The Book Goddess Reads

There was a time I felt a tiny stab of guilt every time I opened Goodreads and saw I was “4 books behind schedule.”

So I stopped.

Now, I still track what I read. I still scribble in the margins, highlight lines, and rate things out of five dog-eared stars. But I don’t set reading goals anymore—because for me, reading is not a race. It’s a ritual. It’s not about more, it’s about meaning.

Here’s why I ditched the goals—and why my reading life is better for it.

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💭 1. Pressure Doesn’t Equal Pleasure

Reading goals made me feel like I was chasing numbers, not stories. I found myself choosing shorter books to “catch up,” or powering through something I wasn’t enjoying just to tick it off. It took the joy out of pausing, re-reading, or sitting with a sentence that hit too hard to move past.

Reading became another thing on the to-do list.

And that’s the opposite of what I want books to be.

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✍️ 2. I Track My Reading Differently Now

I still love looking back on what I’ve read—but now, it’s about memories, not milestones. I track the books that changed me, the ones that disappointed me, and the ones I cried over in public. I jot down favourite quotes, draw doodles in the margins, and rate the dog instead of the drama.

No deadlines. No guilt. Just breadcrumbs of my reading life, left behind in ink.

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🐢 3. Slow Reading is Still Reading

Some books take time. Some months I fly through five, others I barely finish one. And that’s okay. I want to feel the books I read—not just flip past them.

Some stories are worth lingering inside. Some paragraphs deserve re-reading. And some days, it’s okay if all I read is one good sentence.

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💬 4. Reading is Not a Competition

It’s easy to feel behind when you’re online and see people finishing their 100th book of the year in July. But reading isn’t a sport. You don’t win at it. You live it.

A single book that makes you cry, laugh, or shift the way you see the world is more meaningful than a dozen forgettable ones read for the sake of stats.

💌 5. I Read for Connection, not Completion

Books are how I connect—with myself, with other readers, with you. My blog, my annotations, even my products like Blind Date with a Book and the Marginalia Box—they’re all about celebrating the quiet, personal, human moments that happen between the lines.

I don’t need to read 50 books a year to feel like a real reader. I just need one book that makes me feel seen.

🎯 Final Thoughts: You Don’t Owe Your TBR anything

If reading goals work for you, wonderful. But if they don’t? That’s okay too. You’re allowed to read at your own pace. You’re allowed to leave books unfinished, to re-read old favourites, to annotate every page or none at all.

There’s no wrong way to be a reader.

There’s no prize for finishing fastest.

Just keep turning pages—and make them yours.

sO hOW aBOUT yOU?

Do you set reading goals? Why or why not?

I’d love to know how you track your reads—and if you’ve ever felt pressure to read more. Let’s talk in the comments. 💬

(And if you want to see how I track mine, check out my Marginalia Notebook)