2018 Reading Goals

It's that time of year! Time to share my reading goals for the new year. I spent a large chunk of 2017 working on these, adding things, removing things, changing the numbers, but I still feel like they're not complete. I just can't decide what's missing. So, like last year, I'll likely be adding items mid-way through the year as the mood strikes. But for now, we'll go with this.

2018 Reading Goals

 

Emphasis: Read current.

I really want to get better at reading the current books while they're current. My biggest goal this year takes this into account.

 

1. Re-read Pride and Prejudice.

I read a Jane Austen novel each year, and since I finished the rotation last year, I'm starting over again with the first Austen book I read, Pride and Prejudice. I cannot wait.

 

2. Begin Prose Works. Finish if possible.

I try to read a spiritual book each year, and since I've never read Mary Baker Eddy's Prose Works, I think it's time. This is a collection of her letters to the Christian Science churches, addresses, and various other works that I've never read in its entirety. Being a large book, and wanting to savor and pray over the content, this one will likely be a yearlong endeavor, and I won't be upset if it continues into next year.

 

3. Read 50 books published in 2017 and 2018.

This is really my main goal for the year. So often I put off reading a book or feel like I can't read something new when so many books have been waiting for months. This will, hopefully, bring my reading up to date while still leaving plenty of room for books written before 2017.

4. Read 30 modern classics or high-profile books. [began July 2017]

This is a continuation of a goal I made in July of last year, setting the number at 20 or 25. I finished 16 in the last part of 2018, so I have upped the number to 30. Some possible titles: The Age of Innocence, Endurance, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Station Eleven, and some poems by Robert Frost.

5. Read 10 chunksters.

I have way more than 10 chunksters on my "must read" list, so here's hoping I can get to them all. Some will be read on audio, I'm sure. Some possibilities: Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques; Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat; Bunny Mellon; and Jackie, Ethel, Joan.



6. Re-read 5 books.
I did very little re-reading last year, and I really want to revisit some of my favorites from the past, so I'm making a goal of reading at least five. I think Wuthering Heights and Angela's Ashes will be two of them.

7. Abandon 5 books.

This is a new goal I've never tried before, but I need to get better about leaving a book when it disappoints me. I shouldn't suffer through any book, no matter the reason.

8. Read 1,000 poems.

I believe this is the third year for this goal. Last year I read nearly 2,700 poems, but I don't anticipate getting anywhere near that this year. One thousand will be fine.

9. Read 100 books.

I toyed with making this 150 to match my 2017 book count, but I don't want the pressure. Who knows where my reading will take me? Still, I think 100 is doable for me.

10. Read 50 picture books.

This is always on my list of goals. I generally read 80 or 100 or more, but I want to read at least 50 to keep in touch with what's popular in picture books.

11. Read the Sentinel.

My church puts out three periodicals (four, actually, but one is for speakers of other languages), and we are meant to read them all. I diligently read one, the monthly Christian Science Journal, and now I'm adding a second, the weekly Sentinel. No doubt it will bless me, and I really enjoy pulling out my periodicals in the evening and seeing my husband follow suit.

12. Write something (almost) every day.

This might be my yearly fail. I'm trying journaling again. I made it into June, writing every day, in 2016, but then an event happened that I didn't know how to write about, and I got backed up, and I eventually abandoned my journal. But I really loved doing it. I'm working on making this a doable daily task by lowering expectations. Short, pithy entries, for one; not having to capture everything for another; and writing about world and national events as well as personal ones. We're living in interesting times, and I for one would like a record of them.

I normally include a bunch of book covers that I plan to read, but since this year's reading will be led by what will be published, it's hard to predict what I'll read. It will be an interesting year.

What are your goals, reading an otherwise, for 2018? Put your link in the comments.