“Read More!” was one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2019. Was it one of yours? I feel like there are so many good books on my TBR (to be read) list but never enough time to make a dent in it!

Goodreads.com offers an annual reading challenge to encourage and support people who want to follow through on their resolution to read more. In case you are not familiar with Goodreads, it is the world’s largest website for sharing and following what you and others are reading. Once you are a member (it’s free!), you will also receive book recommendations geared to your personal reading tastes.

According to Goodreads, almost 1.4 million people have already signed up for the 2019 Reading Challenge. These people have pledged to read an average of 46 books from the beginning of January until December 31st. If everyone makes their pledge more than 65,000,000 books will have been read!

Goodreads also provides lots of good advice on how to keep your challenge, or resolution, on track. One tip is to push yourself but to also make your reading target achievable. They recommend using the calendar as a guideline. If you think you can read one book per month that would mean pledging 12 books, reading one book a week would be 52 books, and so on. They also encourage you to re-read old favourites to count against your pledge and to try other formats like listening to an audiobook while you’re puttering around the house. Goodreads has thousands of different reading groups you can join to help keep you interested and accountable. I especially like their tip to use your local library so you will always have your next book ready to read!

To help keep track of what you want to read next, you can either use Goodreads’ virtual “Want to Read” shelf or create your own TBR lists right on your WPL account. How do you do this? Anytime you see a book in our catalogue that you want to read, simply click on the basket icon displayed under “Additional Actions.” The book will be added to your “Cart”. When you view your cart, one of the options will be to “Save to List.” When you select “Save to List”, you will be asked if you want to save the item to an existing list or create a new one. You decide if you want to have a single TBR list or multiple lists divided by genres or other criteria.

Do you need inspiration to keep your reading resolution on track? As I mentioned earlier, Goodreads provides recommendations based on your previous reading history. The WPL catalogue is also a great source for finding your next read. Try searching for one of your favourite titles. When you open the record for that particular book, scroll down to discover NoveList’s Read-alikes list of similar stories. You can also browse and investigate NoveList further on our website under the Digital Library‘s “Read” section. On NoveList you can view Recommended Read lists, browse by genres or search for favourite titles or authors to discover new read-alikes to try.

And of course don’t forget that WPL staff are always happy to help you achieve your resolution to read more by answering questions, providing reading advisory assistance, or helping you navigate our catalogue or website. It isn’t too late to start! Happy New Year and happy reading!

— Sandy W.