In the gloomy, dark January in which I have been doing Dry-January-Veganuary-No-Planuary (fun!), I’ve been finding myself reaching for a book more often than ever, and making good headway into my 2020 reading plans.

Someone I follow on Instagram recently said that they felt like reading could sometimes seem like a competition where everyone is trying to compete to see who can read the most. The things is – I feel like I have that mentality, but I am just competing against myself…

So far this month I have done the unthinkable and been juggling about 4 books at one time. What with my Creative Writing MA dissertation reading, my non-fiction feminist agenda and, of course, the all-important reading for pleasure category, I have actually really enjoyed juggling multiple books and rotating around them depending on my mood.

From the audio book of Tara Westover’s Educated to Daisy Johnson’s weird and wonderful Fen (which I will be writing about for my dissertation) and Bernadine Evaristo’s brilliant Girl, Woman, Other, I have loved being an unfaithful book slut and plan to continue doing so throughout the rest of the year.

My reading plans for 2020

Reading and writing landscapes: this is what my dissertation will be on and I’m yet to finalise which texts I will focus on besides Fen. So far I’ve got Max Porter’s Lanny, Robert Macfarlane’s Ness and Sarah Moss’ Ghost Wall on my list. If anyone has any other recommendations, please let me know!

Books by women: this is pretty much all I read anyway, but I also want to read way more works by women of colour. My friend kindly gifted me Abi Daré’s The Girl with the Louding Voice which I can’t wait to read, and I’ve also got An Yu’s Braised Pork on my list. In the non-fiction category, Chanel Miller’s Know My Name will be something that definitely resonates with my own work. I know it will be a difficult but important read.

Books I enjoy: repeat after me – there’s no shame in enjoying reading what you read. Yes, I like YA fantasy. Yes, sometimes I just want to read something light and easy, or with a great plot. This will be the year I finally finish Sarah J. Maas’ Throne of Glass series (and probably get addicted to another fantasy series). Reading is supposed to be fun!

Tracking my reading

I have also been really enjoying using the iPhone app ‘Reading List’ to track what I’m reading and what I want to read. I’ve always been a pen and paper kind of girl, but there is something very satisfying about having everything in one place and being able to easily have a list of all the books I want to read.

How do you track your reading? Do you set yourself goals and targets, or do you just roll with it? Am I completely crazy to get this excited about my reading plans and how to track my reading? Let me know in the comments!