Reading Goals Behind and Ahead

I like goals.  Even when I don't reach them.  Last January, I set a few reading goals for the year, and I finally have a few minutes to look over how that all worked out.

I wanted to read 55 books.  I read 68!  Huzzah!

I wanted to read at least 12 classics for my fourth Classics Club list.  I read 15!  Sweet!

I also wanted to read at least 12 books about people who are substantially different from myself.  And I read 16!  Yay!

I also chose 25 books I wanted to read in 2025, some of them rereads and some new reads.  I read 7 of them.  Epic fail.  Didn't even read 1/3 of them.  Sigh.  Oh well.

Now, time for my 2026 reading goals!

I want to read 13 books about or set during the American Revolution in 2026 to mark our nation's 250th birthday.  I'm listing them under #RevolutionaryWarReads on Instagram, if you are curious.  I hope to do a post just about that pretty soon.

Once again, I aim to read at least 12 classics and 12 diverse books.

And I'm setting my overall goal at 55 again because I know that will keep me reading but not daunt me.

Have you shared any reading plans or goals for 2026?  If so, drop me a link in the comments so I can see what you're planning!

"Curtain: Poirot's Last Case" by Agatha Christie

This is sad and melancholy and was hard to read.  I'm glad I randomly read it because I wanted to finish off a hardcover anthology and not because I was reading all the Poirot stories in order, because if I was reading them in order and got to this as the very last one, I would now be very depressed.  Instead, I have plenty of jolly Poirot mysteries to enjoy in the future still.

Poirot and faithful Hastings end up at Styles, the same house where the very first Hercule Poirot mystery takes place.  They have to catch a diabolical fiend who is responsible for a strong of deaths, and also protect Hastings's daughter from said fiend.  Poirot is in failing health, and seeing him through the kind eyes of Hastings was sometimes almost enough to bring me to tears.  So I wouldn't say I enjoyed this book, really.  I doubt I will reread it.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for descriptions of some poisonings, discussions of marital infidelity, and a smattering of bad language.

This is my 39th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.  Although Curtain was published in 1975, which is after my usual cut-off for when I will consider a book a classic, it was written during WWII.  So I think it suits.

"Eldest" by Christopher Paolini

My reread of the Inheritance series stalled out for a while with this book, I'm afraid.  I think it could have been about 200 pages shorter, and it would have been a much stronger book.  Imagine if The Empire Strikes Back (1980) was three hours long, and a full hour of it was Luke and Yoda hanging out on Dagobah, and you get an idea of the pacing issues.

That aside, I do enjoy the fantasy world of Alegaesia.  And Eldest had lots and lots of time spent with Roran Stronghammer, who is my favorite character in the series.  I very much enjoyed all of his sections, especially since they moved forward at a relentless pace.  I do get that part of Eragon's character growth was learning to be patient and to stop wanting to be going and doing at all times... but I think we could have experienced that arc just as well with a lot fewer pages.

Particularly Good Bits:

If any honor existed in war, he concluded, it was in fighting to protect others from harm (p. 2).

"History provides us with numerous examples of people who were convinced that they were doing the right thing and committed terrible crimes because of it.  Keep in mind, Eragon that no one thinks of himself as a villain, and few make decisions they think are wrong.  A person may dislike his choice, but he will stand by it because, even in the worst circumstances, he believes that it was the best option available to him at the time.  On its own, being a decent person is no guarantee that you will act well" (p. 351).

"To have a child is the greatest honor and responsibility that can be bestowed upon any living being" (p. 362).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for fantasy violence.  Nothing gory, but not suitable for small children.  I think it may have had one or two old-fashioned cuss words, too.  No smut.

"Rowan Farm" by Margot Benary-Isbert

Rowan Farm is the sequel to The Ark and continues the story of the Lechow family as they attempt to build new lives and a new home in post-war West Germany.  Informed on the author's own knowledge and experiences after WWII, these two books show the chaos and ruin of Germany after WWII, but also the courage and hope of the people who work together to make the country fit for life and love once more.  

The youngsters from The Ark all live at Rowan Farm by this point, and have acquired some new friends.  Margret and Matthias, the two oldest Lechows, both have some romantic misadventures, though one of them does find love and start making plans for a future marriage by the end of the book.  This book is a little less funny than the first one, but instead feels more poignant and contemplative.  That feels very natural, because most of the Lechow children are pretty well grown up by the end of it.

