New Year's Resolution 2025 - A reading list
By Austin Lane
For 2025 I’ve decided to make a reading list for myself, with a resolution to read a book a month. I used to get through a decent amount each year, but without much of a commute to work I haven’t had as much time to listen to audiobooks. Paired with a bad habit of doomscrolling or watching endless TikTok videos before bed, reading has pretty much fallen to the wayside. I’m going to kickstart a new habit and change up my routines this year.
I actually just managed to finish one this morning, but I think I’ve been working on it for the better part of 2024, picking it up and putting it down every couple months, so progress was pretty slow. In order to really kick things off, I decided to make an effort to finish it over the holidays, rather than try and count it as my first book of the year.
I don’t have a full list planned out just yet, and I’ll probably make a dedicated reading page later to track progress and fill out the whole list, but I do know the first few books I want to get through. I’m also trying to make it a diverse list, rather than letting myself just stack up a bunch of space opera books, as much as I would enjoy those.
Starting with the one I just finished, because I think it and the rest of The Culture books are a fun and interesting read:
December 2024 - Use of Weapons - Ian M. Banks
January 2025 - The Whole-Brained Child - Daniel J. Siegel
February 2025 - The Man-Not - Tommy J. Curry
March 2025 - Excession - Ian M. Banks
I figure I’ll get through a couple that have been on my to-read list, and then go back to another Culture book. I haven’t planned out much further than this, but I certainly have plenty of unread books on my shelf that I’ve collected over the years. I have everything after Neuromancer (William Gibson) that I never checked out, a bunch of Dune books after Children of Dune, plenty of James Baldwin that I would love to get through, and some classics like Crime and Punishment that I always wanted to try out.
Obviously there is nothing keeping me from reading more than one a month if my routine sticks, so I’ll just keep adding to the list and consider it a success of I can get through twelve in 2025. I figured this would just be a nice challenge to myself to really change things up, diet and exercise are done to death every year (and I’ve done quite well this year for sure). I see this as an opportunity to stretch a muscle I really haven’t been using, which maybe will excite some sleepy neurons, spark some creativity, and lead to more breaks from routine in the coming year. I feel like I’m already off to a good start this year!