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!

Reading Goals Behind and Ahead

I had a few goals for my reading life in 2023.  The same sort I usually have, like clear off my TBR shelves some more, read some classics, read diversely, and so on.  Here's how I did with my 2023 reading goals:

Overall Goal

I aimed to read 55 books in 2023.  I read 96.  Yay!

Classics Club

I wanted to read at least twelve books from my fourth Classics Club list.  I read fourteen!  You'll find all their reviews on that page or right here.

Diverse Reading

I wanted to read at least twelve books by or about people who are different from me in some significant way.  I read fifteen!  You can find reviews for most of them right here.

#TheUnreadShelfProject2023

I had twin goals of reading at least 50 books from my TBR shelves AND whittling down the number of unread books on my shelves to 450.  I read 61 books from the to-be-read books I own, but I only got the number of unread books on my shelves down to 491.  Well, that's still better, anyway.

My Years with the Sacketts

I set myself the goal of reading all nineteen Sackett books by Louis L'Amour over the course of 2023 and 2024.  I have read the first nine, so I am confident I can finish them all by the end of 2024.

Now for my 2024 reading goals!

Overall Goal

I like the number 55.  I'm keeping that for my goal.

Classics Club

Twelve seems like a good number here.  But I'll give myself some wiggle room in my bullet journal, just in case.

Diverse Reading

I also like aiming for twelve for this goal.  But, as you can see, I'm also giving myself room for more than that in my bullet journal.  Just in case!

Mount TBR

Because the Unread Shelf Challenge has come to an end, I am once again joining the Mount TBR Challenge from My Reader's Block.  I am aiming for the Mount Ararat level, which means reading 48 books from my TBR shelves -- but only books I already own by January 1, 2024, will count.  This makes it much more challenging, so we'll see how that goes!  I'm going to continue keeping track of how many books I buy and how many I take off my shelves, too, even though those aren't part of the Mount TBR challenge.

Disney Origins Bookclub

This fun reading challenge has returned to Bookstagram!  I want to read the four fairy tales that are scheduled, plus at least three of the books.  To learn more, and/or join, click here.

Jane Austen Deep Dive 2024

This is another Bookstagram reading group challenge -- we're going to read all six of Jane Austen's major works together, but very slowly.  I aim to read all of them, specifically the annotated editions.  To learn more about that, and/or join, click here.

My Years with the Sacketts

I have ten Sackett books by Louis L'Amour left to read for this personal challenge!  My teen son has been reading them as I finish them, which has been such a great experience for us both, giving us lots of wonderful heroes and heroines to talk about.

That's all for this year!  How about you?  Do you set reading goals?  Participate in challenges, or make your own?  Do tell!

Reading Goals -- Completed and Begun

Somehow, it's already January 11 and I haven't written any wrap-up posts for my 2022 reading OR declared what my plans for this year are.  Oops!  Time to rectify that.  

First, let's look at my goals from last year.

Overall Goal

I kept my reading goal at 55 last year.  That's just over one book a week, and I know I generally read at least that many.  In 2022, I read 103 books!  

My Year with Irene Kelly

I decided I wanted to reread the four Irene Kelly mysteries by Jan Burke that I had read previously, and then read the rest of the series too.  And I succeeded!  Well, basically.  I did not read the final book because it revolved around the disturbing serial killer from an earlier book that I had absolutely loathed.  In fact, I disliked that earlier book so much, I didn't even review it on my blog.  I decided I just didn't need to read more about that icky character, so I stopped with book ten.  But I still consider that challenge completed because I chose not to read the last book, I didn't just run out of time or oomph.

You can read my reviews for those books right here.

#TheUnreadShelfProject2022

My goal for last year was to get my unread book collection down under 500 books.  I started out with 512 books, I read 65 books from my TBR shelves... and I ended up with 499 unread books.  So, the good news is, I DID get down under 500 books, but the bad news is that I only barely managed that.  I really need to stay away from used bookstores, heh.

The Disney Origins Book Club

I joined a year-long challenge on Instagram to read books that Disney movies have been based on.  I wanted to participate in at least six months, and I managed seven, so yay!  Those seven were:

• "The Snow Queen" and "The Little Mermaid" by Hans Christian Andersen
• The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
• Bed-Knob and Broomstick by Mary Norton
• Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
• "Beauty and the Beast" and "Cinderella" collected by Andrew Lang
• Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
• Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

Diverse Reading

I set myself the goal of reading at least 12 books by or about people with a different ethnicity, culture, or background from my own.  And I succeeded!  I reviewed most of them here, and you can read those reviews here.

