journal - I also love that brand. At the moment I'm living very nomadically - so I've put myself on a ban of buying physical books and journals (which is heartbreaking) but I made spreadsheets for all the books I want to read in order of priority in 2025 with a goal of one non-fiction book (skill or history books) and one fiction book per week. You really inspired me to read Russian lit - so next year one of the books I have on my list is Anna Karenina. I think you'd really like a LOT of the Korean women authors that have made waves in the last few years - they vary wildly in topics and tone as well. I have Han Kang on my list for next year as well (she just won the the Nobel Prize for Literature). Love your goals and I'm so with you - the act of handwriting feels so personal and connected - it's a great thing to do. It forces you to slow down a little as well. Looking forward to your future reviews!
This year my goals are; * to complete the A-Z classics challenge i paused last year. *Finish reading Les miserables *continue with my series reads (mainly fantasy) * reduce my romance and crime tbr shelf. Dont collect much of this genre so want to clear some space on shelves. * actually complete my 25 books in 2025 in one year lol.
These are great goals! My one and only goal for next year is to read more books from my shelves. I’ve only read about 60% of them. And I have at least 100 unread…
I love your goals! And I cannot wait to see the bookshelves 👀 I also made a video about my 2025 goals but a few of them are: read 75 books, finish 6 series I’m in the middle of, read 4 books written by Polish authors, read 12 classics, read 4 big books (600+ pages), read 50 books from my physical tbr and I’ll also be doing a no buy/low buy for books! 🥰
My reading goals for next year are 1) to read 40 books, 2) read my 2 of longest page count books on my physical TBR (I've been avoiding them for years, but I'm nearly through Count of Monte Cristo this month so I'm inspired to tackle some of the other big ones), and 3) read whatever is the oldest book on my bookshelf as part of my reading every 2nd month (to stop a trend I have of perpetually avoiding the oldest books on my physical TBR in favour of new buys).
My Woolf bookclub is starting up reading all of James Baldwin in January and I’m so excited! We finished reading all of Woolfs major works last summer and I’m so excited to be continuing on! Hoping to get back into my other online book club as well. I’ve missed a couple picks 😢
Hi! If you want to explore book places in the Uk just thought I’d share a place I love to go. It may be far but if you don’t mind that it’s called Haye on Wye in Powys, Wales. It’s referred to as a book town which has around 20 bookstores! (Might need to check this is correct but there’s quite a lot) Both second hand book stores and new book stores. Also has cute cafes and other little stores. It’s one of my favourite places ever and I have found some really good books there! I love your videos by the way, you’ve inspired me to get back in to reading more again. I am reading Anna Kerenina at the moment and loving it so thank you for your recommendations!
a goal i had for this year which i’ll also carry on for next year is being mindful of reading themed books depending on the month/occasion. for example, romance in february, horror in october. i feel like it helps each month feel more memorable :) another goal is to read one intimidating classic per month but to read a specific page/chapter count to ensure i finish by the end of the month. i’m currently doing this with ‘little women’ as it has 23 chapters and on Christmas eve i will be rewatching the movie. i find that it makes the book far more manageable and a lot easier to review as daily i update my goodreads review and share my thoughts/quotes i like on whichever chapter i’m on. i hope that makes sense 😅
I’m at 23 books this year and at this point in my life, it unfortunately isn’t possible to read much more. But like you said, quality over quantity. I do have a few other goals: 1. Read a Russian classic. I’ve started reading Anna Karenina 4 times and this time, I want to finish it. The reason I always stopped reading is because it intimidated me so much but I’ve been watching your and others’ videos and I feel ready. 2. Read another classic. I think I’ll go for Jane Eyre. 3. Read 2 books by awarded authors. I decided on Orbital by Samantha Harvey and The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Besides that, I’ll let my mood dictate my reading choices.
I love hearing other people’s reading goals. My goals are pretty much the same every year. Read at least 1 page a day (maintain a daily habit) and read a total of 18.000 pages. Some books on my 2025 TBR are: The Odyssey, The Book of Chuang Tzu, I Who Have Never Known Men, and The Way of Kings.
We have some very similar goals! I want to read 60 books even though I read over 80 this year. Trying to focus on quality over quantity. I want to read at least 12 classics and 12 nonfiction. I want to cut my physical tbr in half, but that would mean reading 44 books that I own. I really hope that I can do that, because I feel overwhelmed by the amount of books that I own and haven't read! haha Lovely video as per usual!
