Reading Goals for 2026

 If you ask anybody who knows me to name one of my favorite pastimes, they would most likely answer reading. 

I've enjoyed reading for as long as I can remember. Some of my earliest memories involve my mom and dad reading Dr Seuss's Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb Book to me. According to my ever-growing "books I've read" list on Goodreads, I've read roughly 752 books. I'm sure it's closer to 850, but I only started tracking in my late 20s, so all of the books I read as a teen, etc., are missing. 

Back in 2022, I found myself in a reading slump and barely got over 30 books read that year. That's abysmal! At the time, I usually averaged 50 books a year! I was very unhappy with my reading, but couldn't seem to find anything worth reading.  Then I stumbled across this challenge for reading 52 Books in 52 Weeks. For the next three years, I not only completed the challenge but exceeded it. I doubled my reading quantity!

The only downside to the challenge is that my TBR list grew three times larger, as well as the number of books I physically own. At last count, I own over 420 (not including digital), and there are a total of 598 books on my TBR. 

Which brings us to this year's reading goal. 

I want to read 100 books that I already own physically or digitally. I'm putting myself on a book-buying ban, well, minus my birthday and Christmas. I'm also not going to take part in the 52in52 this year. This is more because I'll be too tempted to buy new books to complete the challenge. 

So far, I've read 5 books for the year. Which puts me about two books behind to hit my goal, but I'll catch up and surpass that once I get through King Sorrow. I'm nearly done with it and have a couple of small fantasy novels lined up that I should be able to get through quickly.