The reading year ahead

Hi,

How are you at the beginning of the 2025? Are you already in full swing of it? Or maybe you’re easing into it slowly?

I’m somewhere in between, I guess. I’m exercising again, after a bit too long of a break, I’m doing some work (editing), but I’ve also been nursing a cold for the past four weeks and it’s not going away, so I was off my job for the past week. I’m going back tomorrow though. The cold is not getting worse (and also not really better) and I feel good enough to go back to work. I wouldn’t mind one more week away from it, but I can’t really extend my sick leave without feeling guilty about it.

At the moment I’m thinking a lot about the year ahead. About what I want to do and about everything I don’t want to do. About how I want my days to look like and what my priorities should be. This one is hard, because I’m looking for a new job and I don’t know what it will be and how it will influence my days. But still, I want to figure out how to get to the things that are important to me, how to prioritise them no matter what my job might be.

My reading is off to quite a start. I’ve already read four books (plus I’ll finish one today) and I’ve DNFed two. I rarely DNF books so early in the year, but I also have no patience for the books that are not for me. I often try to get into them for too long and sometimes I’ll even get past half way mark before I decide to stop reading them. This year I’ll be more ruthless and put away the books that are not working for me much quicker. There are so many books I want to read that there’s no point in spending too much time with the ones I don’t really enjoy.

I have no reading goal, but a few intentions.

1. I want to read lots and spend more time reading instead of scrolling or distracting myself with staring at my phone for no good reason. Books are very good in keeping my mind away from the stuff that is bothering me, better than scrolling, so it would also be better for my state of mind.

2. I would like to read more of the Women’s Prize for Fiction nominees. I’ve created a challenge on The Storygraph last year and I would like to continue making progress with it. There are 544 titels on it and as of today (I still have about 30 pages to go in My Sister, the Serial Killer) I will have read or DNFed 70 of them. It’s not a lot, but I don’t have a deadline on it, so I’m not in a hurry. There are also a few titels there I don’t intend to read, like books by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, because I can’t read someone who calls herself a feminist, but doesn’t support trans-women. Also, I don’t think I’ll be getting to the second and third books in the Wolf Hall trilogy. I’ve read the first, started the second, but just wasn’t that much into it. Maybe I’ll change my mind about it some day, but this is what I think for now.

3. I want to read more books that I already have. Not only the physical books, but also the e-books that sit on my Kindle and on the shelves of my Legimi subscription. There are quite a few Women’s Prize nominees on there too.

4. Before I buy a book, I’ll make sure it’s not avaible at the library first. I really want to buy less stuff (including books) this year, because I want to save some money and I don’t earn that much to be able to buy books freely and save money at the same time. But book gifts are allowed as they make me happy and help me save money.

5. I want to write more about my reading. Not necessary book reviews, but about my reading life in general. Reading is very important to me and a big part of my life, so if I want to write more about life, I need write more about reading too.

These are my thoughts from the last few days. I may come up with something else still, but I also think that this is enough intentions for one part of my life. Especially that there are other things I want to get to this year too.

Do you have any reading plans, goals, intentions for this year?