Time flew by this year; 2024 is already ending in just a couple more months. As we look ahead to 2025, this is the time when many are starting to plan out and think of different methods to try reading more or ideas to broaden their horizons. The method to do this? Creating a reading checklist tailored to your personal goals and interests. These lists can transform your literary journey into a more rewarding and possibly eye-opening experience. Some wish to explore uncharted territory and read new/different genres, or many aim to attempt to tackle the towering stack of unopened books in the corner of the room. In this article, we can help give you even more insight into developing a thorough plan for your reading year that will keep you both engaged and inspired! Read further if you want to embark on such a fulfilling reading adventure!
Set a Reading Goal
Perhaps you feel like you don’t read nearly as much as you would like to. Finding yourself spending less and less time curled up under a blanket flipping a page over. Set a certain number of books to read this year. Aim for a number higher than your usual end-of-year roundup. Perhaps 50 books or even 100! Plan out an hour or two out of your week to sit down and read that favorite book you’ve been itching to get your hands on lately.
Create A TBR List
Remember a book you’ve always had in the back of your mind but never got around to actually looking at? Or a particular book that’s been sitting on the shelf collecting dust that’s never been read yet? Make 2025 the year where you get around to picking up those books you’ve always been meaning to read. On this To-Be-Read list, consider also including any popular new releases or must-sees that interest you. Staying current with book release dates is always a good method to expand your reading list.
Explore New Genres
Are you stuck reading the same old genres with the same old boring tropes? Maybe a lot of the books you’ve seen lately have felt repetitive. If you wish to find that spark that comes with stumbling upon one of those jaw-dropping page-turners, consider a genre switch. Go for a genre that you typically avoid. Or perhaps a new modern genre you’ve never even heard of before. Check out new arrivals and staff picks at your local library or bookstore. Follow book blogs, social media, and newsletter for upcoming titles.
Set Monthly Themes
For a more exciting reading challenge to do this year that could be both creative and fun to plan out, assign coordinated themes to each month. Historical romance books for February or dystopian for July. You could coordinate it by the month and read strictly horror novels for October and explore more diverse authors in June. Both an exciting and innovative way that allows you to properly expand your reading adventure!
Keep a Journal
Many find it enjoyable to set a notebook aside when reading, where they can jot down their thoughts mid-read. In this journal, you can write down an entry on what you read that day with your opinions and ratings. Or just have a place to log some of your favorite quotes without highlighting them or putting a sticky note somewhere. It’s a perfect way to stop you from losing any quotes you may have forgotten about. Keeping your flow of thought in an organized, cute reading journal is a remarkable way to advance your literary journey! Looking back on your first impressions of a character or seeing just how many of your theories were wrong can make ending a book quite enjoyable, a very humorous experience
Evaluate and Reflect
At the end of 2025, you will have already explored uncharted genres and embarked on several reading challenges. This is where you can take the time to review. Reflect on your reading experience after everything you’ve read over the last 12 months. Which books or items were the most enjoyable for you, and find a way to incorporate them into your new goals for 2025.
Reading is an adventurous journey that can take your mind to faraway places and capture your attention fully in an almost musical way. That’s why keeping the spark and butterflies for books alive and well is so important! Creating such checklists can help aid this concern. Hopefully, some of these ideas were intriguing to you and can further advance your reading year!
Interested in exploring some reading challenges next year? Here are a few that should help you get through that TBR list. Read here to find out more!
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