Reading in Public No. 60: 2025 reading intentions
My plans for reading fewer books, better and developing a deeper reading practice
I have been feeling in a bit of a funk about writing and, when I sat down to compose today’s newsletter, I realized why. I have not written a Reading in Public piece since December 10th! Writing these posts is what really lights me up. As much as I love sharing book lists, reviews, podcasts, all of it, exploring the intricacies of reading is what I love most.
Today I’m getting back in that groove by sharing some of my reading intentions for 2025.
I am bad at goals. Last year, I believe I said I was going to intentionally reread 12 books and write essays about each of them. As soon as I sent that out into the world I didn’t want to do it anymore. So I’m going to be keeping my goals broad (some might say vague…) this year while also including a few specific ideas about how to go about each one.
#1 Read fewer books, better
This is the goal I care the most about. It’s a quality over quantity goal, but this is very different from an attempt to read fewer, better books. My focus on quality this year is going to be on putting more effort and intention into the books I’m reading. I’m hoping to improve the quality of my reading, not necessarily the quality of my books. Of course I want to read great books, but I find it limiting to try to predict this and I want to bring equal care and attention to the books that aren’t exactly to my taste. This will undoubtedly mean reading more slowly and, in turn, reading fewer books total. I’m okay with that! Last year I read 165 books. It’s not the most I’ve ever read and the last few years reading about 150 books per year has felt right as I’ve tried to average three reviews a week here. This year, I’m going to be okay with sharing 1-2 reviews per week so that I can dig deeper into the books I do read. Exactly what “deeper” means will vary from book to book, but I know when I’ve really read a book rather than just finishing it and I want that feeling more often.
The plan:
Read more books in print. I love audiobooks, but I know I don’t read as deeply when I’m not engaging with the words on the page. I’m going to be extremely selective about what I listen to and set aside in-print reading time during the day in order to prioritize it.
Annotate without being precious. I love seeing pictures of beautiful annotations, but I can also get in my head about what annotations should look like, when I just need them to be functional.
Read more literary criticism about the books I read. For me reading better often means reading supplementary materials about the books I encounter. I do this often for books I read with Novel Pairings, but I’d like to start doing this more frequently in other areas of my reading. (P.S. Did you know you can read 100 free articles through JSTOR?)
Go down more reading rabbit holes. Whether it’s a time period, a topic, or specific author, when I read books that are in conversation with each other, I get more out of everything I read.
Mayyyybeee take a class?? Because I teach classes and lead seminars book clubs, and readalongs, it can feel strange to put myself back in the student role or to be a participant in these types of endeavors. But I know I would enjoy that kind of structured learning or letting someone else take the reins, so I might try it.
#2 Be choosey with my book selections
If I’m going to be reading fewer books this year, I want to be highly selective about what I pick up. Again, I’m not trying to predict what books I’m going to love, but I’m going to try to select books that I will find interesting, that will spark ideas, and that I’ll have something to say about. I’m not going to set any numerical reading goals for the various types of books I want to read this year (see aforementioned 12 books to reread failure), but I am going to keep a more intentional reading list so as not to forget about the books I want to read. Last year I was pretty disappointed in new releases so I’m going to focus more on backlist and be particularly mindful about which new books I’m picking up and why. I just don’t want to get to the end of the year and wonder why I let books I’m excited about languish on my shelves while I was busy reading the books plastered all over social media.
The plan:
Make use of the huge spreadsheet of new releases I created. I’ve highlighted what I’m most interested in and seeing just how many there are is going to help me prioritize and not get sidetracked by what everyone else is reading.
Read books edited by and recommended by my favorite editors. So far I’m only consciously aware of a few editors that I know have worked on some of my favorite books, but this is something I hope to track and learn more about this year.
Read more books with third person narrators. Is this weird? I’ve just grown a little weary of voicey first-person fiction and am craving books with removed yet knowing narrators.
Focus more of my reading on books in translation and books from small presses.
Read classics and long books. These are always the types of books I spend time with, and the books I spend a lot of time with are the ones I fall in love with.
Read books from the Goldsmiths Prize lists. This prize highlights fiction that “breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of the novel form.” While part of me is craving traditional, timeless novels, I missed exploring more innovative works last year. These lists feel like a good guidepost to get back into experimental works.
Read more essays, craft books, and literary criticism. All of this will also help me with my primary goal of reading fewer books, better.