Thank you for giving us another fantastic book tube video your amazing 👏 i wish you the absolute best with all your reading goals in the new year keep up the good work enjoy all the new reads 📚 :)
my goals: 1) read 60 books. it's the same as i've kept it the past few years and it's enough that i don't have to stress but lasts me to mid-december at least 2) finish war and peace (i started it in july 2022 😭) 3) read 12 non-fiction books because my non-fiction tbr grows a lot quicker than it gets read
My goals focus on trying to do various things every month. I don't mind if these overlap 1: finish 60 books (my goal for this year was 30 and I'm at 54 at the moment!) 2: listen to one audiobook a month 3: read one book in Spanish a month 4: read one library book a month 5: read one unread book on my shelves per month
I have a fun more special goal for next year. I’m going to read Simone de Beauvoir. I bought 5 different novels by her. I’ve longed to read her writing and excited to really experience her literary work. One of them I will read in French, but I also have an English copy because my French isn’t excellent quite yet. I plan to read at least three novels in French 😁💗
I am really excited that you are going to be reading more Russian lit again. I started reading Russian lit thanks to you. I just started reading French lit thanks to another TH-camr.
Pauses video one minute in…”hold on..they make GREEN Bic pens?!?!?!” Immediately checking amazon (green is my favorite color and cheap bic pens are my favorite to write with) 😅
I had a very slow reading year, last year I read one per week, this year much less. Its not about the numer, its more about taking time to do what I enjoy. To me, its very important for my well-being. Having said this, my goal is to read 45-50 books because i do want to prioritize quality and length over quantity.
My reading goals are to read at least five books (I've been reading around 30 for the past two years, but i had times where i only read 1 so i think at least 5 is a good goal) and to read my physical tbr. I want my tbr down to 0 (maybe w some unread classics here and there) before buying any new books. I thought about finishing series as a goal but i think i rather take my time with them and not push myself if I'm not feeling like continuing them.
I love seeing everyone's goals! This December my goal has been to read prize-winners for the Nobel, Booker, Barnes and Noble and Women's Prizes, but that may carry into January as well. My biggest goal will be to read from books I already own since a lot of my books this year were new purchases or ebooks, and I have so many on my shelves at home I want to read. For 2024 I didn't have a number goal and that helped me tremendously, especially since I didn't feel like I needed a number to motivate me to read in the first place, and when I had one and didn't hit it I was stressed (and why feel stressed about reading??)
I really want to get back into Russian literature too. I’ve started Doctor Zhivago and I’m taking it slow, but the imagery is masterful and it’s really good to read on a cold day.
My goals are actually to read less books and focus on reading long form internet content like blogs and articles! I really like reading current content but find I don't make time for it if I'm prioritising novels! I wanna read shorter fresher stuff too.
The last three years, my goal has been to read 100 books each year. I've gotten in 100 the last two years, and I'm at 98 right now with several books in the works, so I have no doubt I'll make it (and perhaps surpass by a few). I want to read 100 books next year but beyond that I haven't thought through any specific goals.
I watched all the booktubers and have been following other booknerds in facebook and Googlereads and etc and wanted to read 100 books this year... yea now I'm reading my 96th book.. but I'll never ever do this again bcs it just made to read mechanically and yea I only enjoyed around 50 books so far heartily.. I read 1st one in Norsk(which is a new language I'm learning: only1 book), Tamil(my mother tongue :around 37 ; translated in Tamil from Bengali and Malayalam plus originally written in Tamil) and English(the rest were in English: translated into English from Russian and originally written in English )... my advice would be just read and don't panic but yeah keep account of the books you read and count at the end of the year 😊
Instead of goals I'm focusing on reading projects. I want to continue reading Filipino literature, but I also want to read some Japanese literature. I would like to focus on reading the books I own that are on the Rory Gilmore reading list. There are authors such as Stephen King, Anthony Trollop, and Wilkie Collins whom I want to prioritize this year. Eight years ago I had a plan to read a Stephen King book a month , but because a lot of his books are often extremely long I fell off with that goal. I also have a Tolkien project I want to start and reading books that intimidate me in some capacity. Lastly, I want to read some presidential biographies and US history books.
The Age of Jackson is very very good, as is 1848 (recounting the Polk presidency). And of course the multi-volume Caro biography of President Johnson is excellent, even though it may provoke some discussions of greater heat than you might like. Someone here is planning on reading Sherman's Memoirs, which is deservedly among the great classics of history, as is Grant's Memoirs. Both are good but Sherman's maps are better. The fold-out hand drawn maps are special. As for Lincoln, there are so many very good ones but the only one I've reread more than once is David Donald's. Of course Donald does focus on the political history including the rise of the Radical Republicans, which can be difficult for more casual readers. Anyway, enjoy : )
i keep track of the books i read on storygraph, mostly just so i know! i never set a specific number of books i look at the graphs & note the genres and make mental notes... i try to keep a good balance of fiction & non-fiction
One of my goals, which won't inspire you because you already read it this year, is to finally read Lord of the Rings. I read The Hobbit this year and picked up LotR, but other things got in the way.