A few fun stats:

103 books read, total 

29 rereads 

2 nonfiction 

12 diverse reads 

8 manga

7 read aloud to my kids 

1 audiobook

Now for my 2023 reading goals!

Overall Goal

I'm keeping this at 55.  It's manageable, and I get a big kick out of surpassing it.

Diverse Reading

Once again, I want to read at least 12 books by or about people who are significantly different from myself somehow.

Classics Club

I want to read at least 12 books from my fourth Classics Club list.

#TheUnreadShelfProject2023

My goal this year is to get my unread book count down to 450.  This is ambitious, but I like challenges.

My Years with the Sacketts

I have spent a few years collecting up all the Louis L'Amour books about the Sackett family, and I have them all now!  There are nineteen books in all, so I don't expect to read them all in 2023 -- instead, my goal is to read ten this year and nine next year.  I plan to read them in chronological order, not in publication order.  Or, at least, in the chronological order I found online -- I guess some people disagree about what order they go in, so I'll just do my best.

Do you set reading goals?  Do you share them?  If so, leave a link and I'll check them out!

"Peter Pan" by J. M. Barrie

It's been years and years since I read Peter Pan, and I was overdue for a reread.  In fact, I've never read it as an adult. That made it rather a different experience, I must say.

As a kid, I saw this as a story about the wonders of staying young forever and the meanness of adults who force kids to grow up.  But I don't think that's Barrie's point at all.  I think his point is that, as we mature into adulthood, we start to see the world as it really is, and we discover that the real world isn't nearly as scary or perilous as we imagined it as a child.

Neverland is the combined imaginations of Wendy, John, and Michael, and everything is fairly frightening there.  Roving bands of pirates try to kidnap you, roving bands of Indians try to kill you, beasts are always trying to eat you up, mermaids laugh at you behind your back, and pixies irritate you whenever they can.  Doesn't that sound like a child's idea of the hardships of adulthood?

The thing is, when Wendy grows up, she discovers adulthood is sweet, rewarding, and enjoyable.  But Peter Pan is perpetually afraid of adulthood, so he remains perpetually a child... but he never learns the truth and never learns his fears are baseless.  

(From my Instagram)

I think Barrie is also reminding us that we need to let kids be kids and not try to force them to be little adults.  They'll imitate adults for fun, and that's great, but if you try to push them into maturity before they're ready for it, you'll scare them.

In the end, I liked this book a LOT better than I was expecting to.  I thought it was going to make me sad because I've had to become an adult despite my best intentions... but instead, it made me happy I'm no longer a fearful child.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for killing, fighting, danger, and suspense.

This is my seventh book read and reviewed for my fourth Classics Club list.

"Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers

I liked this book SO MUCH BETTER than I did when I was a kid!  I read two or three of the original Mary Poppins books by P. L. Travers when I was young, and I just didn't find them very fun.  And I found parts of them downright creepy.  Or bizarre.  Or dark and weird.  I much preferred the Disney movie.

Don't get me wrong -- I still love the Disney movie.  But this book makes me laugh aloud multiple times now!  I used to think Mary Poppins in the book was kind of mean, and she IS much sterner and less cuddly than Mary Poppins in the movie.  But now, as an adult, I just see her as a woman tasked with caring for other people's children who has no use for fools and no time to waste.  She's not mean, she's just busy and tired.  And funny, but not in a way that kids would get.

I also love how you can kind of read the magical parts of this book two ways.  You can take them the way Disney does -- as magical events caused by a magical person.  Or you can take them as adding imagination and wishing to ordinary events.  Do they all really have a tea party floating in the air, or did they just have so much fun laughing and telling jokes and laughing some more that they felt like they were floating?  Did Mary Poppins and her friend Bert really jump through a painting and have a free picnic in Fairyland?  Or did they make up a fun "pretend we're doing that" story together because neither of them had enough spare money to go have tea in a shop?  That absolutely fascinated me, and I LOVED IT.

Particularly Good Bits:

"Don't you know," she said pityingly, "that everybody's got a Fairyland of their own?" (p. 32).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG because that part where Mrs. Corry snaps off her fingers and feeds them to children is really creepy, even if you tell yourself she's pretending to do it and giving them cookies instead.

