Reading with Intention: My 2025 Reading Goals
A step-by-step look on how I'm fostering intentionality in my reading throughout 2025
You’ve seen me talk about my reading in 2024 for the past couple of weeks on here, but I now want to look ahead towards this new year.
For those of you who have been engaging with my content, I’ve been really wanting to be intentional with my reading in 2025. Not only do I want to make time to actually read the books I have on my shelves (both physically and digitally), but I also want to ensure that I’m seeking out diverse voices in the stories and books that I consume since these stories are so important now more than ever.
Hence, I really want my reading this year to be intentional and that has ultimately shaped and defined my 2025 reading goals. I can’t guarantee that I’ll achieve every single one of these goals, but they’re always a good starting point for me. If any of these goals speak out to you, feel free to adopt them as part of your reading goals for this new year.
My 2025 Reading Goals
Finish 75% of My Book Club Reads On Time
When I first joined my IRL book club, I usually did not finish the books in time for our book club meetings. It’s not that it’s frowned upon to not finish the book when our meeting comes around1, but I did want to try to finish the books so I can have something to say when it comes to really discussing the book that we picked for the month.
As a result, one of my reading goals last year was to finish my book club books on time. Looking back, I know it was kind of an open-ended and vague goal, but I was able to finish most of the books my IRL book club was reading. Though, I think part of that is because I was able to get in some books that I was actually interested in reading into the rotation of books my IRL book club would read in the upcoming months.
So, with this year, I’m giving myself a more concrete goal to help motivate me to finish my book club books on time. I usually tend to work better on goals with a more numeric or concrete structure to them, and I think my goal of finishing at least 75% of my book club reads on time2 is a realistic goal for me.
Complete 3 Year-Long Reading Challenges
New to my reading goals line-up, I’m hoping to complete at least three year-long reading challenges in 2025. I know this might seem like a lot for some people, but I’ve been strategic regarding which challenges I plan on doing that would maximize on reading the books I already have and books I need to read for things such as book club and advanced reader copies without feeling too overwhelmed by the number of books I would need to read in order to complete the challenge. Plus, several of the year-long reading challenges actually focus on helping me achieve some of my reading goals, so I see it as an accountability measure to help me achieve these goals.
Achieve and Maintain a NetGalley Score of 80%
One of my weak spots as a reader is that I can be a bit too request-happy when it comes to NetGalley. I mean, just the idea of being able to read some of your most anticipated new releases before most can be pretty exciting as a reader. However, that can also lead to having a bunch of NetGalley books on your shelf that you have to go read or you risk tanking your NetGalley score and thus not getting as many ARC opportunities. Due to that, I want to get myself back on track by reaching the desired NetGalley score of 80% and clear out those NetGalley e-ARCs still on my shelf.
Read At Least 25 Books From BIPOC Authors
This particular goal has been one of my reading goals since the 23 for 23 initiative launched in Summer 2023, and it is one of my favorite reading goals each year.
For those who don’t know what the 23for23 initiative, it was a reading challenge launched by several popular romance authors, specifically Adriana Herrera, Nisha Sharma, and Nikki Payne, that encouraged readers to read at least 23 books3 about BIPOC characters written by BIPOC authors. While there hasn’t been an official challenge for the initiative since 2023, other creators have taken to Storygraph to form their own challenges based off this initiative for subsequent years in 2024 and now 2025.
I do want to note that the 25 books is just a benchmark for me and I do anticipate (as well as want to) reading more than 25 books from BIPOC authors. As an adjacent side goal, I’m also hoping to read more books from Indigenous authors and I have a couple of titles lined up that I’m excited to read this year.
Ensure 2 Owned Books are Read Each Month
Like many readers, I own a lot of books and there’s a decent chunk of them that I have not had the opportunity to read yet. As a result, I’m trying to give myself a more concrete metric that would encourage me to read the books I already own.
Try to Read 2 Classic Novels By the End of the Year
Out of all my reading goals, this is the one I’m not exactly sure how it will play out. I do want to try reading the classics that everyone says you should read at least once, but some of those books I feel like aren’t meant for me. I don’t really know how to describe it. But I do want to try to get outside my comfort zone, and for me that means trying out these classic novels.
Thank you for reading this post! Have you started developing your reading goals for 2025? If so, let me know in the comments what you’re hoping to achieve this year in regards to your reading life.
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Let’s Do Good With Books today and everyday!
I know I’m not the only book club member who has not finished a book by the time our book club meets.
Excluding books that I have already read, but will need to read again because my IRL book club picked the book to read as a group.
Being that the year was 2023 when it first launched.