I didn’t set any reading goals for 2019—by midwinter last year, I was tired, I was broke, and I was heartsick. 2018 hadn’t been a good year. I listened to the Mountain Goats on repeat for weeks.
Now, I’m heading into 2020 in almost the same mood, but with the added grit of defiance. Hey, 2020—I’m not lying down for you. This is what I’m going to read this year.
Read 52 books
That’s one book for every week of the year. Given, according to Goodreads, I only read around 20 books in 2019, this is… ambitious. But I’m working off the theory that my reading capacity waxes and wanes by year, so according to that then 2020 should be better!
Read 26 books by people who aren’t cis men
A perennial ambition. In 2019, I just about overtopped the halfway mark with books written by people other than cis men. I reckon half of my reading is the bare minimum I should aim for here.
Read 13 books by people who aren’t American or English
I have no idea how this will go. If the goal only excluded Americans, I think I’d be okay. But English too? That’ll be tough. But I want to make an effort to read outside my bubble. (Note: I said English, not British. Welsh, Scottish, and Northern Irish authors count towards this challenge.)
Read 10 books from my TBR shelves
Starting small. I only read about six or seven books from my TBRs last year, and those were all recent purchases. I have so many wonderful books waiting to be opened—if I can get any of them read, it’ll be an achievement.
Read five nonfiction books
You know how many nonfiction books I read last year? Absolutely none.
And yet I have a digital and physical back-catalogue of literally hundreds of fascinating nonfiction books that I’ve picked up—usually on sale—because I wanted to know more about their topic.
Five is a miniscule number to aim for, but it’s definitely better than zero.
Who knows if I’ll make these targets in 2020? But nonetheless, I’m flexing the muscle of hope and aiming, for the most part, high.