This is my fiftieth book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list!!!  I am finished again!!!  Look for a wrap-up post about that soon.

"Pollyanna" by Eleanor H. Porter

I was a teen when I last read Pollyanna.  I worried a little, this time, that I would see a lot of flaws in it, or be less enchanted by the book as I used to be.  People these days like to turn their nose up at it and call it unrealistic and goody-goody and blah blah blah.  What if I'd gotten old and it just didn't work for me anymore?

Um, yeah, I inhaled the book in two days.  It absolutely engrossed and charmed me.  I pity the jaded folks who find this book saccharine or treacly or whatever.  It does not offer a trite "spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down" philosophy.  But it does show that attitude and perseverance can make a difference in how people endure -- or do not endure -- hardships. 

This book does not flinch away from hardships.  Pollyanna's mom died when she was tiny, and now her dad has died too.  She travels across the continent to live with an aunt who does not hide the fact that she does not want this child.  Pollyanna is told not to mourn her beloved father because her aunt didn't like him.  She's told with words and actions that her aunt does not want her or like her, but is only taking her in out of a sense of duty.  Not even out of pity, much less kindness, but only duty, like paying taxes.  Porter never writes as though those trials don't hurt this girl.  She shows us a forlorn child who cries, who mourns, who trembles in fear, and who desperately wants to be loved and cared for.  But she also gives her heroine a loving father who, before he died, taught this girl a valuable truth: attitude matters.

Yes, Pollyanna strives to find something to be glad about in every situation.  And she teaches everyone around her the "glad game," from a crabby invalid to a reclusive crank to a fellow orphan.  The only person she can't teach it to is her aunt, because her aunt has forbidden Pollyanna ever speaking of her dead father.  Then, something tragic happens, and Pollyanna has to learn her game over again.

Some people seem to think Pollyanna Whittier is an Anne Shirley rip-off?  Well, I mean, it's true that Pollyanna is an orphan girl taken in by someone who doesn't want her at first.  She's cheerful and makes friends easily.  But that's all the similarity I can see.  Stories about orphans overcoming adversity were a HUGE trend in the early twentieth century.  I think Pollyanna has a little more in common with What Katy Did by Susan Coolidge -- particularly the big adversity that both Pollyanna and Katy must grapple with.

Anyway, I loved rereading this book.  I'm so glad I joined the #DisneyOriginsBookclub on Bookstagram this year, because it got me to pull this off my shelf!  And then, about a day after I finished reading it, I fell while roller skating and broke my arm.  I have lots of chances to play the Glad Game now!  I'm glad I only broke one arm.  I'm glad I didn't break a leg.  I'm glad it was me and not one of my kids.  I'm glad my husband was right there to get me to the ER.  I'm glad it was me and not my husband because he couldn't work with a broken arm.  I'm glad my kids are done with school for the summer.  I'm glad this didn't happen when my kids were really little.  And on and on and on :-D

Particularly Good Bits:

"He said if God took the trouble to tell us eight hundred times to be glad and rejoice, He must want us to do it" (p. 160).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: G.  Clean and lovely and uplifting.  Suitable for all ages!

This has been my 45th book read for my third Classics Club list!  Getting close to that magical 50 again!

"Bed-Knob and Broomstick" by Mary Norton

I've never been a big fan of the Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971), though I do like the part at the end when they animate all the suits of armor and send them into battle.  I've always wondered if that inspired J. K. Rowling when she was writing the Battle for Hogwarts.  Anyway, I was kind of planning to skip reading this for the Disney Origins Bookclub, since I don't care much for the movie.  But then I saw it was written by Mary Norton, who also wrote The Borrowers, and I love those books, so I decided to give it a try.

I liked this book SO much better than the movie!  It's whimsical and sweet and fun.  It's actually two novellas combined, "The Magic Bed-Knob" and "Bonfires and Broomsticks."  I liked the latter much better than the former, mostly due to the presence of a wannabe wizard from the Middle Ages who was sweet and hapless.  

In "The Magic Bed-Knob," three children discover that a woman who lives near the aunt they're staying with for the summer... is actually a witch in training.  Sort of.  She doesn't do much magic, though she does have a really cool stuffed alligator.  But she can do some, and she enchants a knob from the end of one of their beds so that it will take them wherever and whenever they want.  The children promptly go gallivanting off on small adventures that tend to turn out rather badly... but not TOO badly.  Then they have to go home again to London after the summer is over.

