This year has been a bit of a mess for those of us who set yearly goals. When we were writing out new years resolutions none of us could have predicted what was to come. I don’t know about you, but I’ve completed less than half my goals because many of them, like doing a 10K charity run, simply couldn’t happen due to safety concerns.

This got me thinking when it came to plan my goals for 2021 and what type of goals would be even feasible with the current state of the world. Then there was the question of are goals even the right thing to me making for the new year, can my mental heath handle that added pressure? After a bit of thinking and talking to those who know me the best, I’ve decided to set as little goals as possible and instead create bucket lists of things I’d like to do next year. Sure, there will be some goals being made, I’ll still have financial ones, business ones and even an updated Goodreads challenge, but there won’t be many. Life is too unpredictable right now for big set targets.

The idea is that bucket lists take off some pressure that a goal would do but still gives me some form of direction for the year. They also feel far more exciting and intimate than a big end of year goal. I’ll also get more satisfaction by crossing off many small activities over the year, I think that will help keep me motivated.

So, in the name of all thing bookish I’m going to share with you my reading bucket lists for 2021. I’ll still be doing the Goodreads challenge throughout the year, but I haven’t decided if I want to aim for 25 or 30 books this year, I struggled enough with 20 this year.

Read by a campfire at night

Campfire, fire pit, urn, I don’t care about the specifics. At some point in the year I want to be bundled in blankets outside with a good book, warm fire and a hot chocolate.

Read a book in a day

I think the idea of reading a book in one day because you loved it so much you just couldn’t put it down is amazing. It’s such a romantic reading notion that I really want to experience at some point.

Read a book a stranger recommended to me

At Uni we’re told to ‘read wide’ what basically means read books we wouldn’t usually pick up. I think a good way to do this is to read a book that a stranger recommended to me.

Join a book club

For a book lover I do often wonder how I’ve managed to never have been part of a book club before. They feel like a staple for book lovers but somehow, I’ve never joined one. I like the idea of them and this upcoming year I’d like to be in one.

Get more books from charity shops

I don’t have a lot of space in my house for books and as a student I don’t have a lot of money. With many of my local libraries still closed I think it’d be cool to buy books cheaply from charity shops, read them and then either pass them on to a friend or re-donate them.

Slowly increase my reading speed

Being dyslexic really sucks sometimes, I look at my fellow bloggers who can get though 50 books a year with such impostor syndrome sometimes. When I was tested for dyslexia last year, I took a reading speed test and the results weren’t exactly comforting. I read twice as slowly as the average of my age. It makes reading all those books in a year time-consuming. Over the course of the year I’d like to work on improving my reading speed. It’s likely I’ll never be as fast as my peers, but any improvement over the next year will be appreciated.

Read a book that’s over 500 pages long

There’s something so satisfying about finishing a massive book. I can’t remember the last time I finished a book that was over 500 pages long, but I intend to do it in 2021.

Read a book that’s been signed by the author

I only own one books that’s been signed by the author and it’s something that I cherish. A few of my favourite authors have new releases coming out in 2021 and I think it’d be so lovely to order a signed copy of their new book to add to my shelf.

Read a book a friend wrote

It’s only a matter of time till one of my Uni friends publish a book and when they do, I fully intend to support them and buy their book.

Be a beta reader

Being part of so many feedback groups as part of my degree has made me love helping fellow writers with their work. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to do this one, after all beta readers are supposed to be your average readers and not professionals (I think me doing plenty of English Literature modules at University and ding a whole degree in writing may take me out of the average reader category now). But even if I can’t be a beta reader, I’d love to help give feedback on an authors unpublished work.

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There we go, that was my reading bucket list for 2021, what did you think? Do you think you’ll make one yourself this year? I love the idea of the bucket list so much; it seems far more approachable than just having a yearly goal of read X number of books.

Cover photo: Leohoho on Unsplash