I wanna read most books on my TBR. That means a lot of classics (I am also fine with DNFing and maybe unhauling some if I really can‘t get into them). Other than that I want to read more LGBT+ fiction, more by BIPOC authors and also tackle 1 or 2 big „lifegoal“ classics (maybe The Count of Monte Cristo & Anna Karenina). I also want to get back into audiobooks. I purposefully did not listen to any audiobooks this year as I wanted to see how much I could read just from physically reading. I think listening to some romance books as audiobooks could be fun for next year. I also want to try reading in Spanish as I‘ve been learning the language for years. It‘s gonna be challenging. But I think I can manage 2 or 3. Lastly I want to start recording my thoughts on what I have read. Maybe in the form of a journal (tho I don‘t wanna get hung up on aestethics). (Additionally i am contemplating starting a podcast specifically discussing queer lit.)
While you're in the UK you should consider going to a small town in Wales called Hay-on-Wye. Under 2000 people live there, but there's something like 20 bookstores.
I want to read The Man Without Qualities, lots of Polish literature, some Julio Cortázar books in Spanish, Chekhov’s major plays in Russian. There’s always a list of novels I want to read, but the order always shifts based on mood- Balzac, Prus, Musil, Dickens, Bulgakov, Turgenev, Stendhal, Goethe, etc.
I really liked Ulysses, tho it took several tries before finally finishing it. The audiobook was very helpful. "Stately plump Buck Mulligan" remains one of my favorite openings. When you finally do reach the famous Molly Bloom soliloquy it really does help IMHO to have heard someone recite it, even if it's only like the one in Back to School.
Here are my reading goals I need to finish dune and crime and punishment which I'm in the middle of. Start and finish all of these books that I just bought Don quixote The brothers karamazov piranesi Little women The Three musketeers the memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman Eric foner's reconstruction and find an Iranian work/ epic just stay in touch with my best friend who is from there to stay in touch since I'm moving now that I'm graduating uni
Next Year, I want to Create a Small Reading Goal: Read 10 Books- one Big Book And Several medium to Small Books😊👍👍I Want to Read more Inspirational Nonfiction Books or Autobiographies. I Don't Think I Will Totally Abandon Classics or Fantasy 😁📚😊Happy Holidays to You Both🎄🎇🎉🙋♀️
I didn't know you were from Long Island! so am I :) I live in upstate NY near Albany for school now, but im going back to LI when my lease is up in the summer. I just graduated university 2 days ago and you and Emma inspired me to make a book channel of my own. loved this video, totally going to take Inspo and make my own version of it this weekend haha. some of my reading goals this year: 1. annotate 10 books - I was on a huge book buying ban this year so about 90% of my reading was from library/digital copies. but ive allowed myself to buy a few books this month and have been having so much fun annotating again so I want to keep that going next year 2. read 50 books - my total for this year will end up being 35-38 depending on how these last few weeks go, and that's with school so now that im done I think ill have time to read a little bit more 3. make a notion spread/pinterest board/spotify playlist/reading journal spread for 5 books I love - when I get really obsessed with books I have a hard time finding an outlet to express myself that feels satisfying. sometimes I just rant to my boyfriend, sometimes I make a journal spread or watch tiktoks about the book. but I want to try some other mediums to give myself permission to obsess and have fun. I am a fangirl at heart and want to let myself express that the I used to when I was a teenager lol 4. and I also want to read at least 1 classic per month! I read 6 classics this year (hopefully ill finish Tess of the durbervilles this month and make that 7), and I want to read more
Oh, I hope you share what Russian literature you are reading. I would love to read and follow along. And will there be a Game of Tomes for 2025?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Have you read The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili? I think you might like it. It’s translated from the German. Mostly set in Georgia, but also in Moscow, London and Berlin. It’s a tome!
My reading goals never relate to a number of books. Instead, I always aim to read a particular book or author. I want to read "Demons" by Fyodor Dostoevsky in the new year.
