For the past few years, I've come up with a reading challenge every January. This year, I decided not to. However, that doesn't mean I don't have any reading goals. I'm notoriously slow in reading a series, and I intend to address that this year.
Months or years can pass between my reading one book in a series and the next. Even when I enjoyed the book I read and the next book is already available, I don't continue the series immediately. There's no good reason for waiting such a long time between books other than that I have a ton of books on my TBR list, and I don't believe I need to finish a series before moving on to the rest of my TBR.
While my 2025 goal won't be to finish all the series I've started (that would take more than a year!), I do want to do better in finishing some instead of letting them linger until future years or never completing them at all. I'm in the process of deciding which series I want to focus on. So far, top contenders include:
- Remembrance of Earth's Past - Cixin Liu - I read The Three-Body Problem a few years ago, and the Netflix series rekindled my interest in it. I re-read The Three-Body Problem in January, and I want to finish the rest of the trilogy this year.
- Farseer Trilogy - Robin Hobb - I can't believe I didn't read my first Robin Hobb book until last year. I started with The Assassin's Apprentice and liked it a lot. In 2025, I want to finish the rest of the Farseer Trilogy and move on to her other books in 2026 and beyond.
- The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - Stephen R. Donaldson - When I was a teenager, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever was one of my favorite fantasy series. Last year, I read The Runes of the Earth, the first book in The Last Chronicles series. It wasn't as good as the previous Thomas Covenant books, but I'd like to finish the series nevertheless.
- The Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan - Given how long this series is, I don't intend to finish it this year. I've read the first three books, and my goal is to read at least two more in 2025. At a minimum, I want to keep pace with Amazon's adaptation of the series.
There are other series I want to finish reading this year, but I haven't yet decided how to prioritize them. I think this will be a fun reading goal, and it'll help me clear out some books from my TBR list. I can't wait to report back on my progress later this year!