As you might expect from a book about life in post-World War II West Germany, many struggles are portrayed here.  A new schoolmaster comes to town, a veteran who lost an arm in the war.  He and his pupils try to build a home for displaced veterans out of an old farmhouse and meet with a lot of opposition.  Other war veterans come through the story, all weary and burdened with doubt and dread and remorse.  Some new characters are escapees from Communist East Germany.  

The book never discusses Nazis or the cause for the war, only the helpfulness of American occupation troops in getting Germany back to being good and productive again.  Benary-Isbert was German herself, and wrote the first draft of The Ark while sharing an apartment with two other families in West Germany after WWII.  Both it and Rowan Farm were completed in the USA after she moved there with her husband in the 1950s.

I read Rowan Farm out loud to my kids over the past couple of months, and it marks a first for us -- we started reading it immediately after finishing The Ark.  Usually, I read a different book in between books in a series, but none of us wanted to wait to get to this book.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It:  PG-10 for discussions of death, loss, and suicide.  That all happens off-page, but is discussed by the characters.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This has been my 38th book read and reviewed for my 4th Classics Club list.

"Crack the Stone" by Emily Golus

Prepare yourself for something very shocking.

I like this retelling of Les Miserables better than the original book by Victor Hugo.

Don't get me wrong -- I LOVE the story of Jean Valjean.  But, you may recall, Hugo's book wearied me when I reread it a couple years ago.  The endless digressions, specifically.  

So I loved how Emily Golus kept her book's focus on the main character in this retelling.  Valshara was a condemned goblin who makes a miraculous escape from her captors and ends up caring for a human child and learning what love, kindness, sacrifice, and truth mean during her ensuing adventures.  And we don't wander off to make sarcastic jokes about famous rich people no one knows about, or rhapsodize on the true meaning of loyalty, etc. 

And I loved the giant elephant.  Very much.

Particularly Good Bits:

For the first time since I could remember, I could rest.  But I didn't remember how (p. 14).

Such is the power of love.  It's that small, trivial thing that the powerful sneer at and the selfish keep at bay.  But allowed its course it will topple evil, transform cities, melt stone hearts, and bring the dead -- like me -- back to life.  No water can quench love, and no river can sweep it away.  For does not the universe itself run on Love? (p. 229).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence, scenes of peril, and child abandonment.

"Eragon" by Christopher Paolini

All three of my teens got into the Inheritance Cycle last year, and they really want to read Murtagh, but I said I had to read it first (because hey, I'm the one who bought that new release hardcover copy, after all!), but then I realized I need to reread the series.  Because I finished reading the original series in 2011 when Inheritance was released, and that is a looooooooooooong time ago.  I mean, my youngest kid wasn't even born yet when that book came out, and now she's a teenager.

So, for my #25fo25 challenge of 25 specific books I want to read this year, I picked these four books and Murtagh so I would be sure to read them in a timely fashion. 

My favorite character in this series is Roran Stronghammer.  He's barely in this book.  I did not remember that at all, so yeah... that was kind of a bummer.  I do love Brom too, though.  He's got such acerbic sass and mad skills -- how would I not love Brom?

Anyway, as original stories go, Eragon is an enjoyable one.  A Chosen One who is unaware of their chosen status until Weird Things Start Happening, who first reject and then embrace their specialness -- it's a timeless story.  Which is why we have been using it as a storytelling framework for thousands of years.  

My one quibble with this book is how quickly they make soup.  Repeatedly, characters will throw some foodstuffs in a pot, wait until the water boils, announce, "Soup is ready!" and then eat it.  Um.  Um.  I guess that's soup, but it's not going to be good soup.  Even pasta has to boil for more than 5 minutes to be done.  And you're tossing chunks of meat and root vegetables in that pot and assuming they're done as soon as they have come to a boil?  I worry for Eragon's gut health.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to rereading the rest of the series :-D

Particularly Good Bits:

"Keep in mind that many people have died for their beliefs; it's actually quite common.  The real courage is in living and suffering for what you believe" (p. 197).

"Find peace in where and what you are" (p. 429).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG-13 for violence.  Nothing gory, but not stuff for little kids, either.  One or two mild cuss words.  No smut.

"The Ark" by Margot Benary-Isbert

I read The Ark several times as a teen -- our rural North Carolina library had it and the sequel, Rowan Farm.  I still remember they were both bound in that weird orange hardcover binding that library books so often got rebound into when their original covers wore out.

I actually tried to find this book again every now and then as an adult, because I remembered loving it.  But I didn't remember the author's name, or the name of the sequel.  Do you know how hopeless it is to search the internet for a book called The Ark that is NOT about Noah???  Pretty hopeless.

