2024 Reading Goals

At the start of 2023, I set myself five reading goals for the year. This year, I’m back with a new set of goals that reflect where I am currently with reading.

After reviewing my 2023 goals, I have set slightly different ones for the coming year. I love a challenge, so one of these goals is particularly hefty, but the rest I believe are very achievable and I am looking forward to the many books I will read in 2024.

Read 3 books from my ‘30 Before 30’ list

In 2021, I set myself a ‘30 Before 30’ list of books I would love to read in the next decade before my thirtieth birthday. Last year, I read two from the list - A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara and Educated by Tara Westover. This year, I hope to read A Promised Land by Barack Obama, Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi and What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Read the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2024 shortlist

My favourite literary prize is appearing on my goals list again this year. I did not achieve this one in 2023 due to the length of my physical TBR at the time. Though somewhat ambitious, I am determined to read the full shortlist, and maybe even a few from the longlist, which will be decided by judges Monica Ali (Chair), Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Laura Dockrill, Anna Whitehouse and Indira Varma.

Read one book from the Women’s Prize for Non Fiction 2024

This year, we have an exciting new prize in store - a non fiction Women’s Prize! The annual prize will ‘amplify female voices, whilst celebrating books that inform, entertain, challenge, disrupt, and offer solace and connection.’ Research emphasises how important this prize is: the Womens Prize Trust found that only 26.5% of non-fiction reviews in national newspapers was allocated to books by female writers, and 35.5% of books awarded a non-fiction prize over the past 10 years were written by a female writer across seven UK non-fiction prizes. I would love to read at least one of the books on the longlist this year in support of the inaugural prize.

Read at least fifteen non-fiction books this year

I exceeded my goal of fifteen non-fiction books last year, but this year I have kept the number the same because I do gravitate towards fiction and I think fifteen is a solid number to add balance to my 2024 reading journey.

Read one book from a top 2023 author’s backlist

At the end of every year, I reflect on my top three fiction and top three non-fiction of 2023. This year, I’d like to read a book from at least one of these authors’ backlists. I am leaning towards Barbara Kingsolver, but let’s see who I choose by the end of 2024!