Every January, readers everywhere make the same hopeful promise: This is the year I finally tackle my TBR. Spoiler alert — the TBR almost always fights back.
For 2026, BookTrib’s staff is setting reading resolutions that are ambitious, realistic, slightly chaotic and refreshingly honest. From finally cracking open neglected classics and shopping our own shelves, to rereading beloved favorites, banning book-buying (temporarily!), and boldly embracing the DNF life, these goals are less about perfection and more about rediscovering the joy of reading. Consider this your permission slip to read smarter, read happier and maybe even break a few rules along the way.
Camryn
My goal is to read every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. I’m also aiming to read some of the classics that have been on my TBR for an embarrassingly long time. On the other hand, I’m going to give myself permission to DNF books more freely in 2026; life is short!
Barbara
My New Year’s book resolution is to reread one beloved book. Revisiting a favorite often reminds you why you love reading in the first place. You can rediscover familiar joys while noticing details you may have missed the first time. It’s like revisiting an old friend — comforting, inspiring, and always rewarding.
Some classic books to reread: Wuthering Heights, Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird. More recent favorites to reread: The Book Thief, The Other Boleyn Girl, The Kite Runner.
Cammy
My reading resolution for 2026 is to prioritize reading the books I own. I have stacks and stacks of unread books, and what do I do when I step foot into a bookstore? I buy more books. What do I get as gifts? More books. I need to get through these piles & focus on using the Libby app and the library from now on.
Caroline
Set a timer and commit to reading for 30 minutes each day. I’m also putting myself on a book-buying ban until I’ve worked through my current stack. On the writing front, my goal is to put down 250 words a day.
JeriAnn
The public might be shocked at how many books the BookTrib team reads each year. We often top some readers’ annual total in a single month. My reading resolution for 2026 isn’t to read more or less, but rather to pull some old partially written manuscripts out of mothballs and write. I pen a lot of shortform content. What would it be like to write a novel-length manuscript in 2026 and then get to read it? One hundred thousand words, here I come!
Kendall
I would love to challenge myself to shave my bookshelf TBR in half! I can’t even SEE some of my books because they are squirreled away or have others stacked in front of them.
My goal is to read 1 of my bookshelf books a month, and if I’m not obsessed with it — gift it to a friend or my local coffee shop library. As an added goal, I would love to keep a journal to annotate or blurb each of the books I read, it might even make it easier to choose who to give them to!
Monique
I’ll keep it realistic for myself and try to read 1 classic book each month.
Natalie
My reading resolution is to read more books that feed my intellectual curiosity, rather than my very delulu romantic ideations, i.e., less mind-numbing romances and more self-helps. (Please note that this resolution is destined to fail)
Sara
This year, I’m resolving to read more nonfiction. I will continue to tell myself this with confidence … even as my TBR suggests otherwise.
