Happy New Year!

A year has gone by since I started writing (or trying to write) my thoughts here. My first post was about my TBR for 2024. To be honest, creating my TBR for the year is one of my most favorite tasks at the start of the year.

Last year, I had gone to everybody’s ‘Favorite book of 2023‘ videos and started adding them to my list. My To-Read pile expanded quite a bit. If 2024 was all about adding books to my reading backlog, then in 2025, the goal is to trim that list down, as much as as possible.

So no scavenging anyone’s best books of the year! I want to pick books that are already in my backlog and especially those that I have a physical copy of.

Reading Goals

My goals for this year are very simple. (Again, I want to remind everyone – goals are just to help you get started and have fun with your reading. You absolutely do not want to create stress with these goals.)

  • More from what’s available on the shelf
  • Read more for the around the world challenge
  • Read more of authors whose books I have loved.
  • Number of books – 28

Based on all of this, I have created 3 categories.

Category 1 – Books from authors I loved/ or want to read

This category is for books that I am more likely to enjoy. You need to read books like these peppered through the year, as they ensure you do not fall into a slump. Except Mistborn, I own very little from this list, so I will probably be spending some money this year.

  • Mistborn Series – Brandon Sanderson
  • Dark Matter – Blake Crouch
  • Silent Parade – Keigo Higashino
  • Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr
  • Blood Over Bright Haven – M L Wang

If time permits / based on mood I might choose more from other authors. Some on my radar are:

  • Any book by Fredrik Backman
  • The Dutch House – Ann Patchett
  • Starless Sea – Erin Morgenstern
  • Vicious – V. E. Schwab
  • Mansfield Park – Jane Austen
  • Confessions – Kanae Minato

2. Books for Read Good Challenge (only from my shelf)

I did the Read Good Challenge in Story Graph last year and had a lot of fun with the prompts. So I wanted to do it again but with books only from my shelf. Since the prompts are very generic, there is flexibility in the books that I can pick for each month. I really hope I can complete it this year!

Story Graph Challenge Link – Read Good Challenge.

  • The Diary of a Young Girl – Anne Frank
  • Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng
  • To the Lighthouse – Virginia Woolf
  • Circe – Madeline Miller
  • A Spot of Bother – Mark Haddon
  • I have Become the Tide – Gita Hariharan
  • Reth Samadhi – Geetanjali Shree
  • Kairos – Jenny Erpenbeck
  • The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
  • Conversation with Friends – Sally Rooney
  • Stop Overthinking – Nick Trenton
  • Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoevsky

3. Books for reading around the world/ reading from different parts of India

Honestly, I have not paid much attention to this category in the past years. Hopefully this year it will be different. I own some of them but the rest are on my wishlist.

For reference, I track my progress here : Around the world in books

  • The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina – Zoraida Córdova
  • My Name is Red – Orhan Pamuk
  • Born a Crime – Trevor Noah
  • Half of a Yellow Sun – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
  • My Friends – Hisham Matar
  • I Who have Never Known Men – Jacqueline Harpman
  • The Truce – Mario Benedetti
  • The Ardent Swarm – Yamen Manai
  • Pynter Bender – Jacon Ross
  • The Ten Percent Thief – Lavanya Lakshminarayan
  • Any book by K. R. Meera

Why goals?

It feels like I need to write this out since many times goals are either frowned upon or taken too seriously. Goals provide a generic direction for what I want to read this year. I might spend a lot of time preparing the list, but I do it because its a lot of fun. It may or may not be for you. My reading list evolves through the year as per my mood. Let reading be something that comforts you instead of adding to the stress.

Read what you want, when you want and that’s all there is to it. It’s your own journey, have fun.

Happy Reading!