As the new year comes, so does the opportunity to set new reading challenges and goals. There are so many ways to approach this, but I am going to highlight a few of my favorites.

1. Find a Book Club If you are looking to change up some of your reading habits, having the accountability and social aspect of a group can help you finally finish those books, and maybe reach for something you wouldn’t have otherwise. Book groups are not necessarily one size fit all, so if you have tried it in the past and it wasn’t what you expected, I encourage you to try again. It can be hard finding a group, but here at the library where reading is part of our mission, we do host book clubs at each of our branches and beyond. Just call or stop in to your local branch to inquire with their adult services to learn about what opportunities there are. Or if you have a group of friends or a church group who are interested in starting your own book club but need a place to meet, take advantage of our community or study rooms and check out what titles we have available in our book club in a bag.
2. Join the Winter Reading Program.  From January 2 until February 6 we will be having our annual Winter Reading Program. Sometimes an incentive is what you need to get reading. You can log your reading on either a paper log from one of our branches or on the Beanstack app. This is open to children, teens, and adults. For every 8 hours of reading you complete your name will be entered into a drawing to win a prize! The more you read, the more chances you have to win
3. Log your reading and set goals StoryGraph and Goodreads are both wonderful sites where you can create a free account to log your reading. In both you can set goals for yourself, discover new books, and connect virtually with other readers. Both have apps available if you prefer that over a website. Setting goals, and making a visual representation of what you have read can help you up your reading game.
4. Write down what you’ve read Whether creating a list or an entire bullet journal, writing down what you’ve read brings a sense of satisfaction different from clicking a button on a website. I’ve been thinking about picking up journaling more, and am loving the idea of creating a book journal or reading log. After putting in the work to create it, I will definitely feel like I need to complete titles to fill it out. If this is something you’d be interested in and want to know where to get started, look for videos on youtube on book journaling for all kinds of ideas, from simple to beyond elaborate.
5. Find a challenge In addition to our reading program, or a website’s goals, you could also find a yearly challenge to try to complete. These are great for breaking out of any reading ruts and to find new genres you maybe haven’t read before. Some great ones to check out are; Popsugar,  Book Riot, Uncorked Librarian, Stacked Reviews, or find more here.

Hope this inspires you to read more in 2022. Happy Reading!