Since there’s only one day left in 2017, it’s time to sit down and plan out my 2018 Reading Challenge goals!

This past year was easily my most successful in terms of reading: I read my way through 43 amazing books! That’s a lot more than the 35-book goal I had originally set for myself. For the past few years I’ve used Goodreads to set and track my reading goals. Their system works incredibly well for me, but is also a double-edged sword as I end up finding tons of other books I want to read as well.

According to Goodreads, I read 13,135 pages across 43 books in 2017. That’s pretty awesome. Some of my favourites from this year were, in no particular order: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, and One Day We’ll All Be Dead And None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul.

Next year I want to challenge myself to read more books than ever, and also continue pushing myself to read outside my comfort zone. With that said, here’s what I’m hoping to accomplish:

2018 Goals

Total Book Goal: 45

To make things more interesting, though, I am breaking down my 45-book goal into two smaller goals:

1. Read 20 books I already own.
2. Read 20 books written by women.

Why?

Well, for starters, I own hundreds of books and have only read a handful of them, so the first goal will help me tackle my disgustingly huge TBR pile. I also want to read more literature by kickass ladies, so the second goal just made sense.

What about the other five leftover books? (Because 45-20-20=5. Math!)

I left myself five freebies to account for upcoming book club picks, and new releases that I don’t know about yet, but will have to read once I hear about them.

I’m also not going to let myself double dip. What does this mean?

Say I were to read The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan. This is a book that I already own, and was written by a woman. However, I will only be able to count it towards one of the specific smaller goals, not both.

Yes, that will make picking books harder, but that’s part of the challenge!

Who knows, maybe 2018 will also see me surpass my goal, and then I’ll come one step closer to achieving my ultimate (unrealistic) goal of reading every amazing book I come across.

Is anyone else making reading goals for themselves for the new year? If so, let me know.

Happy reading!