Reading Goals For 2025

And two challenges I'm participating in.

Jan 27, 2025

For the past ten(ish) Januarys I have take some time to set a reading goal for the year. Many times my goal was a number of books read - most often 52, because 1 book a week seems like a nice round number.

But recently my goals are focused less on the number of books read and more on the quality of books I’m reading. I usually hit 52 books for the year, but I haven’t always been satisfied with the books that make up that number. My goals this year are focused on finding a balance of reading quality books that will stick with me and keeping my reading momentum going, while simultaneously not neglecting to share what I’m learning from my reading.

Sharing goals provides some accountability for me, and personally, I find enjoyment and inspiration in reading about others’ reading goals, and thought you might like to read about mine! So here we go.

2025 Reading Goals

One stiff book, one moderate book, one novel going at a time.

This is an idea I came across in some Charlotte Mason forum once upon a time, and it has stuck with me as something I need to implement. While I want to read books that are challenging and worthwhile, when I have too many challenging books going at once, it is very easy for me to lose my reading momentum. When my brain is tired at night, I need something easy. Having a balance of these three categories of books will help keep my reading high quality without losing steam.

Take more notes and applications to remember what I’ve learned from the books I read.

Especially for the “stiff” and moderately challenging books, I want to make sure the time spent reading them isn’t wasted - I want to remember and apply what I’m reading. I want to develop a habit of note-taking this year to ensure that these worthwhile books stick. I anticipate it will take some time to develop a system, so this will be a year of trial and error.

To read books I own.

I don’t own a ridiculous amount of unread books, but enough that it’s slightly embarrassing when someone peruses my shelves. I have four shelves on the bottom of my bookcases that hold all the unread books that I can’t let go of, because I would really like to read them someday - this is the year I want to make that happen! So for the reading challenges I’m going to discuss below, I’d like to fill out my categories with books I already own whenever possible.

To write a review post for every 3 books read.

This is a change in how I share books I’m reading on Substack and other places on the internet. Instead of monthly or quarterly book posts, I’d like to share a reading review post for every three books I read. To me, three is the minimum number of books to round out book posts, and having less books to talk about will give me more space to explore ideas or give a more thorough review. It also hopefully means more frequent posts on here!

(Note: Affiliate links below, to support my book habit, obviously, thank you.)

Challenges I’m Participating In

5x5 Challenge

A few years ago I came across the Schole Sisters 5x5 reading challenge - the idea is to choose five categories, and read five books within each category. You can read more about it here. Here are the categories I’m thinking about, and the books I’m considering in each category. If you have suggestions to fill these in, please let me know!

{Writing}

I have been writing online for over 15 years now, and I’ve gone through several periods where I feel my writing became a bit - sloppy. I think there is alot of room for writing improvement (there always is, isn’t there?), and so this category is about challenging myself to improve my skills. But the category is not just about writing as a craft, but about writing as a blessing to others in my real life, and to that end, I am also wanting to read books about handwriting itself, or writing letters, or any other topic that could fall under the umbrella of writing.

The Art Of Handwriting by Brenna Jordan
On Writing Well by William Zinsser
Tell It Slant by Brenda Miller
TBD
TBD

Other possibilities: Story Genius, The Glamour Of Grammar, How To Write Short, Improve Your Handwriting, The Art Of The Handwritten Note, The Missing Ink

{Homemaking}

My foremost job is that of a homemaker - creating a restful and loving home environment for my husband and kids is especially important to us as a homeschool and work-at-home family, since we spend so much time here. I want to gain insights on the importance of home, and also gain some practical tips and encouragement for keeping things running smoothly around here.

For The Family’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Mrs. Dunwoody’s Excellent Instructions For Homekeeping by Miriam Lukken
The Lifegiving Home by Sally Clarkson (I’ve tried to read through this book about four times now - perhaps this is the year I succeed, and if I don’t it’s probably time to give up on it.)
TBD
TBD

Other possibilities: Little Foxes, The Simple Home, Sink Reflections, Simplified Organization, How To Sew A Button And Other Nifty Things Your Grandmother Knew, Home Comforts

{Historical}

History is a big interest for me, and I want to read more historical non-fiction this year, since the bulk of my unread shelves are historical non-fiction. However, I am not making this category strictly non-fiction. Anything historical will do.

Other Possibilities: The Guns Of August, Jane Austen’s England, Democracy In America, Autobiography Of Theodore Roosevelt, 32 Christians Who Changed Their World

{Books About Books}

This is a flex category that may change over the course of the year. I am a bibliophile, so any books about the activity of reading, or about literature of any kind, will fit in this category.

Other Possibilities: Lit!, The Christian Imagination, Book Girl, The Read-Aloud Family, A Landscape Of Dragons

{Art & Music}

This is a category that could encompass books about works of art, artist biographies, or art tutorial books - I’m leaving it broad intentionally.

Other Possibilities: Van Gogh Has A Broken Heart, Terri Harrison’s Watercolor Secrets, Everyday Watercolor, Modern Drawing

The G3 Reading Challenge

I almost didn’t want to tackle this challenge this year, because there are a couple categories that are going to be really stretching for me (marked by an asterisk below) - but then, that’s rather the point of a reading challenge isn’t it? So these are the categories and my tentative picks for each one so far.

{A Book By Charles Or Susannah Spurgeon}

Probably A Book Of Spurgeon’s Sermons

{A Book About Health Or Nutrition}*

Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner’s Guide tO Remove Toxins From Your Life Without Adding Them To Your Personality by Emily Marrow (This is a really lightweight health book, so a little bit of a cheat, but that’s okay.)

{A Shakespeare Play}

Julius Ceasar (We will be reading this in our homeschool this Spring.)

{A Book About Quiet}

Quiet by Susan Cain

{A Novel}

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (I will 100% be reading many novels this year, but I’d like to challenge myself to read this one.)

{A Book From The Living Heritage High School Curriculum}

On Writing Well by William Zinsser

{A Book You Own But Haven’t Read}

(Any of the above will fit here.)

If I can stick to these reading plans, I think the quality of my reading will go up, and I am hoping to have alot more book posts to share here this year! If you’d like to follow along, I hope you’ll subscribe, and please leave me a comment about one of your reading goals this year. The comments and likes and subscribes make my day, truly!

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