Nightmares and Dreamscapes discussion

We are curious to know how everyone sets their reading goals for each year. Do you have a set plan? Do you not plan anything and just wing it? Are you a mood reader and just go with the flow of what you are in the mood for? Please enlighten us as we would like to know. :)

Of the 50 or so books I think I’ll read, I probably have a definite plan to read about 15 or so. The rest are 100% fly-by-the-seat of my pants random (a mix of new and ones I’ve had sitting on shelves forever.)

My set goal will be around 50 for Goodreads this year. I usually just decide on a number and go for it. I’m sometimes a planned book reader but I think for the most part I mood read. I read more when I just go with the flow on my moods :)

I just wing it. I don’t like feeling pressured to reach a specific goal, so I just go with the flow.😊

To me that's kind of like asking someone how much TV they're planning on watching this year. It's what I do to relax / escape and I read stupid fast so probably a lot :-) (I'm not big on the TV time!)

Ever since I got back to being an avid reader again in July 2021, I had my 2021 goal as 10 books which I crushed and read 22. I figured if I could do that in about half a year, I could probably hit 50 in a year.

In 2022, my goal was 50 and it will end at 55! LoL now it'll always be 50 since I have some wiggle room to read about a novel a week and considering my high-octane job, life, commitments, events, etc., it's very achievable and a realistic goal I can hit.

If I wasn't sick in July-September and then really sick in October, I probably would have hit 60 if not more but yeah, 50 is perfect for me and if I read more just as I did this year, I'll still be one happy camper :-)

I mostly read monthly group reads that aren't a part of a series or something I've already read from the book clubs I'm in and then mix in a few from my TBR. I tend to read the shorter books first and leave the tomes for every 3 months (500+ pages). It's been working well and I also throw in an occasional super-quick short story to balance things out!

Most years I’ve set my goal somewhere around 100. I’m thinking this year I might focus on long books that I haven’t gotten to. That’ll lower my number (probably) unless I really crank. As for what, I try to do a lot on my already on my kindle tbr, but of course I can’t resist getting more, more, more! As for what I choose, definitely mood.
Oh and like @LTJ I tend to avoid series because they tie me down to one thing for too long.

**Warning - Long Post**

One of my GR friends read an article that said an avid reader reads one book a month for a total of 12 for the year. Additionally, when the GR Reading Challenge started, it did not support rereads (a lesson I learned the hard way, which is why my 2012 challenge ended up so janky)!
So with that information in mind, I started setting my challenges to 12 for the year. That way, I would not lose my badge if I chose to reread a book or 5.
Then, GR fixed the rereading issue (one of the happiest reading moments of my life! LOL), but 12 a year became a good goal for me (see years 2018 & 2019 - oh, the irony).

Fast forward, I got bored with having the same goal every year and decided to start challenging myself but keep the number divisible by 12. Don't ask - it's the way I think. (2020 kind of killed that plan).

Then 2022 happened! This is the best reading year I have ever had!!!
So, for 2023, I took the average number of books I read between 2011 and 2022 (which equals 42 point something) and rounded it up to the following number divisible by 12 (which is 48).
That will be my next goal. :D

Interesting @Nyssa! To add to my goal setting, I have some rules too. I don’t always add novellas if I feel they’re too short to count. I also read graphic novels and since I find them fast reads, I often only count 1 in a series when I’ve read 2. I feel like I’m cheating if I add the short stuff. I guess with that in mind I could potentially count looong books as 2 if they’re as long as 2 typical novels but I doubt I’ll do that. 😏 Funny the rules we give ourselves.

I absolutely count sequential art and short stories. It is all reading, so it all counts. And I will be adding audiobooks as well (since I have to read along anyway - I can not just listen, or I will lose focus). Having the audio helps me to read at a faster pace than I do on my own.

Interesting takes on novellas and long books. I still count the novellas, especially because I read so many long books. I figure it will all come out in the wash at the end of the year. :-)

I'm kinda in the same boat LTJ is as far as my annual goals go. I read a fair amount (for me) in 2021, at 20 books. So I thought let's try to see if we can hit 30 in 2022! Boy howdy! Haha. I more than doubled that goal. 2022 was an amazing year for me in reading. I'm going to make my 2023 goal 60 and see how it goes. I also have other non-book goals I'd like to achieve, so I don't want to overwhelm myself with any one goal. Best of luck to you all on reaching all of your goals for the new year!

I'm pretty basic, so I go for one per month. I may shoot for 14 in 2023 though

I basically pick a random number and hope for the best. In 2021 I barely made it finishing my final challenge book on New Year's Eve. This year I picked a number and flew past it by the summertime. And I count everything, novellas, graphic novels, short stories. If I add it, rate and review it counts.

Terry wrote: "Of the 50 or so books I think I’ll read, I probably have a definite plan to read about 15 or so. The rest are 100% fly-by-the-seat of my pants random (a mix of new and ones I’ve had sitting on shel..."

