Look at us go, we’re officially in the mid-2020s. Just like that, we’re in the middle of a decade that sometimes feels like it started last year, as time marches forever forward. I’m sorry if people are sick of these clichés, by they are clichés for a reason, after all, and like anybody else I must reckon with the passage of time as I get older.

It’s been a couple of years now since my reading challenges became altogether more relaxed, and I must say that it’s been a net positive. I do feel that I’m a lot happier and more easygoing about these things than I used to be. Let’s have a look at what I accomplished in 2024

Goodreads Challenge

Since I read a lot more than I set out to in 2023, I decided to up my reading challenge to 40 books in 2024, which I successfully cleared. I didn’t surpass that number by nearly as much as the challenge the year before, but I ended 2024 with a hearty 42 books finished. This included 18 books of prose, 20 graphic novels, 2 books of poetry, and 2 art books.

I’m quite happy with these results, especially with how varied my reading tastes have become. I’m particularly pleased with the number of books vs. graphic novels being a lot closer together. As much as I believe the latter count just as much as literary material, I have felt that I’ve leaned on them a little too much in the past to make sure my challenges are met.

This year, I have increased my reading challenge to 45, especially seeing as my work schedule has dramatically changed, allowing me a lot more reading time than before. Case in point, this month I’ve been reading Moby-Dick, and I’m already over 70% of the way through. I’m confident that under my old schedule a book like this would take me at least a couple months, if not more.

Reading Goals from 2024

I kept more specific reading goals light last year, rather than the more rigid lists I would lay out for myself, and once again this worked out pretty well. Mainly, I stuck to series that I’ve needed to start or continue reading through.

One challenge in particular was finally reading through the entire Southern Reach trilogy by Jeff VanderMeer. As it happened, last year was the 10-year anniversary of the series, so this challenge felt especially fitting. Happily, I was able to complete all three books last year, a feat uncommon for me, and it has since become a favourite of mine. Also, Absolution, a fourth book, came out last year, which I intend to read soon but did not bother to include in this challenge, which I think is fair.

I also endeavoured to keep my read-through of the Discworld series going with the two novels that were next on my list and in my possession: The Truth and Thief of Time (my copy is identical to the one above but has no article in the title). Though it looked like I would only be getting one of them done by the last month of the year, my new schedule allowed me to quickly finish the latter of the two, so I was able to keep things on track.

My only regret is that I have a review posted for every book in this series that I’ve read prior, but I’ve failed to write one for either of these. I’m considering doing a post of mini reviews to cover them instead, as I also need to review Acceptance, but I haven’t made up my mind yet.

Reading Plans Going into 2025

As I’ve already mentioned, one of my first lofty goals for 2025 is already almost completed: reading Moby-Dick by Herman Melville. Looking back on this year in 2026, I will almost certainly be mentioning it. Other than that, I think I will try to read every omnibus volume of the BPRD series by Mike Mignola, which I believe is 11 books in total. With respect to prose series, I will read more Discworld and otherwise just go where my whims take me. If something more specific materializes, I will make mention of it in my reflections next year.

A trend I want to continue from last year is the amount of library books I read. Spurred on by the storage space available to me ever decreasing, last year I started using the library a lot more often as an alternative to purchasing books. I also used it as a way to read graphic novels I otherwise would not have bothered picking up. As a result, a whopping 19 books from last year were borrowed from the library, a rather unprecedented number, and I would like to continue doing this. This is enabling me to follow my reading whims better than before, as I don’t have to worry about expense and need to return the material on a deadline, and I’m finding I’m enjoying these books yet letting go of the idea that I need to own them, which is rather freeing.

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What are your reading plans for 2025? I’d love to hear about them.

Thank you for reading!