Why I’m Not Reading 52 Books in 2025
My New Year musings on reading goals
Let’s get one thing straight before I get into it: I love a reading goal. My little Type A, academic-overachiever brain loves to neatly tick off my list, getting closer and closer to sweet sweet victory.
Not only do I track my books in StoryGraph; I also have a separate Google Sheet where I track things like author demographics, sources, and how many days it took me to read a book. I’m known to make pivot tables to see if I read different genres faster than others. I recalibrate deadlines when I fall behind my one-book-a-week schedule. The organization of it all scratches an itch in my brain that has been hard to reach since graduating college.
And let’s be honest, it’s not just about personal achievement for me. It’s also about getting to brag about the goal. I love to tell strangers and coworkers and friends that I am trying to read 52 books this year. I love to post on my Instagram story every time I finish a book. I love it when people slide up to ask me what I thought about a recent read or to recommend something.
Everything about a reading goal slots perfectly into my ENFJ mind.
And yet.
I’m not sure I’m actually accomplishing what I want by setting an ambitious reading goal.
For one, I often can’t tell you anything about a book I just read. I’m so quick to jump into the next one that I don’t take any time to reflect on what I just consumed. You’ve probably heard me say I don’t like to rate books (and maybe I really don’t), but at least part of that has to do with not sitting with a book long enough to decide what I really thought of it.
It also informs how I choose which books to read, in a way that often doesn’t serve me. I read nonfiction significantly slower than fiction. I know I can’t finish a nonfiction book in a week, so I don’t even try, despite the large number of interesting books on race, politics, and sustainability that fill my physical bookshelf. I also find that I shy away from longer books, and I struggle to stop reading a book that I’m not enjoying because I don’t want to have wasted my time. This is especially pronounced toward the end of the year, when you’ll see me gobbling down short books and mindless romances like they’re rolls at a holiday dinner - possibly tasty, but not exactly enriching, especially consumed rapidly in large quantities.
Yes, having an ambitious reading goal occasionally gives me the motivation I need to choose reading over another activity (like binge-watching the latest season of Grey’s Anatomy). I think a good goal should be a reflection and a reminder of your priorities, and for many years, having the north star of reading 52 books has encouraged me to live into my values of lifelong learning and curiosity.
But this year, I’m setting my sights a little differently. Instead of trying to read 52 books, I have two reading goals on my 2025 bingo card. (Yes, it’s an actual bingo card - maybe that’s my next Substack post?)
Reading Goal #1: Read 12 nonfiction books.
At the end of 2024, I used the rest of my professional development budget from work to order a lottt of books from Bookshop.org (one of my favorite B Corps), so I have lots to work with here. I’m excited to dive into books like Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Pleasure Activism by adrienne maree brown, Intersectional Environmentalist by Leah Thomas, and more. I want to expand my mind this year to become a better citizen, colleague, and human being.
Reading Goal #2: Read 1 book in Spanish.
This was also a goal I had for 2024, and despite sounding very reasonable at the time, I didn’t make it through more than a chapter. I gave up on investing time into this halfway through the year because it was taking away from my bigger goal of reading 52 books. I’m excited to dive into this one for real this time.
And a sub-goal: No buying new books until I’ve read everything on my shelf.
I know, avid reader friends. This one sounds crazy. But I’ve actually had this quiet goal for the past several years, and I stick very close to it! I allow rare exceptions if I need a book for a book club that I absolutely can’t borrow in time or if I want to support a local bookstore or a secondhand shop. As evidence that I practiced this pretty well in 2024, 40 of the books I read were from Libby or the library. Four were Spotify audiobooks, one was from Kindle Unlimited, and 5 of them were *questionably downloaded. I read one that I had bought secondhand and one new. I’m excited to keep this one up as I continue to focus on conscious consumerism as much as possible!
I’ll admit, it feels a little jarring to be entering the new year without an overall reading goal. I still care about reading fiction, and I want to explore new worlds through literature this year. I worry that I’ll struggle to prioritize that if I don’t have an overall reading goal. I’m prepared to be proven wrong in this decision, and to get back on the horse next year (or even midway through this year). But I also trust that I read because I love to read, and that the joy of it will be the reason I pick up fiction books this year.
And just this morning, as I was lacing up my shoes for a chilly morning walk, I queued up an episode of a podcast, rather than feeling like I needed to jump into my first audiobook. I’m hopeful that this freedom will continue to open up new pathways for learning & exploration & curiosity, and I’m excited to share about it along the way.
Something that has helped me a lot with the issue of not remembering what I've read is keeping a physical reading journal where I write down reviews/thoughts/especially quotes I liked!