A new year brings new resolutions, and we decided to poll our reviewers about their reading goals for 2019. We got quite a range of responses, from specific number goals to tackling new and unfamiliar genres. What are your reading goals for the new year?

“My primary reading goal for this year is to read more young adult and children’s books. I recently went back to school to become an elementary school teacher. Consequently, I’m eager to discover new authors and books to share with my future classes. I hope to find books that ignite a lifelong love of reading within my students, like so many children’s books did for me.”
– Addison Fleming

“I want to try to read at least half of my book backlog and not buy any more books until I do!”
– Barbara Cothern

“I just finished a major book project where I was reading books on American and Canadian roots music. My goals are to continue to play catch-up while the editing is occurring, and to take a bit of a break from reading music book and to read novels.”
– Dick Weissman

“My reading goal for this year is to find stories that spark an interest and hopefully a passion in genres I normally would not care about.”
– Eric Stalker

“As a retiree with time on my hands, I have rediscovered the joy of reading for fun. The only problem is there are more books than I can possibly read!”
– Howard Leighton

“My goal this year is to, well, get back to reading! Sometimes life takes over and throws you through a lot of hurdles. While this hasn’t been a bad thing for me, it has meant less time to bury my nose in a good book. My goal is to read 20 books this year and to finally tackle the daunting journey of reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy.”
– Julia Gaskill

“Believe it or not, I want to read less! More specifically, I want to slow down and focus on one book at a time versus my usual routine, which is juggling 5-6 books at once. I’m constantly flooded with so many great book recommendations – from my book club, from publishing newsletters and blogs, from friends – I’d like to read them all, but I can’t keep up! I think that fully focusing on one book will be more enjoyable for me and will help with my personal writing goals, too.”
– Laura Di Giovine

“I don’t ever read science fiction, but I surprised myself by reading one last year and really liking it. I’d like to give another sci-fi title a try this year too. I also look forward to reading books by authors I haven’t tried this year!”
– L Ruby Hannigan

“I would like to read over 100 books this year. Last year I reached 93 but there were a few slumps that I hope to avoid this year. In addition, I would like to read at least one non-fiction title a month. I don’t read non-fiction unless it’s for work and I’d like to change that.”
– Maria Whelan

“Read the stack of books currently on my nightstand and try to read more titles by authors with backgrounds different from mine.”
– Megan McIntyre

“As a reader who mostly visits the fantasy, science fiction, mystery and young adult
sections of bookstores, I hope to find new authors and rediscover horror authors I read in
high school. I am hoping to try a few Lois Duncan novels as well as continue reading
more Stephen King, Gretchen McNeil, and Christopher Pike books. For Christmas, I
received numerous books, a few from new authors I am excited to read, including Rick
Riordan, Lisa Maxwell, Kara Thomas, and Dana Mele. Upcoming and new releases of
my favorite authors, including Cassandra Clare, Holly Black, Karen M. McManus,
Adriana Mather, and Maureen Johnson will be instant purchases this year.

I hope to find more fairytale retellings and mythology novels to read as well as more
Agatha Christie styled whodunits with excellent twists. In addition, I will revisit novels
that I have not reread in a while. This includes Mary E. Pearson’s The Adoration of Jenna
Fox, Escape From Furnace Series by Alexander Gordon Smith, The Lying Game by Sara
Shepard, as well as Cassandra Clare’s The Infernal Devices series before Chain of Gold is
released. My goal is to read one hundred books this year.”
– Megan Stevens

“I want to read a few things I’ve dismissed as not worth my time, but someone I know has a fondness for it. I also want to tackle a few interesting non-fiction titles I set aside and ‘forgot’ about in favor of something more stress-relieving.”
– MJ Barber-Isaac

“My reading goal is to read or listen to a book a week. I’m looking at more books on the Tarot and Lenormand divination systems, dream work (especially Robert Moss), and Shamanism (Sandra Ingerman, Hank Wasserman, Alberto Villoldo). I’m also looking into more on Death Midwives/Doulas. My attempts to deepen my spiritual walk.”
– ML Monroe

“My reading goal for the year is to read 60 books. I was really close last year, but didn’t quite get there.”
– Roberta Kelley

“I want to make a dent into reading through the books gathering dust on my shelves.”
– Sarah Hutchins (Bookshelf photo below)

“My goal is to get out of my comfort zone and read at least one new genre. And as always, learn something new with each book I read and review.”
– Seniye Groff

“I read quite a few books for the book review, and while it’s a blast to tackle new releases, I’ve started to feel bad about my ever-growing backlog of books that I bought ages ago and have never read. My goal for this year is to tackle one book from my backlog that I’ve had for a year or more for every new release I review.”
– Whitney Smyth

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