2025 has been a whirlwind of a year, with many reading goals and habits in mind and most of them implemented, but whether or not they were successful remains to be seen. So, as we are arriving at the yer’s end, I figured now would be the best time to reflect on what reading goals and habits I picked up this eyar and how they panned out across the long, review-filled months. I will be referring mainly to my 2025 goals post which details my four key goals for 2025; no reading tally, more non-fiction book reviews, completing my physical tbr, and reading more for fun., but there are some more recent goals and habits I have thrown into the mix to get a kickstart on my 2026 habits. Without further ado, let’s get into it!

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the ‘no reading tally’, I make it a point to not count my reading for the year. I don’t want to feel stressed by not reaching a certain number, and back in 2023 I remember trying to force myself to hit a higher number of books even though I hit my goal for the year. It didn’t feel like I could actually enjoy my reading, and instead I had to keep on top of it like it was homework. So, in 2024, I decided enough was enough and did away with the reading count altogether. It was amazing, and I felt like I could actually read not only more variety, but more books thanks to how much freedom I had without the pressure of a count over my head.

In 2025, however, I feel like I took a little step back in terms of my reading enjoyment. From what I can tell, this is due to pressuring myself to post more in the latter half of the year. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to do in terms of posting, and that included a ‘reading dump’ every four months to get my excess reviews posted in a timely manner. It worked great in April, and even in August I felt I was managing well, even if I did end up reading the last week’s books a few days before posting each one. But here is where I pushed myself too far. In September, I did some more focused reading with specific genres that I wanted to challenge myself with, followed by my Spooktober posts, and now my December reading dump to close out the year. Safe to say, I am beat, and my reading if feeling forced to the point I am verging on reader burnout. I have already made some changes to the December reading dump to combat this, namely adding my discussions back into the loop. This has alleviated my worries about fitting in the books I ‘need to read’ (and I’m putting that in quotes because I don’t need to read anything, this is purely for pleasure). In a later post, I can talk more about its efficacy.

I have learnt a lot about myself as a reader in 2025, and that pertains to my non-fiction reading. I just don’t do it. I would love to learn more, but there is a divide between reading for pleasure and reading for knowledge that I seem to forget, and no matter how well-written these non-fiction books are, they don’t fit into my reading for pleasure schedule. The same goes for the classics – I just don’t find them enjoyable from a purely reading perspective, and I end up studying it with a critical literary eye which ruins the experience for me. So this is a goodbye to the goals of reading more non-fiction and classics. Someone will love you, but it isn’t me.

My physical TBR goal is one that I feel could extend into 2026 with no issue. I say this for two reasons; one, I bought The First Law series by Jow Abercrombie recently, adding another four books to my physical TBR list. Originally, asnoted in the December readin dump, I said I would be tackling my physical TBR and getting through the three fantays series I have on my shelves that I haven’t started Yet. This, I soon found out, would be a short-lived dream. Forcing myself to get them all read in December just isn’t going to be of any benefit to my enjoyment of the books, so I have already shifted reading the Founders series into January. I have also spread out The Earthsea Cycle so that it is one post every two weeks, giving me the break in between to read other genres and relax in general. I prefer this, and I am not going to say it is a failure in terms of sticking to my goals. Goals should be flexible, and everyone is allowed to give themselves grace when it comes to such trivial goals as these.

Finally, we have my ambiguous goal of reading more for fun. It has been going fantastic, and I am so happy I made this a written reminder because I think it is the thing that is keeping my reading together. Reading more for fun is a must-have goal because it really just brings into perspective the intentions and purpose of reading for pleasure. Even though I have been reading a lot, I have recently picked up manga which make it feel like I am getting little cute breaks in my reading. I am getting more short stories and collections which provide that intellectual engagement without it being a long-winded day of reading. It really is making it all the more enjoyable and sustainable.

Let’s take this time to talk about that children’s fantasy book plan I had. I fully intend to read these series, but I am going to be lenient with myself and cover them over the first half of 2026. There are a lot of them, and I want to give each series a solid amount of time to let them settle and so I don’t feel short on time to read them. I feel this will be a good goal for providing that break without giving up reading. I am looking forwward to it, and have lined up the order in which I will read each series. I am already recalling the various screen adaptations and how exciting they were as a kid, and I am sure there are more moments to relive and remember.

Overall, I am really happy with how 2025 has unfolded in terms of my reading goals and habits. I have tested a lot of things, found a grove that works for me, and acknowledges the limits of my interests and capablities as a reader. Going forward, I will use all of this to frame 2026’s reading goals, plans, and habits to be an addition to my fun reading rather than a set of rules that resticts it. Maybe this will be how you tackle your reading in 2026 too.