"Bonfires and Broomsticks" concerns a later summer when the children actually go stay with their witchy friend for the summer, expecting more adventures, only to find she's given up trying to be a witch!  She even got rid of her stuffed alligator!  Buuuuuuuuuuuuut she didn't get rid of the bed or the bed-knob, and the children convince her more adventures would totally turn out fine.  Except, of course, they don't.  They bring a wannabe wizard back from the past, who falls in love with their witch friend, and then some rather dire things almost happen back in the middle ages, but don't.  And it all turns out reasonably well.

I really liked that the kids got into trouble when they disobeyed authority figures, but they were also clever and brave and resourceful enough to get through some pretty tense moments on their own.  The magic here is all of the obviously pretend variety, like Harry Potter or the fairy godmother in Cinderella, not teaching young readers how to do magic or anything like that.  It also is shown to be pretty dangerous stuff that really shouldn't be messed around with.

Overall, this gave me quite a few chuckles, and I wouldn't mind rereading it one day.

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for some dangerous situations and tense moments, including an incident where people almost get eaten by cannibals!

This has been my 37th book read and reviewed for my third Classics Club list.

"The Swiss Family Robinson" by Johann David Wyss

I read this with some friends on Instagram as part of the #DisneyOriginsBookClub last month, and it was such a fun trip down memory lane for me!  I read this several times as a kid, and I've seen the 1960 Disney movie dozens of times -- it's one my kids love now too.  But I haven't reread the book since my teens, so I was eager to revisit it.

I finished reading this right before we went to Florida on vacation.  My choice of attraction to visit in Disney World was the Swiss Family Robinson tree house, and it was awesome!  The pictures throughout this post are from my visit there.

A Swiss family -- Mother, Father, Fritz, Ernest, Jack, and Francis -- are stranded on a deserted island when the colonizing ship they were sailing on runs afoul of a giant storm.  Because that ship was meant for the establishment of a new colony, they have every conceivable tool and supply at their disposal.  They just have to ferry them to land from the shipwreck.  Also, because both Father and Mother are extremely resourceful and unbelievably knowledgeable, they have no trouble at all making a very fine new home on that deserted island.

One of the things I liked best about this book is how adamant the father (who is the narrator) is that they ask God to bless their every venture, and thank God for every blessing that befalls them.  You can tell that the author was a minister, and that he took his faith very seriously.

Besides being a minister, Johann David Wyss was an amateur naturalist and outdoorsman, and he made up this story as a series of bedtime stories for his sons, teaching them lessons about animals and nature, as well as survival skills and moral lessons.  He wrote the stories down eventually, but never shared them with anyone.  His son, Johann Rudolph Wyss (author of the Swiss national anthem!), eventually found his father's handwritten manuscript, spiffed it up, and submitted it to a publisher.  And it was a great success, way back in 1812.

All of that explains why this story is extremely episodic (because it was made up in little bits at bedtime, night after night) and occasionally pedantic (because it was meant to instruct the storyteller's sons).  Neither of those characteristics made the book unenjoyable for me in the slightest, but there were people in our reading group who found those aspects fairly off-putting, so YMMV.

Is this story far-fetched?  Totally.  Is it a rip-roaring good time?  Absolutely.  I really love stories of people building new lives with only what they have at hand, and that's probably due in a large part to this book.

By the way, the family's last name is NOT Robinson.  Their last name is never given, nor are the first names of the parents.  Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe was so popular when it came out in 1719 that it spawned an entire genre, called "robinsonade."  As this Wikipedia article explains, robinsinade stories are all about castaways surviving on deserted islands or in other remote and inaccessible places.  There were German robinsons and French robinsons and so on -- so the book's title means this is a robinson story about a Swiss family, not about story about a Swiss family named Robinson.

Now you know!

Particularly Good Bits:

With God's help, let us endeavour to live here contentedly, thankful that we were not cast upon some bare and inhospitable island (p. 20).

Everyone had the pleasant sensation which attends successful labour, as well as experiencing the joy of affording unexpected pleasure to others; and I especially pointed out to my sons how truly genuine happiness consists in that, rather than in mere self-gratification (p. 87).

But, in reality, the more there was to do the better; and I never ceased contriving fresh improvements, being fully aware of the importance of constant employment as a means of strengthening and maintaining the health of mind and body (p. 160).

