My Reading Resolutions for 2025
12 books I've had forever I want to read this year and the books I'm most looking forward to!
Happy New Year book besties!!
One of the things I love most about January 1st is setting my reading goal for the year. In 2022 and 2023 I aimed for 100 books and just scraped in, but I only aimed for 80 in 2024 because I knew it was going to be a VERY busy year, and I didn’t make it. But that’s okay - it’s just a bit of fun. No lives were at stake.
2025 is looking to be a pretty busy year as well, maybe even busier than 2024, so this year I’m giving myself what feels like a much more reasonable goal of 74 books. That’s 1.4 books a week.
One of the other reasons I didn’t meet my goal in 2024 is that I’m a very messy reader. By that I mean that I start lots of books and don’t always finish them (which means I can’t add them to my tally) - not because I’m not enjoying them (although sometimes that’s the case) but because there are SO many other books I want to read that I end up reading multiple ones at the same time, and some times, some just fall off my radar.
So, in 2025 my goal is also to be more considered in my reading.
Each month I have to read one book for the Rachael Johns’ Book Club, one book for Reading Between Deadlines, research books for my own work and I’m also sent books to blurb (although I’m going to do less of these moving forward). I’m also a bit of a mood reader and so I don’t really like planning too much what I’m going to read in advance, BUT this year I do want to read some of the books that have been in my to-be-read pile for a LONG time. In order to do this, I’m going to aim to read one book per month from the list below. Wish me luck!
12 books from the dark depths of my TBR pile to knock off in 2025:
RODHAM by Curtis Sittenfeld - she’s one of my FAVE authors; wrote one of my fave books, ELIGIBLE, and I’m keen to read this reimagining of what things might have been like if Hillary Clinton had turned down Bill’s marriage proposal.
VALLEY OF THE DOLLS by Jacqueline - this novel sounds like it was beloved and berated when it first came out in 1966, a little like Fifty Shades of Grey. It was the biggest-selling novel the year it was published (despite critics calling it badly written) and in the almost 60 years since, it’s apparently sold a whopping 31-million copies!!!
BROTHER OF THE MORE FAMOUS JACK by Barbara Trapido - so many novelists I love have recommended this book in interviews and podcasts (Jessica Dettman, Meg Mason, Ann Patchett and more) that I desperately need to see what all the fuss is about.
THE GROUP by Mary McCarthy - another classic that Google declares “Ground-breaking in its fearless portrayal of female friendship, sex and the struggle to have it all, The Group was a revelation, a scandal, and an instant bestseller.” I adore novels about female friendship and am also curious to see how far we’ve really come since this one was written.
OUTLAWED by Anna North - this book, about a woman who becomes an outlaw in 1894 when women, after a tragic pandemic, are forced to have children to replace those who were lost, sounded like a hoot (and so unique) when it first came out so I bought it immediately. It was also a Reese Witherspoon book club and I generally like her recommendations.
MAGPIE by Elizabeth Day - I’m not much into psychological thrillers (feel like most of them have been very same since Gone Girl) but everyone was raving about this book a few years ago and Elizabeth Day (her podcast and her Substack) seem pretty cool, so I bought it.
COMMONWEALTH by Ann Patchett - I’m ashamed to admit I’ve only read Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (which I loved), despite buying Commonwealth LONG ago when my agent said she had loved it. This is the story about siblings and having none of my own (well, none that I grew up with or know well), I love reading about them.
IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume - come on? It’s Judy Blume. Nuff said.
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie - this is where I confess I’ve never read an Agatha Christie novel and that just feels wrong for an author. 2025 is the year I rectify it and this seems to be the one most recommended (which is probably why I bought it all those years ago).
MISERY by Stephen King - his book ON WRITING is one of the best books about writing I’ve ever read and I heed a lot of his advice, yet I’ve never read one of his novels (I know, more shame. What have I been doing with my life? I blame being so obsessed with a boy in high school I didn’t read ANY books. What a waste of time). This one is about an author so seems like a good place to start.
CLOUDSTREET by Tim Winton - I probably SHOULD have read this in high school but see above. I’ve actually only read two books by Tim (Dirt Music, which I loved, and Lockie Leonard, which every Aussie kids in the nineties was made to read), but it’s such a talked about Aussie classic and I feel not having read it, it’s remiss of me.
THE SLAP by Christos Tsiolkas - came out in 2008 and was HUGE in Australia (not sure about the rest of the world) but I had three kids under four back then and at the time I was focusing on trying to write for Mills & Boon, so was mostly reading them (and they were great because they were short and my time was limited). Again, this feels like one of those books (along with Cloudstreet, Jasper Jones - which I have read, and Looking For Alibrandi) that is required reading for all Aussies.
Which book from the above do you think I should pick up first?
New releases I’m looking forward to this year (in no particular order):
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes (this is actually no longer on my list as I was lucky enough to score an advanced reading copy and I devoured it over Christmas. Spoiler - I LOVED it)
The Academy by Elin Hildebrand and Shelby Cunningham
Swept Away by Beth O’Leary (I’m also lucky enough to have an ARC of this but haven’t got to it yet)
Show and Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
What are your reading goals for 2025 and what books are you MOST looking forward to?
Love this list, Rach! You've pinged a few books/authors that have been on my radar. I've read other books by some of those authors, but the only one I've read is Valley of the Dolls. Waaaaay back in my twenties when I was in a period of reading books and watching movies I felt needed to be imbibed in order to have an opinion of my own. :)
Loved this article!! Thanks Rachael, you are always so thorough!! Oh! You have so many goodies on your list! The Group and Commonwealth - so good!!
I get that you haven’t read many of Tim Winton’s books - but two is commendable! I feel people think he’s “literary” but he’s such an eclectic writer and so much more than that! Loved Lockie Leonard!! Bugalugs Bum Thief was the first of his that I read (when I was teaching) and it is still one of my favourites!! Oh and after that - Breath!! It was so revealing!!
I don’t have a number, I just read what I want, when I want, and I read a lot! Retirement is bliss for a bookworm bibliophile - can’t wait for your Bad Bridesmaid to come out so I can gobble that one up!! x 😍
ps I kind of like the idea of someone else choosing and wrapping 12 books from my home library and rereading those each month as part of a surprise reread series - another one for your Dear Rach and Sophie podcast? (I hope you’re doing a series 3 - I love that SO much!!!)