I love that statement "fly-by-the-seat of my pants"! That is awesome! So we won't know what we will be seeing from you this year in the way of books! LOL

•Evil•Eye•Reviews• wrote: "My set goal will be around 50 for Goodreads this year. I usually just decide on a number and go for it. I’m sometimes a planned book reader but I think for the most part I mood read. I read more wh..."

A planner and a mood reader. :) Love it! Me too actually. I am a mood reader but I like to plan books that I want to read also. :)

Vickie wrote: "I just wing it. I don’t like feeling pressured to reach a specific goal, so I just go with the flow.😊"

You are the "wing woman" - lol - I remember you have said in the past you don't do challenges as you don't want the pressure on you to complete anything. :)

LTJ wrote: "Ever since I got back to being an avid reader again in July 2021, I had my 2021 goal as 10 books which I crushed and read 22. I figured if I could do that in about half a year, I could probably hit..."

You are more or less a planner as you have set goals on what books you want to read which is cool. Makes it easier to kick them off your tbr shelves by doing it that way. :)

Anne wrote: "Most years I’ve set my goal somewhere around 100. I’m thinking this year I might focus on long books that I haven’t gotten to. That’ll lower my number (probably) unless I really crank. As for what,..."

You could probably set your goal lower then you could fly by that goal on the chance you do read longer books this year. I read some long books last year - tomes - lol - books that were over 400 pages - just a few but I still racked up my goal GR challenge way past my actual challenge which was 75. I topped out at 145 by year's end.

Nyssa wrote: "**Warning - Long Post**

One of my GR friends read an article that said an avid reader reads one book a month for a total of 12 for the year. Additionally, when the GR Reading Challenge started, it..."

Love the "warning" up there on your post. :)

Interesting way you go about setting your goals. There are a lot of people that set their reading goals low but having a middle ground or something to balance it out is a good way to do it. :)

TheresaW wrote: "Interesting takes on novellas and long books. I still count the novellas, especially because I read so many long books. I figure it will all come out in the wash at the end of the year. :-)

I'm ki..."

You read a lot last year probably because you joined a lot of group and buddy reads which sent your book goal into the stratosphere! lol The groups have more stuff lined up for this year so you should be on that supersonic jet again! lol :)

Sally wrote: "I basically pick a random number and hope for the best. In 2021 I barely made it finishing my final challenge book on New Year's Eve. This year I picked a number and flew past it by the summertime...."

You could count audiobooks if you do them too. You could stay with a medium number of say like 50 and you would probably ace it within a few months with as much reading that you do. :)

So I will add how I do mine. I just stay under the 100 mark for my goal as one year I thought I would be able to ace it as I set my goal for like 118 and I only ended up reading 105. So from them on I just decided to keep everything under a 100 to make it easier to surpass my goal.

I am normally a mood reader but I also like to plan books to read too especially when reading series. I love series books but I have a bad habit of not completing them which I did better last year as I did get through a small percentage.

So I am a planner and a mood reader. I also entered a bunch of challenges this year in groups so hoping to kick some books off my tbr and hope for the best.

I am also a planner and a mood reader, which is why I try to keep my plans to a minimum but can never seem to leave well enough alone! LOL
It’s how I ended up with 9 novels on the docket for January! I have no idea if I’ll be able to read them all in time.

Nyssa wrote: "I am also a planner and a mood reader, which is why I try to keep my plans to a minimum but can never seem to leave well enough alone! LOL
It’s how I ended up with 9 novels on the docket for Januar..."

Oh my goodness! You already have 9 novels planned for this month?! Wow! I wish you the best on it. :)

I'll pick a ridiculous number and then end up reading way more than my goal.

Gareth wrote: "I'll pick a ridiculous number and then end up reading way more than my goal."

I am wondering what that ridiculous number will be.....thinking here. lol :)

I just stick to my goal of reading one book per month only because I am busy with school and don't have time to read every day. Reading any more than one book per month is just a bonus. :)

Hopefully, when I have more time I'll be able to dedicate myself to two or three books per month.

Marie wrote: "Gareth wrote: "I'll pick a ridiculous number and then end up reading way more than my goal."

I am wondering what that ridiculous number will be.....thinking here. lol :)"
I'm just considering. I have no chance of beating what I read in 2022, so I'm going to set a conservative target of somewhere between 100 and 150.

125 sounds like a good number! :)

Nyssa wrote: "125 sounds like a good number! :)"

I went for 156, it's as good as any other number I suppose. :-P

LOL!

Gareth wrote: "Nyssa wrote: "125 sounds like a good number! :)"

I went for 156, it's as good as any other number I suppose. :-P"

Whoo-hoo! Good luck on your challenge, Gareth! :)

I went for 60...5 books per month. I may read more or less, depending on what's going on in my life.

