Bookish Thoughts / General Books

Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading Resolutions (+ My Resolutions)

Dini @ dinipandareads22 Comments

Hello, hello and welcome back to my first Let’s Talk Bookish of 2021! 😍 It’s been just over a month since I joined in the discussions for this weekly meme and I honestly didn’t expect myself to jump back into it so quickly this year, but I’m going with the flow! Since it’s my first LTB, I’m going to be answering last week’s prompt but as always, you can find all info down below including the latest and future prompts.

Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme, hosted by Rukky @Eternity Books  & Dani @ Literary Lion, where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! You can check out these pages for more information on January 2021 prompts & a list of past prompts!

Now without further ado… The topic asks us about:

reading resolutions

(SUGGESTED BY M.T. WILSON @ THE LAST BOOK ON THE LEFT)
Examples: Do you set reading resolutions in the New Year? Are they helpful? Do you look back to see if you stuck to your goals? Do you ever feel pressured/stressed by these resolutions? Do you participate in the GoodReads challenge?

SETTING NEW YEAR READING resolutions GOALS

I have a pretty rocky relationship with resolutions and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who can say that. I generally love the idea of them and I love setting them but I’m also really good at not following through on them. 😂 I feel like ‘resolution’ is also quite serious a word to use when it comes to reading because it carries more pressure than let’s say the word ‘goals’. Does that make sense? Probably not…

But when it comes to reading I do set simple yearly goals and it’s something that I’ve always looked forward to doing! Honestly, prior to 2020 I only set myself one reading goal (Goodreads) but last year I took a bit of a leap and decided to add a few more to the list and I’m happy to say I did most of them 😊

are GOALS helpful?

Yes! I set these goals because they help to keep me motivated and I also use it as a reminder for what I want to do more. For example, the GR Reading Challenge goal helps me keep track of how much I’m reading but it also motivates me to actually keep reading. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they don’t like setting this goal because it makes it become too ‘competitive’ and while I do agree that some can make it that way, I don’t pay enough attention to other peoples’ numbers to consider it competitive. 😂 I like to challenge myself and see if I can read more than the previous year (so I guess in a way I’m competing against myself!) but I have fun with it and don’t put pressure on myself to do it. To keep the pressure low I also don’t set my goal way above what’s achievable (although of course it’s still a challenge!) and that’s totally okay too because I can add on to the goal as the year goes.

Aside from the Goodreads goal, last year I set myself additional bookish goals like “read more diverse, LGBTQ+ and own voices books” and then I found some reading challenges to help me keep track. I admit that when it came to challenges I did struggle (a lot) because (2020 but) I also felt more pressured especially if it was during a shorter time-frame. That said, it did help to keep this goal at the front of my mind whenever I had trouble choosing my next read.

Year iN REVIEW

One of the things I enjoy most about setting reading goals is looking back at the end of my year to see what I’ve achieved. While at times I have felt disappointed when I didn’t do as well as I hoped, I try to not let it get to me because reading is something I do for fun. It’s not a competition, I’m not going to be penalised if I don’t complete it, and once it gets to the point where I feel guilty or hounded by it, then maybe it’s time to take a break? 🤷🏻‍♀️

IT’S GOAL TIME!

On that note and speaking of goals, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about whether I want to set any this year and aside from the Goodreads Reading Challenge, which I think I will always set, I’ve decided to add a few more to my list again:

  • Read 150 books
  • Read more books by (South & Southeast) Asian authors
  • Read 50 books from my backlist and existing shelf (not including 2021 purchases)
  • Read 4 Non-Fiction books

What are your thoughts, friends? Do you set reading resolutions or goals? Did you set a Goodreads Reading Challenge goal this year? Do you find that setting goals helps your reading?

22 thoughts on “Let’s Talk Bookish: Reading Resolutions (+ My Resolutions)”

  1. I personally don’t set any concrete goals, because they tend to stress me out, haha. It’s great if they motivate others though! 🙂

    I do have some books I’d like to prioritize reading this year, so we’ll see how that goes!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I feel the same. I mean, I usually set very general no-numbers goals except for my GR challenge but I’m getting tired of seeing so many unreads piling up on my physical shelf 😂 Let’s see how that works for me this year! I hope you manage to read all the books you want this year 😊

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. Excellent post Dini, and good luck with your goals! I’m not competitive with reading targets – I like to test myself by not have too much pressure either. I am okay with bookish resolutions, but alas the TBR never seems to let up 😂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Thanks, Stephen! I definitely like to set goals to test myself too, rather than seeing it as a competitive thing. Haha, I think the TBR is never gonna let up especially at the rate so many amazing books are being published! Happy reading 😉

      Like

      Reply

  9. Oh I definitely think goals are helpful. I think if I were less of a depression and anxiety ridden person then I’d do better with them myself haha. When I fail to meet my goals I can’t help but be hard on myself!

    Like

    Reply

  11. I completely agree! I enjoy setting goals hoping they’ll motivate me a bit more and so I can look back at the end of the year to see how I did. But I try not to be too hard on myself if I don’t meet them. I’m loving your goal of reading 50 backlist books. Reading more off my own shelf is definitely one of my 2021 goals, too! Good luck! ❤

    Like

    Reply

  13. I love that we were both slackers last week that totally answered the previous week’s LTB. xD Great minds and all that. 😉 I’ve got the same relationship with resolutions, so I definitely prefer setting goals! It feels so much less daunting and more manageable.

    I love your goals! You’ve totally got this. 😀 150 books is really where I hope to be, but for the sake of my sanity, I’ve set my goal at 100, just in case grad school happens to be busier than I expect. xD

    Like

    Reply

  14. I always set very specific goals every year. I found out that when I made very generic goals, I didn’t commit much to it, maybe because if always felt very easily attainable if that makes sense. I found out that when I put a specific number on my goals, I’m more disciplined. Idk, I’m just weird. 😂
    Good luck with your goals Dini! I’m sure you’ll achieve them all. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to dinipandareads Cancel reply