Reading Goals 2019

I´ve been thinking a lot about what I want to achieve in 2019. There are many private goals, but also a lot of things I want to change concerning my reading habits.

I was so crazy about books that I couldn´t resist buying books when they where on sale. I accumulated more and more books for which I had no time to read. Often I also lost the interest to get into these books after purchasing them. Sometimes you can´t see your own flaws, I realized. Maybe my attitude towards books changed after I saw a former friend of mine always buying more and more stuff, even when there wasn´t much space left in her flat.

So I challenged myself in 2018: If you buy a book, buy only a single one and read it immediately after purchasing it. I was really strict with myself, so it worked out very well! I bought five books in total in 2018: A novel which I adored; three poetry books my boyfriend imported for me from the US but couldn´t afford when he got an enormous bill for the shipping costs alone; and one paperback I bought on a flea market. I read all books except the flea market book. I don´t know why my strategy didn´t work out in that case at all. I planned to read it in spring but the time went by so quickly and here we are in January 2019!

But now let me finally introduce you to my reading goals for 2019!

 

1. Read all of your unread books!

Even though I gave so many unread books away, there are still three small shelves left with books I´d like to read. There are about 50 books left I still need to either sort out or read. I hope to finish these 50 books in 2019.

 

2. Read more e-books than physical copies!

I think this goal won´t be too easy for me. I love physical copies of books. I love touching and smelling them, rearranging them on my shelves and simply looking at them. But physical books have this hoarding effect on me. I love collecting things but I try not to. I don´t want to own too much stuff (I´m kind of a minimalist-newbie). I live in a big house and the cleaning procedures are already exhausting enough so I don´t want to have to swipe the dust off too many books. Sounds kind of crazy, me being a bookworm. But there´s also another reason why I try to read more e-books: I am a flight attendant, so I´m traveling a lot. E-readers are just perfect for people who are always on the run. Another reason why I´d like to reduce the amount of physical books I consume is that I often give a lot of books, I don´t have any desire to keep, away. It´s just a waste of resources in my opinion. I´m trying to reduce the impact of my ecological footstep by living greener and thinking about our environment more often when shopping. Of course I keep all the books that make me happy. But speaking frankly, not that many books a worthy enough to be given permanent residence on my bookshelf.

 

3. Read more books you REALLY enjoy!

I used to by a lot of books just because they had a beautiful cover. I had the strong desire to simply own them, to collect and possess them. So, of course I accumulated a bunch of – sorry – crap. I don´t want to have to read books just because I spent a lot of money on them. I think e-books are very helpful when deciding what to read next because you don´t download an e-book because of it´s cover which you´ll probably see only once – and that in black and white – but because you´re really interested in the storyline! And putting away a digital form of book is easier than giving up on a physical copy that will probably sit on your shelf, always in view, always judging you why you didn´t finish it.

 

I´m so very curious about what 2019 will be like. I´m looking forward to reading amazing books, seeing new places and meeting wonderful people!

What are your goals for 2019? Leave me a comment! ❤

 

Love

Stephanie