Last year, I intentionally set my GoodReads goal lower than the year before. Admittedly, I still ended up reading 76 books, but having a lower goal led to more discerning, attentive, and formative reading—both of dense classics and the occasional “brain candy” book.
If you’re looking to read better—not just more—this year, consider keeping your GoodReads goals modest in order to foster the following freedoms:
The Freedom to Read Deeply
I see so many GoodReads users celebrating reading over 100 books per year, but their literary diet is often comprised of shallow books—i.e., many contemporary romances and few (if any) classics. Reading is fun, and I don’t want to discourage anyone from enjoying a wholesome and entertaining story now and then. However, just as our diet should not be primarily Hershey’s kisses, our reading habits should include “meaty” texts as well.
This year, I wanted to read deeply. I wanted to resist the pull of the secular publishing industry, in which books are increasingly treated as consumer products and produced with all the care of fast fashion. I wanted to read thoughtfully, with the freedom to linger over beautiful phrases and challenging ideas. I didn’t want to binge on under-nourishing books simply to boost my GoodReads stats.
The Freedom to Read Longer Books
On one of my favorite podcasts, the hosts joked about how when they were falling short of their GoodReads goals, they read a bunch of children’s picture books to catch up. Now, I love children’s literature and will never scorn a well-written book, no matter how short. But I didn’t want to bypass hefty tomes simply because they would not increase my final tally. Instead, I wanted the freedom to spend two months enjoying War and Peace rather than fifty kids’ books. I wanted to live in long texts, getting to know their characters and settings, and letting them sink into my soul in a way that fly-by reads can’t.
The Freedom to Read Selectively
I wanted to read with greater selectivity. In the past, I’ve felt pressured to finish books I thoroughly hated simply so I could check them off as “read” on GoodReads. But now I am determined not to waste my time on books that are neither significant nor enjoyable. For instance, this year, I slogged through Catcher in the Rye despite not enjoying it because it is a culturally significant work and, therefore, worth finishing. But why, oh why, did I force myself to finish Where the Crawdads Sing when I found it neither important nor interesting?
But there is freedom in selective reading. This summer, I felt such relief in putting aside a highly-recommended book that I did not find edifying or entertaining. I skipped to the conclusion, jammed it back on its shelf, and gratefully moved on to a better book (in my opinion) without a second thought.
The Freedom to Read Purposefully
2025 was filled with homework. I did an independent study on pastors and poetry, which was fascinating, but which led me to read books in bits and pieces. For instance, I could not in good conscious rate, review, and log The Complete Poetry of John Donne on GoodReads when I only read a quarter of it. Similarly, I’ve read chapters from dozens of books for my dissertation, but have not read most of them in full.
But while last year’s reading was partial, it was purposeful. I wanted the freedom to use books for intentional research, to dig around in their indexes and flip through the chapters most relevant to my work. Such focused reading turned out to be just as (and perhaps more) informative than reading full texts.
The Freedom to Reread
You can log rereads on GoodReads, but it’s a bit tedious. Another problem with contemporary book culture is that we tend to prioritize novelty. But I love rereading. Even now, I am happily enjoying another trek through Yorkshire with James Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small. I reread many favorites last year, including Gaudy Night and Gone with the Wind. I wholeheartedly agree with the various writers who have quipped that any book truly worth reading must also be worth rereading.
The Freedom to Read without Logging
I foresee reading quite a few board books this year once my son is born. I’ll log some of them—especially those written by authors I want to support—but do I really need my GoodReads “Year in Review” filled with Goodnight Gorilla or Brown Bear, Brown Bear? Probably not.
And do I need to log each book of the Bible I read? Probably not, though I certainly could. I want the freedom to read books here and there without logging them. Sometimes, too, I want to read material that can’t be logged, like magazines, journals, and friends’ blogs.
Conclusion: Reading Responsibly
On the whole, I am a big fan of GoodReads challenges. Anything that motivates people to read more is a win in my book—pun intended. But this was perhaps one of my most memorable years of reading because I kept my goal attainable. I knew that, so long as I read daily, I would have no trouble reaching it. But I also knew that it would allow me to be a responsible reader—not just a ravenous one.
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Here’s to another year of reading and writing!
Ryanne Molinari 