With the arrival of a new year, it has become a bit of a tradition for me to set annual goals for my reading. This year is no different and I’ve decided it is time to finally reach for the goal that has been the “real” one ever since finishing graduate school. It’s scary to say it out loud and commit to it, but the time has come. For 2025, my goal is to read 52 books.
Since I began keeping track of my annual reading, I have hovered in the mid 30s each year. Reading forty books in a year seemed like an impossible hurdle. At the end of 2024, I finally managed to get over that hump and decided it’s time to plan for the ultimate goal. For the past few years, I have used reading challenges to help guide my book selections, but I have not been fulfilled by the prompts. When I discovered The 52 Book Club’s 2025 Challenge, I was excited at the possibilities and intrigued by the books that I selected for the prompts. (If you want to see the full list of prompts for this year’s challenge, visit the website for yourself.)
Lessons Learned in 2024 (and previous years)
My work life greatly impacts my reading life. This shouldn’t be a surprise at all. March through May are insane times in my academic world. In 2024, I only read 4 books during this busy season — and two of those were audiobooks.
I do better when I know what my next book is. I struggle starting a new book. Once I am invested in the character’s lives, I can plow through a novel and enjoy the experience. Because I don’t always enjoy the beginning, I often find it challenging to make my next selection if I’m just winging it. It is also important that I already have the book in hand — whether as an ebook, a physical purchase, or a library loan. If I have to find time to make a trip to the library or the bookstore and THEN decide what I want to read, the effort involved becomes too much.
2025 Plans….
Once the 2025 reading prompts were released, I printed them out and made time to visit each Goodreads list. I perused the options there and consulted my own TBR and bookshelves and made an initial plan for each prompt.
Once almost all of the prompts were assigned a book, I began to sketch out what books I would plan to read in each month for the first half of the year. I looked at my calendar and made sure that I included a couple of easy reads for really busy seasons. I also assigned books that I am really excited to read during those tougher reading seasons. While I have a plan, I know that I have permission to make changes as inspiration and life comes my way. (To be honest, before writing this post there have already been changes made to the plan.). I also took into account some seasonal challenges that I plan to include — like Big Book Summer that runs from Memorial Day to Labor Day — and planned my reading accordingly.
So what am I reading? I’m not going to include the full list of books here, but I will tell you that it is rather diverse. It includes some children’s literature (Anne of Green Gables and The Princess Bride) as well as classics (The Picture of Dorian Gray and Emma). There are also thrillers, fairytale retellings, romances, and mysteries. Since I’ve already referenced “Big Book Summer,” I will admit that I am being very ambitious; my list includes Anna Karenina, Moby Dick, and Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander #2). I’m either planning a really exciting year of reading or I will realize my insanity by May and do some restructuring. My bet is that there will be a bit of both!
On Deck in January
Without further ado, here are the five books that I plan to read in the month of January 2025 and their prompts from the challenge.
- Prompt 11: A prequel – Filthy Gods by R. Scarlett
- Prompt 16: Author has won an Edgar Award – D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton
- Prompt 26: More than a million copies sold – Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer
- Prompt 32: Includes a diary entry – Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
- Prompt 38: An adventure story – The Princess Bride by William Goldman
As you can see, I do not intend to complete the prompts in numerical order. I decided that January should include a wide range of reading, so we have a family saga as well as romance, mystery, and YA. I *think* I’ll begin the year with the Archer novel, but plans could definitely change.
Want to follow along on my reading adventure? Watch for a weekly blog post (normally on Mondays) to let you know what I finished, what I thought about the books, and what I’m reading at the moment. You’ll also get a little insight into what’s going on in my world and how it is impacting my reading life. I’ll try to keep the personal narrative to a minimum here so we can focus on the books and the reading experience.
Until next Monday…..I wish you happy reading!
~Kennith
Reading for Me 