It’s been a while since I sent out an up to date Reading Report! I finished 2025 strong, achieving my goal of finishing 50 books during the year. I set a slightly lower numerical goal for myself this coming year, and I am changing how I approach my reading life. Let’s talk about it!
To Challenge or Not to Challenge?
Most years I join at least one, sometimes two, reading challenges that push me to finish a book a month and/or read from certain genres. This year, I decided that this approach to reading is taking some of the joy and whimsy out of my reading choices. Instead of feeling motivated in a positive way, I ended up always feeling behind or like I somehow had failed if I didn’t finish a book “on time.” So in 2026 my hope is to read more of whatever I wish in whatever time-frame I want and not feel rushed or required to read something that frankly doesn’t interest me. Here’s a year of whimsical, unbothered reading!
Reading in Company
Just because I am not joining challenges doesn’t mean, however, that I am also saying goodbye to local book clubs. I am still meeting with a local group of Charlotte Mason moms who are reading through her volumes, and I am trying to keep up with that reading (although I don’t always remember to do that!) I also am still reading with the other moms in our nature group, but we have slowed down our pace a bit lately because we are all busy ladies! I enjoy the in-person discussions we have in both of these groups, and I find them encouraging instead of joy-sucking like reading challenges have been.
Reading for Whimsy
So this year I am not making a goal list or planning out my reading. Instead, I am just picking up whatever book strikes my fancy and reading it at my own pace. The first book I read this year was The Leper of Saint Giles by Ellis Peters. This is one of the Brother Cadfael mysteries, which I have been reading through slowly for a few years now. I was a tiny bit disappointed with the plot line of this particular title, mostly because I found it predictable and had guessed “who done it” well before the book’s end. Still, I plan to keep reading these because I find them to be engaging stories without being too creepy or gory for my tastes. However, if I keep solving the mysteries before I get to the end, I may give up the series because that does rather take the fun out of it for me.
Right now I am actively reading The House of Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I have had a lovely hardback copy of this on my shelf for several years and have been wanting pick it up and start it for some time. I know virtually nothing about the book except that it is supposed to be Gothic fiction, so I am looking forward to seeing how the story develops. I am also listening to The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Stratton-Porter along with our nature group moms. I didn’t know anything about this book when I started and was surprised that it was about a WWI veteran and is set in California. I have read a few other of Porter’s books, and they have all been set at least partly in her own home state of Indiana. It has been interesting to start seeing themes of self-sacrifice and the healing power of nature, as well as the sovereignty of God, come out at as I read.
I am also still slowly making my way through Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner. It’s been a slow read for me because although I enjoy the story while I am reading it, I don’t find it something I am drawn to very often. It will get finished eventually, but I am not in a hurry.
What’s Next?
Who knows where my reading will take me in the coming year. I am not making a plan or a list of what I want to read, only writing down what I have read as I finish. It is likely that this will significantly reduce the number of books I actually finish since I don’t have deadlines, but I hope that if will also increase my enjoyment of what I do read and allow me to slow down and savor things a bit more.
How about you? Have you joined any reading challenges this year? Are you reading in community, whether online or locally? I would love to hear what you are reading now and how you have planned (or not planned) your reading for 2026!
Until next time, happy reading, friends!