And then one day, a few months ago, a new acquaintance casually mentioned that Purple House Press had released this book.  I went tingly with hope.  Was this the same book called The Ark that I remembered???  I investigated.  It certainly sounded like the same book!  So, I ordered it, and the sequel.  And then, over the past few weeks, I read The Ark aloud to my kids.  And it is definitely the same book I remember from thirtyish years ago!!!

The Ark is about a mother and her four children in postwar Germany of the late 1940s.  They are refugees from Pomerania (a region of Germany next to Poland) living in West Germany and waiting for their father to be released from a Russian prisoner-of-war camp in Siberia.  Matthias and Margret, the oldest siblings, find work at a farm outside the town where they have been relocated.  They gradually fix up an old train car on the farm for the whole family to live in.  Meanwhile, their mother takes in sewing to help support the family, and younger siblings Andrea and Joey attend school and make friends and have adventures.

This is an amazingly heartwarming and hope-filled book, especially considering it is based on the author's own experiences after WWII.  As soon as I finished reading this book aloud, my kids insisted I begin reading the sequel right away instead of reading something else in between.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Well, what about you, Margret?" Mother asked, taking her daughter's hands in hers.  As she did so, she felt how hard and rough those delicate child's hands had become.  But this did not trouble her; she knew that calloused hands are good for getting a firm grip on life" (p. 163).

The human beings, too, withdrew within the house and within the shell of their own selves.  After the intense activity of summer and hares there followed the time of quiet contemplation, of gathering forces, though within it the stirrings of the next spring were already present (p. 210).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for discussions of death (including a sibling who died during the war), war, and imprisonment that might be too intense for young readers.  No cussing, smut, or on-page violence.

This is my 34th book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.  It's also the first book finished from my #25for25 list.

Reading Goals Past and Future

I've got a bit of time this evening, so I'm ready at last to look over my reading goals from 2024, and set some for 2025.

I set myself the goal of reading 55 books in 2024, and I read 68, so hooray!  I didn't just meet, I exceeded that goal!

I wanted to read 48 books off my shelves for the 2024 Mount TBR Challenge.  I failed.  I did read 41 books that I owned this year, but only 28 of them counted for that challenge because their rules insist they have to be books you owned before the beginning of the year.  Oh well.

I joined the #DisneyOriginsBookClub2024 on Instagram again this year, but I quit after the first couple of months because I simply had less reading time this year!  A lot of that is due to my younger daughter's ballet lessons now overlapping with my older daughter's gymnastics lessons, so I spend a lot of time driving between those instead of sitting and reading while I wait/watch.

Also, I don't have a photo here to illustrate this, but I participated in the #JaneAustenDeepDive2024 reading group on Instagram this year.  I read all six of the annotated editions of Jane Austen's major works (edited by David M. Shapard -- one review still to come) and had a wonderful time learning about Austen's works and world.  But those annotated editions are not light reading!!!  They soaked up a lot of my reading time.

I wanted to read twelve books for my fourth Classics Club list.  I read ten, so didn't really hit that goal.

I wanted to read twelve books about people substantially different for myself.  The image here only shows eleven, but I realized after I took these photos that I left two books off, so I actually read thirteen for that list! 

Back in 2023, I decided to read all of the Sackett books by Louis L'Amour over the course of 2023 and 2024.  I read the Sackett short stories included in War Party and End of the Drive at the very end of December, thereby completing that goal!  You can read my reviews of all the full Sackett novels under the label My Years with the Sacketts.

I absolutely loved the Sackett books.  I've become a firm L'Amour fan over the past two years, and I am particularly fond of Tell Sackett, though I very much like quite a few of the other Sacketts too.

Now for my 2025 goals!

Once again, I want to read at least 55 books.  That's slightly more than one a week, and even when I have "low" reading years, I can still manage that, so I like that goal.  Achievable, but not inconsiderable.

I am NOT setting myself a goal of numbers of books to read from my TBR shelves for the first time in years.  I will read what I read.  My house will be full of books.  I like that life.  Time to stop obsessing over how many books I own and haven't read yet -- I think keeping a careful count of them for the past few years has actually made me buy MORE books, oddly enough.

Once again, I want to read twelve books for my fourth Classics Club list, and I aim to read twelve books about people who are substantially different from myself in some way.

And I have a new challenge for myself this year!  I'm joining Andy at @places_and_books in picking #25for25 -- 25 specific books I want to read this year.  From my list above, 8 are rereads and 17 are books I haven't read before.  I like that mix.  

How about you?  Have you set yourself some bookish or reading goals for this year?  Share a link if you've blogged about them!