How to Build Your Yearly Reading List

It's no secret that we love books around The Bookery—and we're already looking forward to the adventures we'll dive into next year. So as we count down the hours until a new, fresh year, here are a few tips to help you build your yearly reading list.

Set some goals. Truth: You probably won't complete anything if you don't set a goal. Whether it's a time-focused goal (EX: I want to finish 2 books a month next year) or quantity-centered (EX: I want to read 20 books), actually writing your goal or sharing it with someone who can help hold you accountable will help you accomplish it. (Bonus truth: To actually reach any goal, you can't just set it on Jan. 1 and never check in with it again. Set benchmarks or appointments with yourself when you will examine your progress throughout the year.)

Make your list. Your list can be simple—just some handwritten titles in your planner or a note in your phone. Tools like Goodreads allow you set a yearly reading challenge—and will update your progress as you mark books complete. You can also create a reading list on Goodreads that's easily to share with others. You can also simply create a document listing all the titles you've selected and mark them off as you complete the book.

Add books from a genre you don't naturally pick. Maybe you love historical fiction and rarely select a memoir. Perhaps you only read leadership books or nonfiction. You could focus most of your reading on a particular author or time period. Try to pick a couple of titles that get you out of your comfort zone just a bit.

Add a few books you've always wanted to read. There's that best seller that everyone is talking about but you haven't read it yet. Or that book that seemingly everyone else read in high school or college, but somehow you missed it. Classic, thriller, whatever it might be—add a few books you've heard a lot about but never read to the list.

Pick a few books to reread. Some people hate rereading books or rewatching movies—but there can be benefits to rereading a book, particularly if you read it when you were much younger. Take To Kill a Mockingbird, for example. Most of us read that book in junior high or high school, college at the latest. Because of our age at the time, we likely identified more with the children in the book. But if you read To Kill a Mockingbird as an adult, you'll find yourself in Atticus' and Calpurnia's shoes.

Let someone else do the work. From Jenna Bush Hager's book selections to Reese Witherspoon's book club and the staff picks at bookstores, there are tons of ways to find good reads. Consult best seller list or end-of-year recommendations from NPR, the New York Times, Amazon, your local library, celebrities, bloggers or writers you follow, and more to find selections you may have missed.

Listening counts! A good story is a good story. Don't overlook audio books when it comes to filling out your yearly reading list. Some audio books are so well done they become classics in their own right. Check out some current best sellers.

Whatever you decide to read next year, we want to know about it. Share a few of your picks in the comments.