2024 Reading Resolutions and Goals

First of all, let me wish everyone a happy (Chinese) new year! It is still, after all, Lunar New Year week. (HEHE) This is to assuage my guilt for crafting my 2024 reading resolutions and goals this late. The new year, after all, has become synonymous with new starts, hence, new resolutions and goals. Setting a goal at the start of the year has become a tradition, not only for us readers but even in corporate settings. The new year is an opportunity to build on the past years while also improving ourselves.

As such, to commence a new read year – albeit it is a little bit late – I have come up with my personal reading goals and resolutions. This is the fifth year that I am doing this. Historically, I tried setting up realistic goals but, unfortunately, I failed at achieving some of my goals. This is not, however, precluding me from looking at the positives. Quantifying my goals helped in my reading journey these past few years. I step into the year of the dragon with the hopes that I get to accomplish my goals for this year (at least in terms of reading). Without more ado, here are my reading resolutions for 2024.

---

1. READ MORE AND BUY LESS! 

Kicking off this list is a familiar sentence.

Reading more and buying fewer books has been a staple of my annual reading goals. It is a goal, unfortunately, that I have repeatedly failed at, hence, its inclusion again in my 2024 reading goals. There are too many books out there waiting for me to read even though I cannot keep up. I kept on piling books, especially during the pandemic years. To be fair, the pandemic years were also my most productive reading years. I just hope I get to hold myself from acquiring more books beyond those that I can read. I am off to a good start, I guess because I bought fewer books in January compared to the number of books I read.

2. Read at least 90 Books.

Last year, my goal was to read 80 books. I went above and beyond it. Actually, in the past two years, I went way beyond my original goals. In 2022, I read 103 books while in 2023, I read 130 books. Reading momentum is on my side although I get caught up in a slump once in a while. Nevertheless, the past two years have been very surreal. Not once did I expect I would be able to achieve my lifetime dream of reading at least 100 books. And I did it twice, in a row! For this year, I still want to set a realistic goal, hence, my goal is to read 90 books. After all, life has become busier lately, with life returning to normal. Still, I am hoping to read as many books as I can.

3. Diversify my reading portfolio.

3.1 Read at least two nonfiction books.

While 2023 has been a very productive reading year, I was not able to read even just one nonfiction book, even just a memoir. As such, it is my goal to read at least two nonfiction books this year. My reading journey has been steeped in fiction, primarily novels. The last memoir I read, I believe, was Tove Ditlevsen’s The Copenhagen Trilogy back in early 2022.

3.2 Read at least two short story collections.

As one might surmise, I am not really that much into short stories. This is palpable in my reading list. However, lately, I have been discovering the delight in reading anthologies. Last year, I read two short story collections, including Hiro Arikawa’s The Goodbye Cat. For this year, I am again aiming for at least two short story collections. I am already halfway there as I read one in January, Megan Kamalei Kakimoto’s Every Drop Is a Man’s Nightmare.

3.3 Read more books written by non-American writers.

When I started monitoring the books I read, one of the glaring numbers I noticed was the disparity between books I read that were written by American writers compared to books written by non-American writers. Nearly half of all the books I read were written by American writers. As such, I resolved to reduce this disparity and expand beyond American writers. Last year, Japanese and British writers topped my most-read nationalities. This is a development. For this year, I am again planning to read more books written by non-American nationalities.

3.4 Read at least two books from each of the six continents (Antarctica, naturally, is excluded).

One of the many things I am grateful for in books and reading, in general, is that they allowed me to expand my perspective and understanding of different people and cultures. The world we are living in is diverse and books are windows from which to witness this diversity. Because of this, I made it my goal last year to read at least two books from each of the six continents. Unfortunately, I was not able to read any books from Australia. As such, I am making it my goal this year to read at least two books from each of the six continents.

3.5 Read more translated books.

Another glaring disparity that emerged from the stringent monitoring of my reading list is the obvious fact that I have read more books originally written in English than books originally written in a different language. At least 80% of all the books I read were originally written in English. It is my goal to reduce the gap to two-thirds in three years. As such, it is my goal to read more translated books this year. I already succeeded last year but by a slim margin. I guess I cannot avoid reading books written in English but I will work hard to reduce the gap.

4. Read at least 50 pages every day. Read one hour daily.

As I mentioned above, life has become busier lately as my social life started to pick up post-pandemic. Even striking a balance between life and work is an infinite challenge. Still, I am not letting the tediousness push me back from pursuing my goals. Like in the past two years, I am aiming to read at least 50 pages a day. I am also dedicating at least an hour daily to reading books. So far, so good. No matter how tedious my schedule can get this year – I also have to cram in working out, writing, and traveling in my packed schedule – I will always try to find time to read.

5. Read at least three books written by a Filipino writer.

It has been my goal in the past few years to explore more of Philippine literature. I used to be averse to the idea of reading the works of Filipino writers but I soon realized how this lacks nationalistic sentiment. Last year, I was able to read four books written by Filipino writers. This is the most I read in a year since I started reading. That is quite the character development. This year, I am setting my target to three books. I am already a third through my goal.