I love your notebook, Bic pen and sweater. 📗 Great idea to write one's thoughts on books in a notebook. Goal #1 for 2025: trying to do the same. Goal #2: 50 books for 2025 (some longer ones) and among them, classics. This year I will have read 60 books. My only goal was to read books from my shelves and they mostly were. Really happy to learn you will still read classics and that Russian lit is making a "come back" (still reading The Brothers Karamazov until the end of the month). Thank you for the nice videos Carolyn and have a great week! 💚📚
I only have one goal for next year: I want to reread one book per month. I have so many five star favourites but I never get to them a second time because I prioritise new books. I want to change that! :)
My main goals: no set amount of books, buy second hand over new, read owned books and use library more ( no impulse buying), read more banned books, use my book journal I bought off etsy the whole year!
My reading goal for 2024 was 80 and I’m over 100 now. So I’ll make my 2025 goal 100 so I can feel motivated but not pressured. Thank you for all the recommendations this year. Honestly thanks to you and Emma I’ve found my love for reading after 2 years of reading 5-10 books. THANK YOU 🩵
my goal this next year (other than reading a ton hehe) is to start my middle education degree, to one day be able to teach middle schoolers about the joys of literature 💕
I never really have a goal of the amount of books that I’d like to read each year, but it’s fun to count how many I’ve read at the end of the year. I love keeping written lists too. I recently bought my first fountain pen which I love! I feel so elegant when I write out my lists now. 😅
Same!! I've never set a number reading goal but I love to count how many I've read at the end of the year 📚
1. Embrace the DNF: Why waste time on trash?
2. Read 125: Totally doable, I've read 127 so far this year. Thank you audiobooks and novellas
3. Avoid FOMO reading. I don't need to read something just because everyone else is.
4. Read more children's books. They are fun and I like the pictures.
This year I want to actually slow down and savor the classics. I want to reread some old favorites as well.
You look so good in green! I Love your goals! Can't wait for your TBR. I don't have a specific number goal yet; I'm trying to focus on enjoyment this year. Reading slowly. My reading goals are to read the books on my shelves. I have about 45 unread books, and four have sat unread for 10 years. TEN YEARS....the shame. Another goal is to wait to purchase any new material until I've read my existing books. Fortunately, I'm looking forward to reading all of my books.
My reading goals, 1. 40 books. 2. Tackling some of the biggies like Crime and Punishment and Anna Karenina... 3. Keeping a book journal 4. Read more contemporary Lit Fic (I'm a classics/Modern Classics person)
Great goals! (And…congratulations on your soon-to-be new home?) My number one goal is to pick up a book first thing in the morning, rather than my phone. I always tell myself I’ll do it and then fail, but now I’m planning to tell my husband to hide the phone every night, and not tell me where it is before I leave the house unless I really need it.
Amazing goals. My life is so busy I set my goal to 12 books a year and I swear I’m always trying to fit half of those into the last couple of months of the year. lol. 🤣
I never had reading goals but I would like to have some in 2025.
1. Visit new book stores.
2. Keep a journal of books I read. As a poet and journaler I prefer longhand.
I"d also like to find new outdoor places to read.
3. Read more classics and literary fiction.
Oh wow, I love your goals Carolyn! I’ve had total number of books goals and specific books goals but I never thought of creative over arching and bookish goals but I have been putting thought into goals that celebrate the spirit of my love for reading. Here are some of mine for 2025:
1st: (and I actually plan to start doing this before the end of 2024) I notice so many year end book rankings give more weight to 5 star reads read later in the year and many phenomenal reads from Jan, Feb, etc. get lost in the rankings. When I noticed I was doing this too, I realized that I was reading new books to the very last day of the year, not giving myself time to go back to the beginning of the year and revisiting my favorite reads, characters, passages, moments that made me laugh and cry. Starting this year I want to dedicate the last week of the year (not racing to fit one more new book into the year, but) going back through the great year of reads that took me on dozens of adventures, to read through my highlighted passages and visit again with my favorite characters and remind myself of the value of each and every book I’ve read throughout the year, take time to remember and reflect, and appreciate all the literature that I read this past year, the books that effected me, changed my view of the world, improved the person I am. Before the new year rings in and I’m diving into my new 2025 reading goals, I want to take the time to hug and say thanks to all my books of 2024… all the books that were my best friends during the year. I plan to add this as a new yearly end of year goal.
2nd: I want to support more Independent smaller Presses (two of my favorite 2024 reads came directly from Independent Presses). I have a goal to buy and read at least three lesser known books from Independent Presses.
