Reflecting on reading in 2025:
It’s not even the end of the first full week of the new year and I already feel “behind” somehow, which, logically, is quite frankly ridiculous. I’m partially blaming it on the current state of the online world, where everything happens at lightening speed and is constantly changing—sometimes it all just gets to be too much.
In 2025, I found this same warped mentality bleeding into my reading life, turning it into a competition (with myself and others) that only I was aware of, instead of the relaxing hobby it’s meant to be.
2025 was also a year where my reading tastes took some dramatic shifts from the previous years, not only in the genres and types of stories I was enjoying, but also in my reading habits and what I considered important.
I’ve never been that much into social media and always considered myself apart from its corrosive effects—but actually that wasn’t true. I found myself, especially in the later half of 2025, having an alarming attention deficit. Scrolling was severely impacting my ability to enjoy reading, and that was one realization that truly scared me.
I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember and have always considered it as a part of my identity. So, naturally, not having the drive to do it anymore was a terrifying dilemma.
I used to find any moment possible to pick up a book. I’d spend all day at work wanting nothing more than to be reading. And once I was sat in my comfy space, I could sit for hours turning pages not once getting distracted by anything. Now, I can’t even read five pages without thinking about checking something on my phone.
Once I noticed these trends and began to conceptualize what was happening, I knew I needed to make some changes in my reading life.
What happened to that girl who was never without a book in her hand and stayed up way too late for just a few more pages… how can I become her again?
Making changes in 2026:
2026 is the year of prioritizing critical engagement, enjoyment, and going deeper with stories. No longer am I tracking arbitrary statistics or following popular trends.
I am giving myself permission to focus on reading slower, reading bigger books, and spending more time with books that will have a lasting impact on me—intentionality driving my choices. I want my reading life to be primarily concerned with what I’ve gained from the stories I’ve read, not for the simple fact of having read something.
I also want to allow myself to re-read books, something that I struggled with previously because they wouldn’t “count” for a reading goal or because it was taking up time for something new. I believe we get so much more from a book once we’ve read it a few times. I want to engage more deeply with stories, focusing on connection not consumption, and building a library full of experiences.
I want to slow down and take more time with my reads, tackle some chunky epics, and engage with what I read beyond the page.
These are the condensed thoughts of everything I’ve been stewing over for the past several months. If any of this resonates with you, you’re in great company here.
2026 reading goals:
1. Read less than 150 books.
I am giving myself permission to read slower and more critically, providing myself the much needed encouragement to pick up some of the intimidating tomes sitting on my shelves. After reflecting on the amounts that I read in the past five years, and how I felt about it, I decided on this number as a happy medium between feeling accomplished and slowly savoring. Instead of making this goal about reaching a certain number, I’m framing it as a cap to my reading instead. It’s a small mindset shift that will hopefully get rid of the constant stress of thinking about having to make a quota.
2. Journal reviews for 100 books.
I love keeping an analog reading journal. It’s a fun, relaxing hobby that also allows me to reflect on what I’ve read. I have let this aspect of my reading life fall to the wayside, so I want to make it a priority in 2026 and make the time to bring journaling back into my life. I loved book reports in school (Is that weird?) and I want to find the joy in it again. While I find it easy to take notes while reading and give my initial feelings and reactions, I noticed that I stopped taking the time to reflect after the fact, always rushing to the next book. I want to use this as a way to improve my critical thinking skills, and the ability to articulate my thoughts and opinions in a coherent manner.
3. Annotate 50 books.
The act of physically annotating in a book (highlighting and writing in the margins) is the most engaged I can be with a story. I want a home library full of these snapshots, keepsakes, and conversations that I’ve had with a text—not just pretty trophy shelves of perfectly aesthetic, pristine books. An added bonus as a stationary enthusiast, I love getting to use all the supplies. I once asked for school supplies for Christmas as a kid—now that’s definitely weird and I should probably never mention it again to anyone ever.
4. Be active in the bookish community.
I want to put myself out there more, make genuine connections with other readers, and grow a supportive community. I LOVE talking about books! I love hearing about other people’s experience with a book and what they got out of it. As an introvert with no IRL reading friends, I want to make an effort to reach out more in the online book space and find others who enjoy discussing books as much as I do.
5. Read the 2026 Women’s Prize and Booker Prize Longlists.
Throughout the previous year, I became interested in the larger literary world and the books getting critical acclaim. I want to be an active participant in the conversations surrounding these books and what makes them so impactful for readers. This year will be the first time that I attempt to read an entire prize nomination list. I can’t wait to create and share content about my experience as a newbie prize reader.
6. Complete the 2026 Deep Reading Challenge.
This is a challenge I’m setting for myself this year, focused on reading deeply and engaging with a book. Reading deeply (I’ve also seen this referred to as “active reading.”) allows you to process meaning, structure arguments, and develop strategy for retention and understanding—all of which are important if you want to talk about books with others.
The goal of this challenge is to pick one book for each month that you are going to prioritize reading deeply. I’ve picked my twelve books to deep dive into for 2026, which I’d be happy to share more about if you are interested.
To help me complete this challenge, I’m going to be working on fixing my attention span as well. Remove all the distractions, play some classical/lo-fi, light a candle, get comfy, and set a Pomodoro timer for 50 minutes. I’d like to set a goal to complete a certain number of these sprints per day/week but I haven’t figured out exactly how to formulate that goal yet, something I’ll be experimenting with this month.
And that’s a wrap on my reading plans for this year.
As for my personal goals in 2026, I may do another post talking about those, we’ll see if it seems like something worth sharing. I can say for now though that I’ve decided to shift my mindset with this as well. I used to need to have everything ready and figured out so I could hit the ground running on January 1st. This year, however, I’m allowing myself the grace, time, space in this slower, winter month to reflect and plan.
I’d love to hear what some of your reading goals are for 2026!
Let me know in the comments below!
