2025 Reading Plans

 

It's 2025 and  my plan for this year is to try and actually blog a bit again in a quiet and out of the way corner, where I can try to put some words into something hopefully halfway coherent and make grand reading goals without any pressure. So consider this blog my training wheels.

A new year means I get to make all shiny new reading plans that I prooobably won't stick to that much (mood reader!). But every January I show up excited and optimistic and that's half the fun anyway. I set my Goodreads challenge for 52 books again, but this time I also want to read more regularly again instead of this mad dash to the finish line I've been doing the last years. I already started on this by setting myself the daily habit of reading for 30 minutes and have not missed a day this year. It's most difficult when I've finished a book and can't decide on my next read😬

SFF

Since The Expanse got cancelled, I've been wanting to read the book series that the show was adapted from. I read Leviathan Wakes and really enjoyed it, even though this might be one of the few cases where I prefer the tv adaptation (less dude-ish perspective, more rounded characters). I've got book 2 waiting on my shelves and can't wait to meet book-Avasarala, who I've been promised curses much more than the tv version (who I adore). Then I'm also excited to read Corey's new series, it's already been optioned to be adapted (but I've not given up hope yet that they'll get to finish The Expanse once Amazon's rights run out), and the second book is coming out this year. Two other newish works by favorite writers have been on my list for a while, I'm waiting for them to be on Everand or show up as a Kindle deal.

NONFICTION

Another goal this year is to read more nonfiction and more specifically, expand my reading beyond self-help and brain books (which served their purpose) again. I've got my eye on memoir and essay-type works and then the ultimate dream: to have the energy and focus to read from the DukeUP catalog again. Should that happen, I'm eyeing Between Shadows and Noise by Amber Jamilla Musser.

WORLD LIT

I've also missed reading more international lit, I used to just grab what looked interesting at the library but then with my study focus I shifted towards mostly US/UK lit, so I want to get back to that. I'm including German lit in this category, because while I don't enjoy a lot of it, there have been some exciting publications in recent years that I want to catch up on.

And generally I want to finish or finally DNF all the about 12 books I started, read poetry collections while listening to the audiobooks version and also read lot's of cozy comfort reads (usually funny scifi or mysteries and maybe a MGlit work here or there).

The Year in Review: 2024

How is it 2025 already? I actually had a mostly lovely 2024 with quite a few wins, it's just hard to catch up to how fast it went by. One of my goals was the yearly Goodsreads reading challenge of course and I think I set mine for 60, but realized around summer that I would really struggle with that, so dropped it down to 52. I think that is just where my level is in this phase of my life and that's where I'll set my goal again for this year. Rather than change the number of books, I want to shift focus to the types of books for 2025 as I feel like my capacities growing slowly (but that's the topic for the next post).

But first, let's reflect on 2024 by way of StoryGraph's excellent graphics:

"You followed cryptic trails of secrets, explored the shadows of the human psyche, and teetered on edges of anticipation.

The narratives flowed at a comfortable, engaging tempo."

One of my favorite things about StoryGraph is the mood graph:

I've alway scored highest in mystery for as long as I've been on StoryGraph, but in 2024 the other main moods of adventurous and funny shifted to dark and intense. I think this is due to my usual reread of the Murderbot series, which I didn't do in 2024 and reading science fiction that is edging into horror.

I read 53 books and I'm very happy I met my goal. I implemented a habit of reading for 30 minutes every day to read more regularly, however slumps and other responsibilities caught me out, so my reading has been way more up and down than I'd like. Slow and steady is my motto for this year.

My most common genres are probably a given:

That's definitely what I read most of the time nowadays, although I usually read more poetry and less short stories, I think those are due to the Amazon Originals I read to boost my reading. Because I still struggle with finishing short story collections. I also read a bit of nonfiction, although more in self-help than I usually like, but I suppose that's just where I'm at at the moment and it has actually been really helpful.

These wonderful books are my 5 star read and I loved them all. 

• Sea of Tranquility was one of my first reads of 2024 and exactly what I craved: Imaginative, reflective scifi with great characters and thoughtful writing. Definitely not my last read by this author, in fact I recently got Station Eleven, which I hope to read in 2025.

• Homeland and Forest of Noise are both Palestinian literature, the first a beautiful book about growing up in Palestine through the lens of remembering the author's father. The second a memoir/poetry collection about living in Gaza and fleeing into exile that I listened to on audiobook and would love a print copy of, it was so good.

• Both 1919 and Falling Back In Love With Being Human are poetry collections and I adore them both. I love listening to poets performing their works, so I chose the audiobooks, but it's even nicer to read a long, so I'd like these for my shelves for rereads as well. Thom's collection was just what I needed, a very moving and powerful work and it helped restore my belief in humanity a bit.

• I read Kimmerer's The Serviceberry around Christmas and it was the perfect time for it with the way this slim book focuses on the gift economy and a more holistic communal view of giving and receiving, and it's definitely a world I want to live in.

Other favorites that were 4 or 4 and a half stars:

• The Legacy of Arniston House by T.L. Huchu
• Japonisme: Ikigai, Forest Bathing, Wabi-sabi and more by Erin Niimi Longhurst
• A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
• Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-Reum with Shanna Tan (Translator)
• The Writer's Cats by Muriel Barbery with Alison Anderson (Translator), Maria Guitart (Illustrator)
• Amari and the Despicable Wonders by B.B. Alston
• Paradise-1 by David Wellington (along with the sequel Revenant-X)

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Happy New Year!