Yearly Roundup Post #3: Tips and Tricks
Hey guys!
What are some tips and tricks you use to reach your reading goal, read regularly, motivate yourself to read plan your reading for next year?
Mine are:
Tip One: Join challenges
Tip Two: Use tags! I have a monthly tbr tag on Storygraph that I use to plan my reads for each month. I get analysis paralysis if I have to just pick my next read and I DNF books very easily anyway, so these keep me on track as far as paring down my options and giving me a little nudge to decide what I can choose from. I've also read a lot of cool books I never would've considered as a result of challenges: the r/fantasy bingo got me loving horror.
Tip Three: Download a few free books off Amazon for my kindle. This makes me feel like I am 'buying' books without actually spending money, and I can always delete them if they turn out to be bad.
Edited because the Reddit app apparently hates numbered lists.
https://redd.it/1prw6u2
@r_52book
Hey guys!
What are some tips and tricks you use to reach your reading goal, read regularly, motivate yourself to read plan your reading for next year?
Mine are:
Tip One: Join challenges
Tip Two: Use tags! I have a monthly tbr tag on Storygraph that I use to plan my reads for each month. I get analysis paralysis if I have to just pick my next read and I DNF books very easily anyway, so these keep me on track as far as paring down my options and giving me a little nudge to decide what I can choose from. I've also read a lot of cool books I never would've considered as a result of challenges: the r/fantasy bingo got me loving horror.
Tip Three: Download a few free books off Amazon for my kindle. This makes me feel like I am 'buying' books without actually spending money, and I can always delete them if they turn out to be bad.
Edited because the Reddit app apparently hates numbered lists.
https://redd.it/1prw6u2
@r_52book
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I’ve decided to keep a physical reading log this year and write down a page of thoughts about each book. Here’s my first entry for Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin!
https://redd.it/1q2vj4x
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Fell far short of my 15 goal with only 7, but I have a good excuse, we had a baby this year...
1. Dune (re-read)
2. Dune Messiah (re-read)
3. Children of Dune (re-read, last time I tried to read this book I put it down because it got so ridiculous, which is a common sentiment for the Dune series! Got through it this time and had moderately greater appreciation for it.
4. A Wizard of Earthsea. Took me awhile to appreciate it but I enjoyed Le Guin's understated prose and story telling.
5. God Emperor of Dune
6. Seven Storey Mountain. First religious book (it's an autobiography too) that I've read and it turned out to be my surprise favorite. Time period is 1920s/30s/40s and there was a lot of surprising thematic overlap with other period literature like Great Gatsby and Ragtime, except being a Catholic autobiography it has a completely different takeaway to the pressures / disappointments / terrors of modernity
7. The Orthodox Way
8. (doesn't fully count): Hesiod's Theogony (translated into English) it's pretty short and I never read the translator's critical analysis but would like to go back to finish it.
https://redd.it/1q3d1zx
@r_52book
1. Dune (re-read)
2. Dune Messiah (re-read)
3. Children of Dune (re-read, last time I tried to read this book I put it down because it got so ridiculous, which is a common sentiment for the Dune series! Got through it this time and had moderately greater appreciation for it.
4. A Wizard of Earthsea. Took me awhile to appreciate it but I enjoyed Le Guin's understated prose and story telling.
5. God Emperor of Dune
6. Seven Storey Mountain. First religious book (it's an autobiography too) that I've read and it turned out to be my surprise favorite. Time period is 1920s/30s/40s and there was a lot of surprising thematic overlap with other period literature like Great Gatsby and Ragtime, except being a Catholic autobiography it has a completely different takeaway to the pressures / disappointments / terrors of modernity
7. The Orthodox Way
8. (doesn't fully count): Hesiod's Theogony (translated into English) it's pretty short and I never read the translator's critical analysis but would like to go back to finish it.
https://redd.it/1q3d1zx
@r_52book
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Week 1: What are you reading?
Happy Sunday and happy 2026! Time to put our noses back to the grindstone - and back into our books!
Finished last fortnight:
Melaleuca by Angie Faye Thomas
A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
Asiri and the Amaru by Natalia Hernandez
Your Wild Omega by Sierra Knoxly
Prince's Master by Alessandra Hazard
Left You Dead by Peter James
Heat Island by Nola Heart
Moon by Wendy Rathbone
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder - Kerryn Mayne
Flunking with a Ghost by Baylin Crow
Wrong Number, Right Woman - Jae
Currently reading:
Will and Patrick Wake Up Married (novella series) - Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths
The Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simmons
Hiatus:
Eon by Alison Goodman - couldn't finish it in time, had to return it to the library.
https://redd.it/1q3lw5u
@r_52book
Happy Sunday and happy 2026! Time to put our noses back to the grindstone - and back into our books!
Finished last fortnight:
Melaleuca by Angie Faye Thomas
A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan
The Nightmare Before Kissmas by Sara Raasch
Asiri and the Amaru by Natalia Hernandez
Your Wild Omega by Sierra Knoxly
Prince's Master by Alessandra Hazard
Left You Dead by Peter James
Heat Island by Nola Heart
Moon by Wendy Rathbone
Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister
Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder - Kerryn Mayne
Flunking with a Ghost by Baylin Crow
Wrong Number, Right Woman - Jae
Currently reading:
Will and Patrick Wake Up Married (novella series) - Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths
The Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simmons
Hiatus:
Eon by Alison Goodman - couldn't finish it in time, had to return it to the library.
https://redd.it/1q3lw5u
@r_52book
Reddit
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