Goals for 2026 & Defensive Book Quoting

“Be grateful for what you already have while you pursue your goals. If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more?” ― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart

Yeah, I’m starting out with a little defensive book quoting above (definition: using quotes or name-dropping authors to deflect vulnerability instead of engaging directly, hiding behind external authority so your own position never has to be examined, and/or deploying de-contextualized lines as rhetorical weapons rather than honest reasoning h/t Librarian Shipwreck, see: When considering what kind of weapon a book is, it can be useful to consider what kind of weapon a book is not.

So I’m agreeing with the Librarian that a book is not a bludgeon, a bomb, or a boomerang. However… a goal might be. A goal can clarify direction, but it can also turn reading into a scorecard.

This year I’m trying to keep my goals more weekly / monthly, and focus on hitting them. Short term commitments feel more tangible. So for writing about books, goals include keeping up with Jana @ thatartsygirl’s Top Ten Tuesday, Long and Short Reviews’ Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge (when the writing themes are book related), Quick Lit by Modern Mrs Darcy, the Good Book and Cup of Tea Bookish Link party, and Tell Me Something Tuesday. I’m also into the 6 Degrees of Separation meme, it sounds like a fun exercise and maps to how my mind works, associatively, but I haven’t tried yet. I also want to spend more time thinking critically about what I read, and to write more reviews.

There are a bunch of yearly reading challenges out there on the internet that frankly feel overwhelming to me right now. I have enough other yearly goals outside reading and I keep really long TBR lists so there’s enough internal pressure to read lots of books this year in addition to other work.

I’m also trying to have reading be not just another media consumption habit, and instead have it as a practice of rest, of presence, of confronting my own thoughts and assumptions. (More thoughts on reading for transformation vs. consumption and the problems with annual reading goals.) No shade though, I admire those of you with 375 books this year goals, your ambition and drive. Amazing and I’m jelly already.

In the 70s my mom was asked by a reporter what her favorite kind of books were, and she later appeared in the paper as loving “how to do it” books. My dad reminds her of this with a nudge and a wink quite frequently. I also love how-to books, and hey, I even wrote one at the end of last year, but this year I’m hoping to read more fiction.

I’m in the process of fulfilling the goal of launching a book app soon, it has been my dream for a long time, and I’m really hopeful for it to be something people find useful.

Finally, I have deep hopes for other people aligning their dreams with their goals this year and then achieving them. The goal pressure in our society is pretty intense, but…. what if we decided the goals we set for ourselves, goals that are deeply our own and not what everyone says we should be pursuing, are the ones that actually matter? And so I hope people will set fewer goals that aren’t aligned with what they actually want deep down inside. Is it a goal to persuade people of this? Perhaps :) Did I succeed? haha. xo

Update:

Based on my reading of everyone else’s TTT goals! I have a few new items to add to my list!

• Attend at least two literary festivals this year (Thanks What Cathy Read Next!)
• Combine sunshine, fresh air, public space and books: read more in the park. (Yes Lydia!)
• Also strike up conversations about books with strangers or acquaintances, another of Lydia’s goals. Like that stranger with a book on the park bench.
• Make more bookish friends (good idea from She Reads Everything), perhaps with the random people I talk to books about.
• Reread something by Jane Austen (Thanks Portobello Book Blog!)
• Take part in the Booker Prize nominees challenge (sweet idea, Head Full of Books)
• Make time in the week to read the London Review of Books (yes Alice!)
• Make/use a TBR Prompt Jar to determine my next read if I don’t have a clear next one (genius, Rayna)
• There are other really good ones but I must quit now before I give myself too many goal paralysis.