Reading Goals: 2015

Posted January 16, 2015 by Holly in Discussions, Miscellaneous | 10 Comments

Reading+Challenges

Holly: I never used to set reading goals/challenges for myself, because I would always end up with reading anxiety when I did. “I’m supposed to read 100 books this year and it’s December and I’ve only read 75!?!?!” Then I’d get so freaked out I’d give myself readers-block (it’s a real thing!) and not be able to read at all.

The last few years I’ve done a number challenge (211, 200, 200, etc), and did pretty well with it. I didn’t freak myself out because I just considered it a way to track my reads, which I’ve been doing for years now. This year, however, I’m going to set a few reading goals. I want to broaden my reading horizons, and get out of my comfort zone more.

In an effort to do that, I plan to continue to read new-to-me authors. I read 48 new authors in 2013 and 46 in 2014. That averages out to about 4 per month. Not terrible, but when you consider I average approximately 20 books per month, I feel like I could be doing better. I’m also going to try to branch out and read things beside contemporary romance. I read 136 contemps in 2014, and less than half that many paranormals. The numbers of historical, rom-suspense and other sub-genres was negligible. I also joined a reading challenge to help me cull down my TBR pile and motivate me to read outside my comfort zone. I found this challenge on Pinterest. Rowena has agreed to do it with me. (I ‘m also considering this challenge, also found on Pinterest. I haven’t decided if I’ll do one or both.)

2015 reading challenge

To summarize, or the TL;DR version:

1. Read more sub-genres  
2. Read more new authors
3. Finish the 2015 Reading Challenge

Rowena: 2015 was going to be the year that I take a break from reading challenges. It was going to be the year that I read whatever I want, whenever I want and not be bogged down with review books and whatever else but I can’t help myself. I like reading challenges. They’re good for variety because like Holly, I read a lot of contemporary books so the goals I’m setting are to get me out of my comfort zone and try new to me things. I won’t know if I like something until I try it, right?

I have a tendency to stick to what I know and what has worked with me. So if a new to me author is popular, I won’t try them out until someone I know personally recommends them. And even then, it might take me years. Haha.

I belong to a book club that meets once a month to discuss books and last year, there were a few times that I didn’t read the book and couldn’t participate in the discussion. That ends this year. I will read and discuss every single book that we choose to read as a club.

So aside from the 2015 reading challenge with Holly, my reading goals are:

  1. Read more new to me authors
  2. Read more sub-genres
  3. Read all of my book club picks
  4. Read more for me and not anyone else

Did you join any challenges in 2015? What are your reading goals?


Tagged: , , , ,

10 responses to “Reading Goals: 2015

  1. I don’t like challenges for me – cos then I get reading anxiety and don’t enjoy the books . . and that is my primary goal, to enjoy my reading 😀

    I did step out of my comfort zone a little last year and so I think I will try that again this year, maybe pick up on some good new authors. That’s about it 😀

  2. I keep seeing this thing about read out of the comfort zone and…I don’t get it.

    I read for pleasure, why should I force myself to read something I am not comfortable with?

    That said, I read pretty much all subgenres of romance equally, all I need is for the blurb to appeal to me, or have someone whose tastes I know talk about the book, and there I go, so perhaps that’s why I don’t feel any need whatsoever to broaden my reading horizons.

    As for challenges, I can barely keep up with Wendy’s TBR Challenge, and I don’t keep track of what I read otherwise, so… :grin;

    I think the tl;dr version of this comment is: I’m too lazy for these things 😉

    • Jen

      I’ve been trying to read outside my comfort zone because I DON’T already read all sub genres, I suppose. I will probably always love romantic suspense most, but I’m trying to broaden my horizons. I’ve certainly come across books and sub genres I didn’t enjoy and won’t be returning to, but I’ve also been surprised by some books I didn’t think I’d like.

    • Like Jen, I don’t read across all sub-genres. Sure, I’ll pick up the occasional pnr or whatever, but I have a mental block when it comes to reading things outside my favorites. That even includes tropes or plots I don’t favor. I know I miss out on a lot of great novels because of that, so I really have to push myself to read from a more varied range of books.

  3. Jen

    I love this 26 book challenge! I might have to give it a shot myself. Maybe seeing you two do it will motivate me. 🙂

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.