For the last five years around this time, I've done a mid-year check-in on the status of my Goodreads Reading Challenge and other reading goals -- and since the year is now halfway over (ummm.... WTF?!) I thought it was timely to do it again. :)
In my 2025 Reading Year in Review post in January, under "Goals for 2026," I wrote:
- ...I ended the year with 38 books read. I did not reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal of 45 books (nor did I come anywhere near equalling my 2021/best-recorded total of 59 books, when my goal was 36). I initially thought I'd keep my goal of 45 books in 2026 -- but, given the recent events in my life, reading has taken a back seat for the time being (sadly, I have yet to start a book in January). So I've decided to downsize my 2026 goal slightly to 40 books (and hope to do better than that...!). It's still a "stretch" goal, based on the past few years, and still works out to 3-4 books per month on average).
- While I'm grateful for my book groups and the boost they give to my reading totals, and while I intend to keep up with them in 2026, I'm hoping to be able to read more of my own choices this coming year too. :)
So. Here we are at the midpoint of 2026 -- which suggests I should be about halfway toward my goal -- i.e., I should have read 20 books by now to keep up the pace of 3-4 books per month in order to reach my goal of 40 by the end of the year.
I'm not there. (Not even close.) :( As I said in my Reading Year in Review post, recent events in my life (in particular, the death of my mom, the sale and cleanout of my parents' house, and spending extra time with my dad) have meant reading has not been as much of a priority, or as easy to fit into my day.
I am currently at 14 books finished = 35% of my 2026 goal (5 books behind schedule to meet my goal). I read 1 book in January, 4 in February, 1 in March, 2 in April, 2 in May and 4 in June. Percentage-wise, I'm well behind where I've been at this time in previous years (when my goal was larger, 45 books): 44% of my goal in 2024 and 2025, 56% in 2023, 64% in 2022, and I was already at 94% in 2021 (! -- albeit my goal then was just 36 books -- and, I should note, it was peak pandemic then too! = not much else to do but sit around and read!).
The online book clubs and readalongs I've been involved in over the years have not been as active recently, and/or I've not had as much time or interest to take part, which may also have contributed to my declining numbers. In the past, these groups have provided some gentle deadline pressure that's kept me reading (albeit not always books of my choice).
Some of these groups have sadly gone by the wayside in recent years, but I'm still involved in the D.E. Stevenson group on Groups.io (which has been taking a bit of a hiatus recently -- although we do have a book for the summer now). I'm also continuing in my role as co-host of the book club within the Childless Collective (formerly Gateway Women/Lighthouse Women) private online community (which involves a lot of re-reads of books I've already read and recommended to the group).
I'm also still taking part in some of the slow readalongs hosted by Simon Haisell at "Footnotes and Tangents." I haven't had time (or, frankly, interest) to get involved in all of the new offerings this year, but I did read "Regeneration" by Pat Barker with the group this spring (and am glad I did!), and am planning to join in when we read "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt later this year.
Realistically (given the way the year has been going...!), it's unlikely I'll reach my goal this year (never mind improve on previous years' totals). :( But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying, or revise my goal at this point. I realize that, realistically, I am never going to be able to read all the books I would like. (There are still a lot of books on my "priority TBR list" -- which has expanded considerably since I posted about it in 2021..! -- that I haven't read yet!).
But it's still fun trying, right?
Did you set any reading goals for 2026? Are you making progress toward them?
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