Towards the end of 2021, I really rekindled my love of reading regularly and found myself immersing once again in the bookish community and honestly I love it here.
I’ve been a reader my whole life but, with everything going on in the world, I made a pact with myself to learn to slow down and take more time for simply enjoying my own company. With that, comes a lot of reading! I have taken this reading journey and given myself a couple of goals for what I’d like to achieve (bookishly) in 2022.
1. the famous Goodreads Challenge.
In 2021 I had managed to read 30 books but a good portion of that had been in the last few months when I’d found myself intentionally making more time for reading. With that in mind, this year I’ve chosen to aim for 36 books, which will average at around 3 per month. I think, given my previous reading tally’s, this is a realistic goal without it being too much pressure to read 24/7.
2. keep reading a wide range of mediums.
Towards the end of last year I finally tried out reading via audiobook! I had found Beth O’Learys ‘The Flat Share’ on BBC sound and opted to listening to it during a long road trip instead of music, only to absolutely love it. I think it’s a great way to absorb books and stories without having to physically sit and dedicate a chunk of time to reading (perfect for when I’m working, or have a migraine and can’t strain my eyes too much).
So this year I want to really try and keep reading in different formats. This doesn’t mean just audio, but also mixing up my physical and digital reading, too. I’d love this to lend myself to more graphic novels, manga and any other formats I can come across.
3. cut through my TBR and clean up my ‘currently reading’ pile.
As much as I love owning books, I’m not a rereader and there are only a couple of shelves worth of books and series that I keep hold of for myself and future lending. Therefore I’d really like to evaluate the continually growing book piles around my house and either read them or give them away to someone who will. There are many that I have held onto for years and just likely won’t be interested in reading anymore as my tastes have changed.
4. continue to use my local library, find local Free Little Libraries and enjoy Book Fairy days!
With this goal, I am essentially interested in staying present in the local bookish community.
I have really enjoyed the feeling of just going and browsing Libraries (local community ones and Little Free ones!), spending some time finding new books aside from what is trending online. It feels really nice to be out doing it and to support local establishments this way, too. And with Book Fairying - I’d like to give myself more regular days to hide books in my area for people to find and read, it really makes my day when I see a book I’ve left has been taken.
These things are almost like a date with myself - to spend the day at libraries, finding new reads, looking for spots to hide books, as well as being a pleasure to inspire others to read!
5. be active in the community.
This is quite similar to the above goal but relates to online too! I’ve made a lot of lovely friends and mutuals online in the book community and I’d love to keep growing that connection. As well as working on this blog, I’d like to keep being active on social media too and interacting with readers, authors, publishers etc.
I’d like to find readathons and challenges, too! One challenge I know I’m going to take part in this year is the #bookstitchalong2022 by Meg (@rhubarbooks).
How about you?
Do you have any goals for 2022, or maybe you’ve got some book club reading dates and challenges planned? I’d love to know.
Booksy Daisy,
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