Welcome 2025, I am so looking forward to delving into this year with you and achieving our reading goals!
2024 saw an upward trend for me, as I met my (adjusted) reading goal of 20 books before December! After 2023 low year of 13 books, I am stoked that I managed to read 7 more books. While it’s not as much as what I have read in previous years, but it’s the small things that count.
My goal of 40 book for 2024 was halved somewhere in June. Exactly the same time when I halved in 2023! A little spooky when I reflect on this. But to be fair with myself I was too ambitious (which is not a negative), and that’s OK, as it made me realise my current lifestyle doesn’t suit 40 books.
Stats
Books and Pages
During the year, my two biggest months for reading was May and October – which funnily enough, was when I went away on extended holidays. From this graph it makes me happy to see that there was not one month where I did not read! A vast improvement to previous years.
Genres
Regarding genres, I am not surprised that Fantasy and Romance are my biggest contenders. Interestingly, I am pleased to see that there has been an increase in the literary genre. Compared to 2023 where self help was my increased genre. It makes me wonder if I can try and add some more genres in 2025?
So what does that mean for me in 2025?
More genres, a mix of formats (physical, digital and audio) and shorter TBR timeline is on my 2025 bingo card. I know for many that mixing formats is the norm, however, for me, audio books are something I rarely use.
Therefore for 2025, I am going to aim for 25 books.
I am going to call this year my book variety year. It feels the right blend, introducing different genres with different formats could help me consume more – with hopes of reducing my TBR!
What do you think?
With my book buying ban in 2024, I managed to not buy any books for 7 months! Which for me is impressive – especially when I am at my core an impulse buyer.
I am tempted to stick with some sort of theme regarding my purchasing of said lovely books. While I couldn’t commit to a full year ban, I did see the value in not buying books for the sake of it. So I will shift back to a low buy year, rather than do a full book ban.
The parameters I am going around this low buy are:
- I will get a maximum of two books a month to purchase.
- If I don’t use up the two books quota, I can rollover the outstanding to next month.
- For the two books I buy, two books have to come off my shelf to be sold or donated.
My thought process is while I love to get new books, it’s nonsensical that I buy books with no space to put them. In 2024, I managed to get my exploding pile right down and I plan to have not pile in front of bookshelf by then end of 2025.
I took inspiration with this year’s approach from Becca and Books series called Shelves it or Scrap it. While her one is more detailed and extensive, her approach to trying and get her books off the ground and on to shelves is inspiring.
But seriously, what do you think? Have you set your book goals for 2025? If so, I would love to hear what you decided on.
Till next time.
Serefina
Wayward Reviews 
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