3rd: (and, Carolyn, this one is thanks to you)… after watching your Anna Karenina Translations sampling video last year… in 2024 I read 4 different Anna Karenina translations simultaneous… Garnett, Maude, Pevear & Volokhonsky, and Bartlett… what an experience… Each translation was unique and each had their stunning moments… I so enjoyed seeing how translations changed through time. I loved Anna Karenina and I found reading 4 translations in parallel so rewarding that I plan to do another parallel reading in 2025, this time 5 different translations of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. I find language and the power of storytelling through different translations intricately interesting. I’d like to do a parallel read of different translations of one classic each year.
I’m looking forward to following all your reading adventures next year. Thanks for a great year of videos and review. You continually inspire me to read better and more deeply and more meaningfully each year.
The colour of your sweater brings out your eyes! Lovely!
Green has been my favorite color since I was a tiny girl. I begged my mom to paint my room green when I was 4. She didn't want to but she did paint it green. I still love green! 😃💚 My reading goal for 2024 was 25 and I've read 41 so far! 📚
1. Among my reading goals: Read two books that I have had since I was a teenager, but have not read. Also, reread two books that I have not read since then.
2. Because you love making lists, I highly recommend you listen to the fun song “Girl of 100 Lists”, an underrated, but great, song by The Go-Go’s.
I love this time of year with all the planning and goals :D A reading goal I always have is to pick one or two authors and one or two series I have already started or read some of - to complete. Just contemplating and choosing which series and authors I would like to pick is really informative.
Let's see... I at least want to read all the Shakespeare plays, don quixote, war and peace, finish in search of lost time, and finally get to the lord of rings i've had unread on my bookshelf for years
My reading goals for the past 5 years is to read a book a week. (52 per year) For the past couple of years however, I’ve extended it to one physical book per week and one ebook per week. (104 per year overall) Mainly because I was doing it anyway but I wasn’t counting the ebooks. So now I do! 😁
1. Learn to dance the Mazurka [Hey!]; 2. Get a cat; 3. Write a poem in French; 4. Reread Proust; 5. Improve my body (weight, teeth, hair, et cetera). That's about it. In the meantime, I'm waiting for some kind of group read of East of Eden, which is queued up in my Audible player; and I'm hoping to make progress on one my long-term life goals. Thank you and have a happy New Year: you and all of your loved ones.
East of Eden is definitely on my short list for 2025.
I always start my number of books on a lower number and increase it as needed. I started this year at 75 but have read 150ish. I’m planning to read a big book every month next year so I’ll probably keep my goal on the lower side.
My main focus will be to read from my shelves and try to get my physical tbr down. I’ve been on a book buying ban since the beginning of November so I’d like to continue that. I’ve neglected my classics a bit this year so I definitely want to get back to that in 2025.
I have a quiet little rustic cafe in my very small township so I’m going to aim to read there once a week too.
I’m also a list person. I’ve made so many bookish lists in the last week in anticipation of the coming year 😂
So, hear me out. This year (and last year) were insane reading years for me. I read 173 books last year, and so far I've read 189 books this year. I read a wide variety of books (literature, nonfiction, business, manga, etc) and was very lucky that the quality of the books were QUITE high. However, I have some goals next year that are going to take up a LOT of my time and therefore I expect in 2025 that I'll read somewhere between 80 and 100 books. I had an interesting mix of books this year, but like you - I want to make the spread a bit more balanced. I LOVE your journal - I also love that brand. At the moment I'm living very nomadically - so I've put myself on a ban of buying physical books and journals (which is heartbreaking) but I made spreadsheets for all the books I want to read in order of priority in 2025 with a goal of one non-fiction book (skill or history books) and one fiction book per week. You really inspired me to read Russian lit - so next year one of the books I have on my list is Anna Karenina. I think you'd really like a LOT of the Korean women authors that have made waves in the last few years - they vary wildly in topics and tone as well. I have Han Kang on my list for next year as well (she just won the the Nobel Prize for Literature). Love your goals and I'm so with you - the act of handwriting feels so personal and connected - it's a great thing to do. It forces you to slow down a little as well. Looking forward to your future reviews!
This year my goals are;
* to complete the A-Z classics challenge i paused last year.
*Finish reading Les miserables
*continue with my series reads (mainly fantasy)
* reduce my romance and crime tbr shelf. Dont collect much of this genre so want to clear some space on shelves.
* actually complete my 25 books in 2025 in one year lol.