Let my reading drive my content rather than letting my content drive my reading. I wrote about this here.
#3 Stretch myself in my writing
I started writing Reading in Public two years ago after three years of primarily sharing short book reviews and reading lists. Writing about bigger ideas, theories of reading, and industry goings-on invigorated my writing practice. It has been both meaningful and fun to explore these ideas, and I want to do even more of this in 2025. Reviews and recommendations aren’t going away, but I’m going to lean into the type of writing that excites me.
The plan:
Write some long form literary criticism. I’ve been out of grad school for a decade and am so out of practice with this type of writing. My (reasonable) fear of being intellectually rusty has kept me from wanting to engage with this kind of work publicly, but I’m going to try to get over that in 2025. This might be another good reason to take a class…
Respond to other writers and thinkers in my writing. My favorite essays to write last year were the ones inspired by articles and podcasts that captivated or frustrated me. This makes sense! When I taught composition I told my students that it was both harder and less interesting to begin a piece of writing in a vacuum. When you find an opinion or idea that you genuinely want to talk back to, you have more to say and a stronger belief in the importance and urgency of your argument. Substack is a great platform for this type of engagement and discussion, and I hope to do more of it.
Change up my publishing calendar (just a little). I’ll still be sharing newsletters on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays but I’m going to mix things up just a bit this year. Sundays will stay the same and I’ll always have at least one post a week for paying subscribers, but I’m going to give myself a little more freedom as far as what I write. Friday Mood Recs, Reading in Public, all the podcast content—nothing is going away. But I’m not going to force specific types of posts into specific days. This should leave me room for spontaneity and new modes of writing that are calling to me.
Improve my vocabulary. Perhaps this is a function of writing so much these days, but I find myself using the same language over and over. This year, I’d like to work on expanding my vocabulary in my writing.
#4 Intentional living outside the pages
I almost never set goals or intentions outside of work and reading, but this year I’m feeling inspired to consider a few. I wrote about some personal projects towards the end of last year and primarily I want to recommit to those, but I do have a few additions.
The plan:
Get a hobby. Turning my primary hobby into a career has left me with…zero hobbies. I’m going to work on that this year. In the past I’ve gotten really into embroidery so I might pick that back up. I’m also considering getting back into ice skating. I was a competitive ice dancer in my youth, and I miss moving my body in that way. It’s a really hard thing to do casually or infrequently so I’m not sure how possible it will be, but I might try.
Volunteer somewhere as a family. Louise loves being a helper and I’d like volunteering and being part of a community to be a part of her childhood, so I’m going to look into things we can do even if it’s something as simple as a park cleanup this summer.
Attend more local events. I want to be better at keeping track of fun things happening around Denver so that I can do new things in my free time. With a preschooler, it’s easy to just hunker down at home, only venturing as far as the neighborhood playground and our favorite nearby restaurants. But I’d love to occasionally explore theater, art exhibits, festivals, and family activities. I would like my weekends in particular to feel more novel.
Keep a list of shows and movies in my notes app so I can easily decide what to watch when I’m in the mood to watch instead of read post Louise bedtime. Let me know if you have any recommendations!
Continue not buying new things. I haven’t bought any new clothes for myself since the election. This is surely not a big deal for many people, but, for me, it’s huge. And it feels good! There are a few pieces for our home I want to acquire, but there’s no rush so I’m going to make a deliberate effort to find used and vintage items when possible.
I would love to hear about your reading intentions! I find other people’s goals and ideas inspiring—and I know I’m not the only one—so please share yours in the comments below!
For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!
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Happy reading!
Sara
Really love this! I have similar intentions when it comes to reading fewer, but deeper novels and reading more criticism. This year, I want to read the works of Virginia Woolf (not only the novels, but also diaries, essays, short stories etc) in chronological order. Already started and it’s great. She has such a fascinating mind.
I've never really thought of reading goals outside of numbers until I started engaging more with reading communities online. I did some analysis of my reading last year and found that I read mostly female authors which I am a okay with. Works by Latino/a authors and Native authors were underrepresented in my reading so I would like to read more by folks in those communities. I also work with Veterans and have come across a couple of books by veterans that I would like to read try to understand America's involvement in international conflict by people who participate in it. I read primarily things that have been published within the last 5 years with a sprinkling of early 2000s & late 90s works. Last year I read one book published in the 70s. I'd like to read more older books and by older I'm just going to say things published before the 1980s since that was when I was born.