Shan's Reading

The Goodreads Yearly Book Challenge can intimidate and inspire. It’s not all about the number, but I also love hitting my book goal. From someone who’s read more than 100 books each year for the past three years, here are my tips to hitting your bookish goals.

Read More Books in 3 Simple Steps

Use Goodreads to track your books. Seriously, if you aren’t using it already, create a yearly goal on Goodreads and monitor your progress. It will track how far along you are in your challenge (two books behind, five ahead, or right on track, etc.) Use this as a motivator! It will also let you know the percentage you are through with each of your book, and you will love how that toolbar moves the more you read.

Listen to audiobooks. Guess what, audiobooks count! You can love all forms of books, and audiobooks are just as valid as any form of reading. (Read more about this in my audiobooks and ableism post). Listen to audiobooks when you’re commuting, cooking, doing chores, and getting ready. It’ll up you book count in no time.

Utilize your local Library. Local libraries are the best thing, honestly, and there’s a good chance you might not be utilizing them enough. Sign up for a library card (it’s free), download the Libby app, and connect your library card. Viola, you have access to hundreds of free physical books, e-books for your Kindle, and audiobooks that are well organized and just a click away.

I also think a way to read more books is to find the genre, or genres, you really like. Basically, just read what you really want. YA? Graphic Novels? Audiobook nonfiction? Yep yep yep read all the ones you want, there are no rules.

It can be hard to carve out reading time, which is why I love graphic novels that I can read rather than doom-scroll, or audiobooks to listen to when I’m too tired to pick up a book. Or, read a real page-turner like a thriller or rom-com.

How do you prioritize reading? What other tips would you add to reach your book goals?