These are great goals! My one and only goal for next year is to read more books from my shelves. I’ve only read about 60% of them. And I have at least 100 unread…
I love your goals! And I cannot wait to see the bookshelves 👀 I also made a video about my 2025 goals but a few of them are: read 75 books, finish 6 series I’m in the middle of, read 4 books written by Polish authors, read 12 classics, read 4 big books (600+ pages), read 50 books from my physical tbr and I’ll also be doing a no buy/low buy for books! 🥰
My reading goals for next year are 1) to read 40 books, 2) read my 2 of longest page count books on my physical TBR (I've been avoiding them for years, but I'm nearly through Count of Monte Cristo this month so I'm inspired to tackle some of the other big ones), and 3) read whatever is the oldest book on my bookshelf as part of my reading every 2nd month (to stop a trend I have of perpetually avoiding the oldest books on my physical TBR in favour of new buys).
My Woolf bookclub is starting up reading all of James Baldwin in January and I’m so excited! We finished reading all of Woolfs major works last summer and I’m so excited to be continuing on!
Hoping to get back into my other online book club as well. I’ve missed a couple picks 😢
Hi! If you want to explore book places in the Uk just thought I’d share a place I love to go. It may be far but if you don’t mind that it’s called Haye on Wye in Powys, Wales. It’s referred to as a book town which has around 20 bookstores! (Might need to check this is correct but there’s quite a lot) Both second hand book stores and new book stores. Also has cute cafes and other little stores. It’s one of my favourite places ever and I have found some really good books there! I love your videos by the way, you’ve inspired me to get back in to reading more again. I am reading Anna Kerenina at the moment and loving it so thank you for your recommendations!
a goal i had for this year which i’ll also carry on for next year is being mindful of reading themed books depending on the month/occasion. for example, romance in february, horror in october. i feel like it helps each month feel more memorable :)
another goal is to read one intimidating classic per month but to read a specific page/chapter count to ensure i finish by the end of the month. i’m currently doing this with ‘little women’ as it has 23 chapters and on Christmas eve i will be rewatching the movie. i find that it makes the book far more manageable and a lot easier to review as daily i update my goodreads review and share my thoughts/quotes i like on whichever chapter i’m on. i hope that makes sense 😅
I’m at 23 books this year and at this point in my life, it unfortunately isn’t possible to read much more. But like you said, quality over quantity. I do have a few other goals:
1. Read a Russian classic. I’ve started reading Anna Karenina 4 times and this time, I want to finish it. The reason I always stopped reading is because it intimidated me so much but I’ve been watching your and others’ videos and I feel ready.
2. Read another classic. I think I’ll go for Jane Eyre.
3. Read 2 books by awarded authors. I decided on Orbital by Samantha Harvey and The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
Besides that, I’ll let my mood dictate my reading choices.
I love hearing other people’s reading goals. My goals are pretty much the same every year. Read at least 1 page a day (maintain a daily habit) and read a total of 18.000 pages. Some books on my 2025 TBR are: The Odyssey, The Book of Chuang Tzu, I Who Have Never Known Men, and The Way of Kings.
Love your goals, Carolyn, specially quality over quantity! I also like to read everywhere! 😊
We have some very similar goals! I want to read 60 books even though I read over 80 this year. Trying to focus on quality over quantity. I want to read at least 12 classics and 12 nonfiction. I want to cut my physical tbr in half, but that would mean reading 44 books that I own. I really hope that I can do that, because I feel overwhelmed by the amount of books that I own and haven't read! haha Lovely video as per usual!
Thank you for giving us another fantastic book tube video your amazing 👏 i wish you the absolute best with all your reading goals in the new year keep up the good work enjoy all the new reads 📚 :)
my goals:
1) read 60 books. it's the same as i've kept it the past few years and it's enough that i don't have to stress but lasts me to mid-december at least
2) finish war and peace (i started it in july 2022 😭)
3) read 12 non-fiction books because my non-fiction tbr grows a lot quicker than it gets read
My goals focus on trying to do various things every month. I don't mind if these overlap
1: finish 60 books (my goal for this year was 30 and I'm at 54 at the moment!)
2: listen to one audiobook a month
3: read one book in Spanish a month
4: read one library book a month
5: read one unread book on my shelves per month
I have a fun more special goal for next year. I’m going to read Simone de Beauvoir. I bought 5 different novels by her. I’ve longed to read her writing and excited to really experience her literary work. One of them I will read in French, but I also have an English copy because my French isn’t excellent quite yet.
I plan to read at least three novels in French 😁💗
I am really excited that you are going to be reading more Russian lit again. I started reading Russian lit thanks to you. I just started reading French lit thanks to another TH-camr.
❤📚📚❤️
I'm so looking forward to 2025.
Pauses video one minute in…”hold on..they make GREEN Bic pens?!?!?!” Immediately checking amazon (green is my favorite color and cheap bic pens are my favorite to write with) 😅
I had a very slow reading year, last year I read one per week, this year much less. Its not about the numer, its more about taking time to do what I enjoy. To me, its very important for my well-being. Having said this, my goal is to read 45-50 books because i do want to prioritize quality and length over quantity.
