We are officially in 2026 and this year I think will be a big year in reading for me.

With a new year, that means new bookish goals for the year. Now while I try to stick to my goals for the year, there are times where by the middle of the year i’m in a reading slump and cannot read for a few months at a time before something comes along and takes me out of it.

So for my goals for the year, I didn’t want to be too strict in what I normally do where I set a number of books I would like to read for the year as well as how many of each genre I would like to read. I set goals that are realistic for my current life and would like to try and reach them.

Here are my goals for the year.

1. 30 books for 30 years

This year I turn 30, so for the year, I am setting my goodreads challenge to 30 books. Based on the last few years, I will surpass 30 books for the year however I didn’t want to set an unrealistic goal for myself when I most likely will go through a reading slump in July as this has happened the last few years. When I do get out of the slump, it becomes overwhelming to catch up on my reading challenge as there is only so much free time in my life where I am able to read. So 30 books is what I’m setting and if I surpass that, I am more that happy to keep reading.

2. Read more library books

I have way too many books on my physical TBR and to combat this, I am going on a book buying ban until I start to shrink that down. Preorders and my book box subscriptions are excluded from the ban. I want to get back into using Libby and borrow more books rather than just buying it when I want to read it. Libraries are a great way to support your local community and are a great way to borrow and return rather than buying and end up not liking a book. So I plan to use Libby to borrow ebooks and audiobooks on what I would like to read and am not sure if I’d like.

3. Read Daily

I want to set healthy goals throughout the year and one of those is to read daily. Not only is it a great way to wind down after a long day at work but it also is a great way to destress by escaping into a fictional world. Reading daily as well helps to build healthy reading habits. If I’m not in the mood to read, I won’t force myself to read but I will promise to read at least one page a day if that happens.

4. More Audiobooks

I found my love of audiobooks last year and would love to continue on with them this year. I loved being able to put my noise cancelling headphones on and doing other stuff such as cooking, cleaning or playing my Nintendo Switch while listening to an audiobook. I have found that I cannot listen to them at 1x speed and most of the time have them at 2.5x speed depending on the narrators cadence in their voice. My library also has audiobooks available on Libby so I am planning to use that, my Spotify Premium subscription as well as my Audible subscription to get some listening hours in. Now it was a little difficult when I first listened to an audiobook as I was getting distracted while listening and would have to rewind it back to where I remembered however it is a learning curve and once you are used to listening while doing other things at the same time, it becomes easier to read.

5. Catch up on all the series i’m in the middle of

Now I tend to read the first book or two in a series and then just never continue on once the next one comes out so I would like to help cross it off my physical TBR list and actually read them. I have made myself a TBR jar which I have put the book I’m currently at in the series of in it and plan to draw one out when I am trying to find something to read. Now I am a big mood reader so if I’m not feeling that book at the time, I am able to swap it for something I am looking forward to reading. I am not sure how many series I am in the middle of but I plan to write a list out and cross it off once I am all caught up.

6. Read 3 of my Physical TBR each month

I have a never ending physical TBR with my library of over 1000 books. As mentioned above, I made a TBR jar which I also put books from my physical TBR into as well. I plan to pull one out each time I finish a book to help knock back the list. New releases that I am excited to read have priority however I want to make sure I also read books I already own too. Also mentioned above is that I’m a big mood reader so if something doesn’t interest me at the time I pull it out, I am able to swap it and come back to that book at a later date.

I hope to stick to these goals and plan to make a post mid year to see how well I have stuck to them and also add any more goals for the remaining half of the year.

-Rachelle

Leave a comment below and let me know what your 2026 reading goals are!

I’m on Instagram at @rachellesbookshelf