When did reading – the thing we do for pleasure – become another item on our productivity checklist?
📚 TL;DR
After an introspective 2025, I’m done with hustle culture in my reading life. My goals: read just 24 books (my lowest ever), complete Bookopoly for fun, read more Irish authors (especially Sally Rooney and Catherine Ryan Howard), ignore the hype, create healthier boundaries with online book culture, and finally annotate Pride and Prejudice. Bottom line: no more grinding. Just plain old living and loving books again.
Why I’m Done Chasing Reading Goals
Hello, my friends! Happy 2026! I am absolutely buzzing for this year – I have such a good feeling about it.
I had a very introspective 2025. I put serious work into my mental health through journaling and made many discoveries about myself, which will be reflected in this year’s goals.
2026 is all about enjoyment and giving myself space to just be. Not every moment has to be productive – and they shouldn’t be! Reading and other hobbies don’t have to be about grinding to reach targets or to be the best YOU you can be. They do this naturally anyway. We don’t need to force it!
So, on that note, my first goal for 2026 is to read less!
My 2026 Reading Goals
📖 Lower Reading Goal: 24 Books
Reading is my favourite hobby, but it’s not my only hobby, and I don’t want the guilt of that reading goal number hanging over me when I don’t feel like reading.
I know audiobooks are always an option. I could easily listen while I’m colouring or scrapbooking, but to be honest, I prefer listening to the sounds around me. I like the gentle sounds of my house – the clocks ticking, the floors creaking, the cats stretching and playing. It’s so soothing to just be in the moment and not try to fill the silence.
Plus, I’m a firm believer that we need variety in our lives and multiple ways to reduce stress. Different activities give us different perspectives and help us grow creatively. You might be surprised how one hobby can affect your thinking about something completely unrelated.
I’m not saying I won’t listen to audiobooks or that I’m going to stop myself reading – just that I’m not going to chase a quantity of books. You might be wondering why I don’t scrap the reading goal altogether and that’s because I don’t like all or nothing thinking. There’s room for nuance and enjoyable targets.
🎲 Complete Bookopoly (For Fun!)
Now, I realise I just said I wasn’t going to chase a number of books, but I do want to complete a reading challenge this year.
I made Bookopoly a few years ago (templates are free here on my blog) and mostly finished it in 2023, but this year I actually want to play it. My plan is to do one circuit of the board, so pretty low stakes.
I’m going to play the digital version I made with my Book Tracker Spreadsheet that you can get [here] if you want. It has the new and improved version of the tracker with Bookopoly added to make everything nice and cohesive.
☘️ Read More Irish Books
I had this goal in my head for 2025 as well, but of my 37 books read, only 6 were by Irish authors. That is way too low!
Top of my list are Sally Rooney (because everyone seems to be mad about her) and Catherine Ryan Howard (because I want to read more thrillers).
This goal kind of leads into my next one, which is…
🚫 Ignore the Hype
The majority of books I’ve read have been by American authors—specifically white lady American authors. The romance genre seems to be saturated by them, and since that’s what I read most, they’re who I’ve read.
Their books get hyped so freaking much on social media it’s insane, and they do not always deserve the hype. With some of these books, it feels like it’s just marketing.
Whatever is going on with the hype train, I am almost always disappointed. And when I say ignore the hype, I mean ignoring books that people gush over in general. I recently picked up a book because several people were gushing over it on Discord, and then it turned out to be so terribly written I suspected these people were plants trying some sort of guerrilla marketing.
So yeah, I’m going to be more careful with the books I pick now.
🛡️ Creating Boundaries
On the subject of ignoring online chatter, one thing I really need in 2026 is boundaries.
Thanks to the great and powerful algorithm, I am bombarded with opinions all the time. I know the algorithm learns from my behavior, but geez, could it chill out a bit?
I have so much depressing news and opinions flying at me all the time I feel like I need to police myself and everyone else constantly! Which isn’t realistic for day-to-day life. I can’t attack my dentist for his opinions on a situation in a country we don’t live in. I do not want to debate my uncle for his beliefs despite how offensive I find them.
I want to make my world smaller, more intimate – at least online. I can’t fight everyone else’s battles, and I can’t carry the weight of them in my head. It stresses me the feck out!
✍️ Annotate Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
And finally, my last goal is a fun one!
I have a cheap edition of Pride and Prejudice that I bought specifically for annotating, but I’ve only gotten as far as tabbing it. I have a little annotation kit I put together especially for this project, but I’ve barely used it.
It’s been sitting in my hobby basket, watching me tackle other projects all the time. I have a collection of ephemera to add to the book as well (similar to what I did with my edition of Emma) but I want to do so much more with Pride and Prejudice because I love it so much.
Just Plain Old Living
So, those are my goals for 2026. To be honest, all I really want is to enjoy what I read.
This is just a list of things I’d like to achieve, but if it’s December 10th and I’ve only read 16 books, you’re not going to see me sprinting toward my reading goal with short books and novellas. Whatever will be, will be. That’s the vibe I’m taking into 2026.
No more grinding, no more hustle, no more aesthetics!
It might sound like I’m embracing slow living or something, but nope. Just plain old living.
Over to You
Thank you so much for joining me today! I hope you have a wonderful start to the year and wish you all the luck with your goals, whatever they may be.
Are you scaling back your reading goals this year, or going full steam ahead? What books are on your radar? Drop a comment below—I’d especially love to hear your Irish author recommendations!
📰 Posts Mentioned:
- 2026 Reading Tracker Spreadsheet: Free Tools to Track Your Reading Goals
- Free Bookopoly Reading Challenge Template for Your Reading Journal
- 2026 Reading Tracker with Bookopoly Challenge: Turn Your Reading Into a Game
- Emma by Jane Austen Altered Book
- When Hobbies Become Hustle: How I Lost (and Found) the Joy in My Creative Projects
Elaine Howlin 
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