My reading goals are to read at least five books (I've been reading around 30 for the past two years, but i had times where i only read 1 so i think at least 5 is a good goal) and to read my physical tbr. I want my tbr down to 0 (maybe w some unread classics here and there) before buying any new books. I thought about finishing series as a goal but i think i rather take my time with them and not push myself if I'm not feeling like continuing them.
I love seeing everyone's goals! This December my goal has been to read prize-winners for the Nobel, Booker, Barnes and Noble and Women's Prizes, but that may carry into January as well. My biggest goal will be to read from books I already own since a lot of my books this year were new purchases or ebooks, and I have so many on my shelves at home I want to read. For 2024 I didn't have a number goal and that helped me tremendously, especially since I didn't feel like I needed a number to motivate me to read in the first place, and when I had one and didn't hit it I was stressed (and why feel stressed about reading??)
I really want to get back into Russian literature too. I’ve started Doctor Zhivago and I’m taking it slow, but the imagery is masterful and it’s really good to read on a cold day.
My goals are actually to read less books and focus on reading long form internet content like blogs and articles! I really like reading current content but find I don't make time for it if I'm prioritising novels! I wanna read shorter fresher stuff too.
The last three years, my goal has been to read 100 books each year. I've gotten in 100 the last two years, and I'm at 98 right now with several books in the works, so I have no doubt I'll make it (and perhaps surpass by a few). I want to read 100 books next year but beyond that I haven't thought through any specific goals.
I watched all the booktubers and have been following other booknerds in facebook and Googlereads and etc and wanted to read 100 books this year... yea now I'm reading my 96th book.. but I'll never ever do this again bcs it just made to read mechanically and yea I only enjoyed around 50 books so far heartily.. I read 1st one in Norsk(which is a new language I'm learning: only1 book), Tamil(my mother tongue :around 37 ; translated in Tamil from Bengali and Malayalam plus originally written in Tamil) and English(the rest were in English: translated into English from Russian and originally written in English )... my advice would be just read and don't panic but yeah keep account of the books you read and count at the end of the year 😊
such a big list person! specifically physical lists, digital lists dont really work in the same way for me
Instead of goals I'm focusing on reading projects. I want to continue reading Filipino literature, but I also want to read some Japanese literature. I would like to focus on reading the books I own that are on the Rory Gilmore reading list. There are authors such as Stephen King, Anthony Trollop, and Wilkie Collins whom I want to prioritize this year. Eight years ago I had a plan to read a Stephen King book a month , but because a lot of his books are often extremely long I fell off with that goal. I also have a Tolkien project I want to start and reading books that intimidate me in some capacity. Lastly, I want to read some presidential biographies and US history books.
The Age of Jackson is very very good, as is 1848 (recounting the Polk presidency). And of course the multi-volume Caro biography of President Johnson is excellent, even though it may provoke some discussions of greater heat than you might like. Someone here is planning on reading Sherman's Memoirs, which is deservedly among the great classics of history, as is Grant's Memoirs. Both are good but Sherman's maps are better. The fold-out hand drawn maps are special. As for Lincoln, there are so many very good ones but the only one I've reread more than once is David Donald's. Of course Donald does focus on the political history including the rise of the Radical Republicans, which can be difficult for more casual readers. Anyway, enjoy : )
@@jamesduggan7200 Thank you.
i keep track of the books i read on storygraph, mostly just so i know! i never set a specific number of books
i look at the graphs & note the genres and make mental notes... i try to keep a good balance of fiction & non-fiction
One of my goals, which won't inspire you because you already read it this year, is to finally read Lord of the Rings. I read The Hobbit this year and picked up LotR, but other things got in the way.
I wanna read most books on my TBR. That means a lot of classics (I am also fine with DNFing and maybe unhauling some if I really can‘t get into them).
Other than that I want to read more LGBT+ fiction, more by BIPOC authors and also tackle 1 or 2 big „lifegoal“ classics (maybe The Count of Monte Cristo & Anna Karenina).
I also want to get back into audiobooks. I purposefully did not listen to any audiobooks this year as I wanted to see how much I could read just from physically reading. I think listening to some romance books as audiobooks could be fun for next year.
I also want to try reading in Spanish as I‘ve been learning the language for years. It‘s gonna be challenging. But I think I can manage 2 or 3.
Lastly I want to start recording my thoughts on what I have read. Maybe in the form of a journal (tho I don‘t wanna get hung up on aestethics).