Jess wrote: "I went for 60...5 books per month. I may read more or less, depending on what's going on in my life."

Awesome Jess! Good luck on your challenge. :)

Marie wrote: "Anne wrote: "Most years I’ve set my goal somewhere around 100. I’m thinking this year I might focus on long books that I haven’t gotten to. That’ll lower my number (probably) unless I really crank...."
145!! That’s amazing! I’m determined to keep my 100 goal even if I do go for some long reads. We’ll see how that goes.

I just wing it, lol. I just set the number I think I can do and adjust every year accordingly.

Ok, so reading challenge question. My 2022 challenge was for 100. On 12/31 it showed I’d read 101 but now it shows 98! I’ve seen it not add books before but come on, I want my 101! Any idea why this happens? I tried seeing if I didn’t put any of my read books into that shelf but didn’t see any.

Check your dates. Make sure they are correct and that your finish date is in 2022; change them to December 30th instead of 31st if you have to.

Nyssa wrote: "Check your dates. Make sure they are correct and that your finish date is in 2022; change them to December 30th instead of 31st if you have to."

Thanks I’ll try it!

i've set my goal to 10 as a new reader. those 10 should include the 8 books of the witcher (: but if im gonna be on a role, than 10 should be way easier than thought

I'm sort of a mood reader, but I always try to set myself a few goals. Usually it's a number goal, a finish-this-series goal, a read these books that I haven't gotten around to yet goal, and reread the Harry Potter series

Last year I decided to read 38 books cause that was my age. I flew past that and I think I got 64. Once I finally admitted that I just can’t sit and read a book like days past and fully embraced audiobooks, I was able to enjoy reading again. This year I only did 50 cause I don’t want to stress myself out. Chemo has definitely slowed my progress.

I have a problem with joining too many group reads. I’m way behind on The Expanse now cause of chemo and I’m feeling guilty about it!

Felina wrote: "Last year, I decided to read 38 books cause that was my age. I flew past that, and I think I got 64. Once I finally admitted that I just can't sit and read a book like days past and fully embraced au..."

Felina, I didn't know. (((HUGS)))

Stop feeling guilty!!

I just started Abaddon's Gate yesterday, and I have so many group & buddy reads scheduled that I don't know that I'll be able to catch up by reading Cibola Burn this month. I may end up staying a month behind through the end.

I used to take my reading total from the previous year and then multiply by 1.5 - but that screwed me up one year so now I just go up to the next number ending in 0.

Shawna wrote: "I'm sort of a mood reader, but I always try to set myself a few goals. Usually it's a number goal, a finish-this-series goal, a read these books that I haven't gotten around to yet goal, and reread the Harry Potter series"

I am not sure you are aware or not, Shawna but we have the Harry Potter series going on right now. We have individual threads for Books 1-3 in the Fantasy folder.

I will be setting up a thread for book 4 probably next week for a March read. We decided to do a series run of the books for long time fans and new readers. The threads for the books are open - we do not close book threads on here so if you wanted to start a reread of the series you can always jump on one of those threads to discuss. :)

Felina wrote: "Last year I decided to read 38 books cause that was my age. I flew past that and I think I got 64. Once I finally admitted that I just can’t sit and read a book like days past and fully embraced au..."

64 is a great number to read for the year, Felina! Great job on surpassing your book goal for last year.

With book goals the best thing to do is do you. I remember one year I setting my reading goal for 10 I think - that was years ago and I surpassed that goal pretty quick.

50 books is a good round number - I have used that number a few times myself. Good luck on your reading goal this year. :)

Do not feel guilty on being behind on The Expanse buddy read. The buddy read and group read threads are always open - we do not close threads in this group. You may jump in anytime when you get ready to read the series and the members that are reading it will interact with you.

Kirsten wrote: "I used to take my reading total from the previous year and then multiply by 1.5 - but that screwed me up one year so now I just go up to the next number ending in 0."

I am curious Kirsten - how did that screw you up that year?

Anything ending in "0" will work. :)

Nyssa wrote: "Felina wrote: "Last year, I decided to read 38 books cause that was my age. I flew past that, and I think I got 64. Once I finally admitted that I just can't sit and read a book like days past and ..."

Ha ha. Thanks! I'm feeling better and got through the two shorts that come before Abaddon. Unfortunately, I have 8 weeks to wait for Abaddon so I'll be mighty behind. Oh well. Like Marie said, the threads are always open.

One more month of Chemo and then I'm done. Yay!

Aww Feina, that's great news, wishing you the best of health and speedy recovery, lots of hugs! <3

Marie wrote: "Kirsten wrote: "I used to take my reading total from the previous year and then multiply by 1.5 - but that screwed me up one year so now I just go up to the next number ending in 0."

I am curious ..."

I missed it by so much. Not sure how.