And my great wish is that young people who read this record of our lives and adventures should learn from it how admirably suited is the peaceful, industrious and pious life of a cheerful and united family to the formation of strong, pure, and manly character (p. 237-38).

What can be more delightful than to find harmony of opinion in those we love when a great and momentous decision has to be taken? (p. 274)

"The whole earth is the Lord's, and where, as in His sight, you lead good and useful lives, there is your home" (p. 276).

If This was a Movie, I Would Rate It: PG for characters running into dangerous animals now and then.

This has been my 36th book read from my third Classics Club list.

Reading Goals Behind and Ahead

I always set a few reading goals for myself for the year, just to help me focus my reading a bit.  Since we're saying goodbye to 2021 and hello to 2022, it's time to see how I did with my goals for the past year, then talk about my goals for the coming year.  

(All photos are mine from my Instagram account.)

2021 Goals

Overall Goal

I set myself the goal of reading 55 books in 2021.  I read 110.  WHAT?!?!  That is more books than I've read in one year in my entire adult life.  Including the four years after college but before kids.  I think it's because, every week, my older daughter takes 90-minute gymnastics lessons, my younger daughter takes 30-minute swimming lessons,  and my son takes 1-hour fencing lessons.  Those are nice, regular chunks of time for me to spend with a book.

My Year with Harry Potter

I wanted to reread all seven original Harry Potter books in one year, and I did it!  And it was fantastically fun.

(No question who my favorite HP character is, huh?)

#TheUnreadShelfChallenge2021

I set myself the goal of reading 24 books off my physical TBR shelves.  When I hit that goal, I doubled it to 48.  My final numbers: 62 read, 65 unshelved... but also 112 new unread books acquired, so my total number of unread books went from 527 to 512.  Which is progress, but not huge progress.  Still, better than a stick in the eye.

Diverse Reads

I'm working on reading more books by and about people from different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, and abilities than my own, and I've challenged myself to read 12 such books a year.  That's roughly one a month, though it doesn't always shake out exactly that way. It keeps me mindful of reading about people who are different from me in some way.  I read 15 diverse books in 2021, so I definitely succeeded there.

(These candles are from Northanger Soapworks.)

Sense and Sensibility Read-along

I lead a chapter-by-chapter read-along of Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen here on my blog beginning in March and ending in May.  It was incredibly fun!  I'd missed leading read-alongs, even though they're pretty time-consuming, and I may try leading another this summer.  If you've got suggestions/wishes for that, let me know in the comments.

Overall, I am really happy with my 2021 reading!  I would like to have made better progress clearing out unread books... but the fault is in my buying more books, not in my reading, and I did hit my goals, so yay!

(All set to begin new reading adventures!)

2022 Goals

Overall Goal

I'm keeping this at 55 this year.  You never know, I may get weirdly busy or something.  That's a little more than one a week, so I like it.

(Um, yes, I love bookish candles.)

My Year with Irene Kelly

I started reading the Irene Kelly series by Jan Burke back in 2012.  I started with book nine by accident, then went back and read the first three... and then, well, book four was never in at my library branch, and I never remembered to put it on hold so I could get it from any of the other branches.  And then the library got rid of the whole series a few years later.  So I've been hunting them down at used book stores for years, and I finally gave up and got the rest from AbeBooks.  Which means I have all eleven of them now, and I'm going to read the whole series in the correct order.  Four will be rereads, but seven will count for my Unread Shelf Project, so that's a nice intersection of challenges.

#TheUnreadShelfChallenge2022

My new goal this year is simply to get myself under 500 unread books on my shelves, and then stay there.  Regardless of how many books I read.

(My bullet journal gives me a reason to buy stickers.)

Disney Origins Bookclub

Some Instagram friends are hosting a year-long buddy read project of lots of things that Disney movies are based on.  Check out #DisneyOriginsBookclub to learn more.  I won't be participating every month, but I want to do at least six of the reads.

Diverse Reads

Once again, I intend to try to read 12 books by and/or about people from ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds different from my own.

(The couch in our library, where I often curl up with a book.)

Here are some fun statistics:

110 books read, total

35 rereads

11 nonfiction

15 diverse reads

6 read aloud to my kids

6 audiobooks

1 e-book

How about you?  Got any bookish goals or hopes or dreams or plans?