2017 goals

I’ve already reflected on my favourite reads of 2016 but thought that before we get too far into the New Year, it would be good to take a look back at my reading year in general and check up on how well I achieved my goals before I set some new ones.

The first of my targets for 2016 was to read 100 books in total. By the end of December, I had in fact managed to get through 137, so that one gets a definite tick.

Next was a desire to try more non-fiction books. I read 22 in all, and when compared to the grand total of 1 that I read a year earlier, I’d say that’s a step in the right direction, and something I plan to continue.

I also said that I wanted to read more classics. I definitely upped my intake compared to previous years, but there are still a lot I want to get to, so this is an ongoing one.

Finally came a general aim to read diversely. I’m definitely content to say that I achieved that in terms of form and genre, reading an eclectic mix of novels, short story collections, poetry, non-fiction, graphic novels and a few plays, amongst other things. However, I don’t think you can ever really read diversely enough in terms of authorship, representation and ‘own voice’ literature, as it’s something we can all continuously seek out more of.

I suppose this brings me nicely to my first goal for 2017. I’ve seen a few ‘bingo’ style resolution charts, where each box has a reading task to be achieved, and you try and complete the chart by the end of the year. I loved the idea, but couldn’t find one that necessarily included all the areas I wanted to make sure I cover, so I put one together myself. (By all means, if anyone in search of some diverse reading goals wants to use the same chart, please feel free to do so.)

My diverse reading goals

There may well be some that I achieve several times over, but my reckoning is that if I can tick each one off at least once, that will be a minimum of 16 diverse reads covered. It’s the first time I’ve taken on a specific reading challenge like this and I’m excited to give it a go.

As for other reading goals, I’ve set my Goodreads reading target for 100 books again, and having managed to up my intake of both non-fiction and classics last year, the only real hole left in my reading is plays. I am very much still a believer that a play has to be seen to be fully appreciated, but not living in a big city like London, realistically I have to accept that the only way for me to enjoy most plays will be to read them, and I’d hate to feel I was missing out on some potentially amazing stories because I ‘don’t read plays’. This target was buoyed by the fact that my third favourite read of the whole of last year was in fact a play: Peter and Alice by John Logan; one of only 3 plays I read all year.

I look forward to hopefully discovering some new favourite books in 2017 and chatting about them here on the book-blogosphere. Last but not least, I thought I’d share all my 2016 monthly wrap up pics, so I (and anyone else who’s interested) can look back at all the books I read in one place, at a glance. If any titles or covers catch your eye and you’d like to know more, don’t hesitate to ask 🙂