6. Participate in at least four reading challenges and complete all of them.

Spicing up my annual reading odyssey are reading challenges I sign myself up for. There were challenges that I succeeded in but there were also those that I failed at. I don’t think I ever finished a year with all the reading challenges completed. Sure, I am generally successful with Beat the Backlist challenges and my Top 20 (21, 22, or 23) Reading List but I fail in the rest. I am hoping that 2024 will be different. Below are the reading challenges I have decided to participate in. Please note that some are personal challenges.

A. Beat the Backlist

The beat-the-backlist challenge has become a staple of my reading year. The challenge involves reading books that were published beyond the current year, i.e. for 2024, all books published before 2024 are considered as backlist reads. This is one of the challenges I am highly successful in because I am a backlist type of reader; I have reiterated this several times over the past years. During the pandemic years, i.e. 2020 to 2023, almost 85% of all the books I read are backlists. My annual participation in the reading challenge, however, has not reduced my backlist as there are still several backlist books I want to read.

With this, have signed up for the 2024 Beat the Backlist challenge hosted by Austine Decker. My beat-the-backlist challenge has two layers. The first layer involves a generic goal, just setting a goal target of backlist reads for the year. Last year, I read 118 backlist books, nearly double my goal of 60 books. For this year, I have set 60 as my goal. The second layer of the challenge is a list of backlist books I resolve to read during the year. Despite a hiccup when I first participated in this challenge, I managed to read all the books I listed in the succeeding years. Like last year, I have listed 20 backlist books for the challenge.

B. The 52 Book Club’s 2024 Reading Challenge

I just discovered this reading challenge while searching for 2024 reading challenges I can participate in. The challenge involves 52 unique prompts which is kind of similar to the reading prompts for the Beat the Backlist Challenge. Going through the prompts, this should be an interesting one.

C. 2024 Books in Translation Reading Challenge

In line with my goal of reducing the gap between books originally written in English and books originally written in a different language, I have again signed up for the Books in Translation Reading Challenge. Last year, I was able to meet the Linguist level, i.e., reading more than 10 books written in a language other than English. My goal for this year is to read at least 50, which means I am again shooting for the Linguist level. The reading challenge seems easy though and I can easily hit the linguist level (the highest).

7. Read 20 books from the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list.

The 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list has been a well of interesting reads, some of which become some of my most memorable reads. Despite this, there are still several books from the list that I have yet to read. As such, I have been aiming to read at least 20 books from this list in the past few years. In 2023, I was able to tick off 21 books from the list, one book above my target. This year, I am again aiming for 20 books. To optimize, I have to align my goal with other reading challenges I have signed up for this year. I listed some of these books in my 2024 Top 24 Reading list and even in my Beat the Backlist challenge.

8. Read fifteen new books.

While I have established myself as a backlist type of reader, I have recently been trying to make up for books that are currently being released, “new” books. As such, I have been gearing toward reading more new books, driven by my annual Top 10 Books I Look Forward To list. Last year, my goal was to read 20 new books. This year, I decided to reduce my target to fifteen because of different factors, some of which I articulated in my other reading goals this year such as reading 20 books from the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list

9. Post one book tag every month.

Back in 2021, I resolved to make posting one book tag a month a habit. Unfortunately, I was not able to make good on this promise in 2022 and 2023. Life, as they say, happened. This year, I am going back to that original goal of posting at least one book tag per month although I was not able to post one in January; I will find a way to make up for it. Honestly, I find doing book tags a fun activity. I hope I can find the verve to do these book tags again.

10. Complete book review within a week of finishing a book. Publish eight book reviews a month.

This is definitely one of my loftiest goals. I can be quite a laggard in terms of writing a book review; I have a backlog of nearly 100 books. This particular resolution was also part of my 2019, 2020, and 2021 reading resolution but I keep on failing, horribly. On the brighter side, I was able to publish over a hundred book reviews in 2022 which means this is still possible. My hands are still tied to completing these pending reviews.

To decongest my burgeoning list of pending book reviews, it is my goal to publish at least eight book reviews a month although I failed in January as I was able to publish a meager two book reviews. I mightily lagged behind last year, the reason why I have nearly 100 pending book reviews. Imagine, I haven’t completed my January 2023 pending book reviews. Nevertheless, I am still aiming for eight a month this year. This is going to be a tall order but I am nonplussed.

TAKE IT ALL IN STRIDES.

After years of reading, I have realized the importance of allowing myself some space and time. I should not be driven by the stresses and pressures of the various forces that are flowing in from all corners. Reading, after all, is not about quantity but about quality. It is supposed to be a safe haven, a form of escape from the pressures of our quotidian existence. Slow down if you must. Read at your own pace. There will be days when you won’t feel like picking up a book. That is still okay. At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you understand and appreciate the book in your hand. This is a gentle reminder to myself and to fellow readers who are hampered by various pressures: drink in the books one page at a time.

Like last year, the only thing I am looking forward to this year is that the books I read fill my soul, give me a deeper insight into the world, and offer me a broader perspective of life and its peripheries. I hope it will do the same to all of you fellow readers! Again, Happy New Year!

How was your 2023 in terms of reading? What are your reading goals and resolutions this year? Let me know your thoughts and let’s talk in the comments section.