What Are Your New Year’s Reading Resolutions? 6 Dedicated Readers Share Theirs
- Jan 6
- 2 min read
When we think about new year’s resolutions, we often think about changing our habits or setting new goals around food, exercise and work. But why not take our reading seriously too?
Social media reading platforms often ask us to set annual reading goals based on the number of books we plan to read. But there are all kinds of reading resolutions worth making. They might be diving deep into one author, books instead of phones before bed, or finding ways to support local writing culture through what you read.
These are just some of the ideas six experts shared when asked about their new year’s reading resolutions.
One resolution focuses on more reading and less phone use. “My reading resolution is to finally leave my phone at the front door,” writes Michael Noetel. Despite deleting Facebook, installing content blockers and turning on “sleep focus”, he notes how easily distraction wins. His solution: removing chargers from the bedroom, buying a reading light and committing to “no more phones in bed”.
Another reader plans to read more music memoirs in 2026, alongside books on writing craft. Liz Evans highlights titles including Even the Good Girls Will Cry, The Royal We and A Screaming Life, as well as Lily Dunn’s Into Being and Lauren Elkin’s forthcoming Vocal Break, reflecting on her time as a rock journalist in London during the 1990s.
Julian Novitz is aiming for more New Zealand fiction and more audiobooks, after reading only one novel by a New Zealand author in 2025. His 2026 goal includes novels by Carl Shuker and replacing podcasts with audiobooks at the gym.
For Gemma Nisbet, the focus is deep reading. After a year immersed in Janet Malcolm’s work, she says 2026 will be “a Rebecca Solnit year”, revisiting and filling gaps in Solnit’s prolific body of writing.
Penni Russon’s resolution is to subscribe to more literary journals and seek out “the weird and small”, including zines, chapbooks and literary magazines that stage “a quiet resistance to the status quo”.
Finally, Hugh Breakey reflects on reading fewer online articles and more books. While short-form nonfiction is convenient, he argues it can pull time away from the depth and breadth of book-length works. His plan for 2026 includes contemporary novels, scholarly reading and changes to better protect his reading space.