Literary Kitten

In 2023, believe it or not, I didn’t make any concrete reading goals. 2023 was a year of exploration for me. I read a good number of classics and found out which genres I like best (mystery/thriller, horror, literary fiction). Because 2023 was so successful for me in finding out my likes and dislikes, I feel like I can really put together some reading goals going forward! I know what I’m capable of and I’m so excited to hopefully extend even more outside of my comfort zone.

Here are my 2024 reading goals:

Read 75 books

In 2023, I read 55 books. In 2024, I want to read 75 books! I honestly think I could read even more, especially since I like to read manga here and there, but I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself! Reading is all about enjoyment for me and I don’t want to be stressed out meeting a goal.

Read at least 1 new release per month

This is a big one for me. Read a new release every month. Last year, since I was still finding out what I liked, I didn’t keep up with too many new releases. Just reading 1 per month is a bit low but knowing myself, I have a lot of older books I might want to prioritize over new releases (I’m still catching up after all)! I hope aiming for at least 1-2 new releases per month will keep me up to date enough to engage in conversations with people reading 2024 books!

Read at least 5 classics

Classics, classics, classics! We all dread them even though we know we’re going to end up loving them (not all the time of course). They’re just different. Written differently, read differently, it’s typically a more time consuming experience. Regardless, I love classics. There’s still so much I haven’t read. Again I feel like 5 is a bit low but I don’t want to stress myself out too much considering some of the classics I want to get to this year are on the longer side (I’m looking at you Anna Karenina and Crime and Punishment)! Classics are almost always classics for a reason, therefore, it’s really important to me to read them! ♥

Read outside of my favorite genres

Okay this might be the hardest goal for me but I really want to try. As I said before, I’m a mystery/thriller, horror, literary fiction girly. I usually tend to steer away from Romance, Sci-Fi, and even Fantasy at times. As you can imagine, I want to expand my reading horizons; I want to throw some more Romance and maybe even Sci-Fi under my belt this year . I am so intimidated by sci-fi, but I’m going to try! Leave recommendations below if you’re a sci-fi lover and have some ideas for an intimidated, beginner sci-fi reader.

Start more series

When I think of series, my mind instantly jumps to fantasy. Crazy long fantasy series. Thinking of reading a super long series stresses me out. I really like stand alone stories but I can understand the appeal of connecting with characters and witnessing their growth over the course of a series. Because of this, I want to give it more of a try. Plus, it’s not always crazy long fantasy series that are series, haha. There’s so many mystery series to try and plus, technically, I have read a bunch of one series without even realizing it (Hercule Poirot’s mysteries by Agatha Christie). I can do this! I already have a few in mind and also, I’m gonna say manga counts.

Read at least 10-20 books over 350 pages

When I looked at my 2023 reading stats, I found I typically read books around the 250-300 page mark. There’s a lot of literary fiction that’s on the shorter side as well as mysteries/thrillers. Especially because I’ve read so much Agatha Christie and her books are definitely on the shorter side. I want to challenge myself to read stories that are longer. I think this will really benefit me and my reading journey.

Well those are all the goals I have! I’m stoked to see how these 2024 goals turn out for me when I make some new ones in 2025. Thanks for stopping by!

originally posted on: January 22, 2024 (on previous site)