(Additionally i am contemplating starting a podcast specifically discussing queer lit.)
While you're in the UK you should consider going to a small town in Wales called Hay-on-Wye. Under 2000 people live there, but there's something like 20 bookstores.
I want to read The Man Without Qualities, lots of Polish literature, some Julio Cortázar books in Spanish, Chekhov’s major plays in Russian. There’s always a list of novels I want to read, but the order always shifts based on mood- Balzac, Prus, Musil, Dickens, Bulgakov, Turgenev, Stendhal, Goethe, etc.
i'm starting the year, as i always do, with a Big Book. in january i'll start the oxford edition of Ulysses.
any tips anyone?
I really liked Ulysses, tho it took several tries before finally finishing it. The audiobook was very helpful. "Stately plump Buck Mulligan" remains one of my favorite openings. When you finally do reach the famous Molly Bloom soliloquy it really does help IMHO to have heard someone recite it, even if it's only like the one in Back to School.
@ ty so much!! i also got a student edition to read maybe simultaneously. the audiobook idea is brilliant!
Les miserables a three month journey then at the Barbra B Mann Hall is putting on the play in April can’t wait to experience it
Here are my reading goals I need to finish dune and crime and punishment which I'm in the middle of.
Start and finish all of these books that I just bought
Don quixote
The brothers karamazov
piranesi
Little women
The Three musketeers
the memoirs of William Tecumseh Sherman
Eric foner's reconstruction
and find an Iranian work/ epic just stay in touch with my best friend who is from there to stay in touch since I'm moving now that I'm graduating uni
Such excellent choices! You'll be enjoying a very happy reading year, I'm sure.
Next Year, I want to Create a Small Reading Goal: Read 10 Books- one Big Book And Several medium to Small Books😊👍👍I Want to Read more Inspirational Nonfiction Books or Autobiographies. I Don't Think I Will Totally Abandon Classics or Fantasy 😁📚😊Happy Holidays to You Both🎄🎇🎉🙋♀️
Random, but are you making more of the mini bookmarks? By the time I saw that video, they were sold out. 😊
I didn't know you were from Long Island! so am I :) I live in upstate NY near Albany for school now, but im going back to LI when my lease is up in the summer. I just graduated university 2 days ago and you and Emma inspired me to make a book channel of my own. loved this video, totally going to take Inspo and make my own version of it this weekend haha.
some of my reading goals this year:
1. annotate 10 books - I was on a huge book buying ban this year so about 90% of my reading was from library/digital copies. but ive allowed myself to buy a few books this month and have been having so much fun annotating again so I want to keep that going next year
2. read 50 books - my total for this year will end up being 35-38 depending on how these last few weeks go, and that's with school so now that im done I think ill have time to read a little bit more
3. make a notion spread/pinterest board/spotify playlist/reading journal spread for 5 books I love - when I get really obsessed with books I have a hard time finding an outlet to express myself that feels satisfying. sometimes I just rant to my boyfriend, sometimes I make a journal spread or watch tiktoks about the book. but I want to try some other mediums to give myself permission to obsess and have fun. I am a fangirl at heart and want to let myself express that the I used to when I was a teenager lol
4. and I also want to read at least 1 classic per month! I read 6 classics this year (hopefully ill finish Tess of the durbervilles this month and make that 7), and I want to read more
The Brothers Karamazov and The Moral Arch
I wil set a reading goal for you Carolyn 😂: you should read all four books of My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante.
Have you checked oxfam and last bookshop at park st up from the college green in bristol?
Oh, I hope you share what Russian literature you are reading. I would love to read and follow along. And will there be a Game of Tomes for 2025?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Have you read The Eighth Life by Nino Haratischwili? I think you might like it. It’s translated from the German. Mostly set in Georgia, but also in Moscow, London and Berlin. It’s a tome!
Do you ever have pen pals? I'd love to discuss Russian classical literature with someone!:)
My reading goals never relate to a number of books. Instead, I always aim to read a particular book or author. I want to read "Demons" by Fyodor Dostoevsky in the new year.
Gonna read the entire Neapolitan Quartet?😁
I love your notebook, Bic pen and sweater. 📗 Great idea to write one's thoughts on books in a notebook. Goal #1 for 2025: trying to do the same. Goal #2: 50 books for 2025 (some longer ones) and among them, classics. This year I will have read 60 books. My only goal was to read books from my shelves and they mostly were. Really happy to learn you will still read classics and that Russian lit is making a "come back" (still reading The Brothers Karamazov until the end of the month).
Thank you for the nice videos Carolyn and have a great week! 💚📚