Did I Complete My 25 For 2025 Goals? // Bookmas Day 1
As we wind down another year one of the big questions is, did I complete my 25 For 2025 goals?
I went into this year with confidence, delusion, and a Pinterest-board level of optimism. Most people pick 25 books to read. A cute theme with sense and logic… me? I thought, “No, Hannah, you’ll read more than that”…
So I took those 25 books and turned them into 52. Because I split them into 5 categories. Here’s how it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
What I Actually Planned…
Because I apparently like to suffer, my neat little set of five was:
- 5 standalones
- 5 sequels/prequels/next-in-a-series
- 5 classics
- 5 non-fiction
- 5 series from my physical TBR (which collectively contained 32 books)
Which, when combined with my usual “ooo a shiny new release!” chaos, resulted in a reading plan that was…mathematically impossible for me.
Non-Fiction: The First Category To Betray Me
I normally love a non-fiction. Give me a good family-history deep dive, a celebrity beginnings moment, or a life story full of chaos and I’m happy.
But this year? Non-fiction said, “Let’s drag the story”. Everything felt very specific. One event, audition or training period. One tiny slice of their life stretched into an entire book. And then they release another book covering another event, audition….etc and before you know it… I actually feel I both know too much and nothing at all.
I even picked up one autobiography because the blurb talked about their chaotic childhood and moving around and essentially a different childhood to mine that sounded interesting. Open the book? One chapter. So I tapped out. Non-fiction and I are not seeing eye to eye at all.
The frustrating thing? I picked non-fictions on my physical TBR. These books have all the hallmarks I want, but I bought a new release and ruined it.
0/5 completed.
Classics: I Watched Them Instead
I had big classic-reading energy in January. By March? I’d watched every adaptation known to man. Pride & Prejudice? Binged. Jane Eyre? Watched the tortured version AND the pretty one. Little Women? All the sisters, all the eras, all the Jo Marches.
Reading the classics? No. But watching the films? Absolutely.
I clearly needed my fix of the classic world, but I could not bring myself to read a single word of the actual books. I picked up Jane Eyre multiple times. Opened it, stared at the first page like it might magically read itself to me, and then quietly closed it again.
I haven’t read Jane Eyre since school, and when I was putting together my 25 for 2025 goals, I was convinced my classic era was coming. That itch to re-read it? Vanished overnight.
One minute I was ready to embrace my inner Georgian / Victorian /Civil War heroines… the next minute I was back on the sofa watching Mr Rochester be dramatic on screen instead.
Standalones & Sequels: The Winners
Let’s celebrate something, because it’s slim pickings. I did read all 5 on the list in the standalones, sequels and prequels category. So at least that was 10 books off the list and two sections that weren’t a total disaster.
Series on My TBR: An Unhinged Category Choice
Out of the five series I planned to tackle… I read one book…In my defence, I set myself up to fail brilliantly.
Four out of the five series were detective/murder-mystery-type books. And guess what genre I was barely in the mood for this year? It’s also frustrating as the few from that genre I did read were all new releases. It was a spectacular self-inflicted wound. Of which, I don’t think I will heal from.
Then There Were the Spending Goals…
Right, let’s talk about the part of my 25 for 2025 that went straight to hell.
The spending rules.
I told myself:
- £30 monthly limit at The Works
- It could roll over twice
- No paying for delivery
- Buy books in person only at the Works.
It was all very straight forward. Did I follow any of it? No. Not even by accident.
The Works? Overspent.
Waterstones? Spent more time there.
Tesco? I don’t even want to talk about it.
Next year… I need structure, boundaries and financial accountability. I think I have an answers which we will visit in my reading plans for 2026 post.
The Book Journal Tragedy
One of my goals was to finally use a book journal. So I bought the Always Fully Booked one from Little Inkling Designs.
I was filling in reviews, following the challenges, tracking my reading and then in June, I spilt a drink on it. Destroyed, warped, crispy when dry and the pages fused together like they were trauma bonding.
It was unusable, and honestly? I was devastated. I didn’t want to buy a new one halfway through the year, so that goal just died there on my desk.
But, I have bought a new one for 2026 and I am exciting to talk about it in another post. No drinks will be going near it.
Life Happened (And My Reading Schedule Didn’t)
When creating these goals for 2025, I was in a very different life situation. Here is what I didn’t take into account:
- Going back to work after surgery
- Having less reading time
- Surprise releases from auto-buy authors
- Mood swings (bookish ones, not personal… although both apply)
- Joining new fandoms mid-year
- Discovering new authors and wanting to read their entire backlist immediately
Basically, my structured TBR didn’t stand a chance.
The Monthly Slumps of Doom
As I’m writing this (prepping for Bookmas), it’s the end of November and I’m in yet another horrific reading slump.
I’ve started so many books and they’re good! I like them and I fully intend to finish them!
But I’m in a funk. I spoke to some fellow book friends about this and because I know my reading taste so well, maybe I need to challenge myself a little more? And I think not completing my goals this year has made everything feel heavier than it should.
Next Year: A Whole New Strategy
I decided to make my 2026 goals:
- Simpler
- More achievable
- Less overwhelming
- More in tune with how I actually read
- Kinder to myself
…and I’ll be sharing all of that in an upcoming Bookmas post.
Final Answer: Did I Complete My 25 for 2025?
No. Very no. Not even half.
But honestly? I learned a lot. And I’d rather “fail” a reading challenge than force myself through books I’m not in the mood for. Reading should be fun, not a homework assignment set by past me, who clearly had too much confidence and not enough realism.
So here’s to a better, calmer, more achievable reading year in 2026. I hope you stick around.
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As always, thanks for reading…
