Every year (well almost every year), I set ambitious bookish or literary goals, brimming with enthusiasm and plans (sometimes spreadsheets too). And every year, like a plot twist I know is coming, many of those goals slip away into oblivion, never to be heard from again. (I’d like to imagine they’re sipping chai together somewhere, swapping tales of my fleeting determination.)

But this year, taking inspiration from last year’s goals, I’m once again flipping the script, and embrace the unexpected—quirky, offbeat, and delightfully serious goals that just might keep me turning pages, laughing, and learning.

Maybe they are not really goals per se, not all of them, but simply activities to do. But if I check them off, I will be happy!

Will these goals will stick around longer than my last ones? Well, I’ll let you know as the year progresses!

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For this week’s theme of bookish goals over at That Artsy Reader Girl

My Offbeat Literary Goals: From Quirky to Serious and More

The Quirky Bookish Goals

• Read a Book Upside Down, or in an Unusual Spot: Try reading while lying upside down or holding the book inverted. Or maybe in a quirky spot, like a treehouse, by the beach, or during a hot air balloon ride! I loved How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander and How to Read a Story by Kate Messner, both of which are sure to help me with this goal!
• Judge a Book by Its Cover: Pick a random book and totally and purely judge it based on its cover. Then see if your instincts are right. Here are a few for you to get started judging! Some of them I picked from lists of books with cool/quirky covers, while others are ones in my library/tbr.

• Invent a Bookish Superpower: Imagine and write about a magical ability involving books (e.g., bringing characters to life – the ones you want, of course).
• Write Fake Reviews for Nonexistent Books: Create hilarious or absurd reviews for books that don’t exist. This might cause issues here, but do this for yourself, for fun. We already have enough fake information out there without adding to it. So this bookish goal is simply a quiet creative exercise. And if you do publish it, do so with disclaimers. Though AI might just consider both the book and the review as real!
• Give Your Favorite (or the Un-favorite) Books Unique Names: Rename books in your library with quirky alternative titles (for example, Pride and Prejudice –> Snarks and Sparks).

To the Slightly More Serious Literary Goals Now

• Create a Legacy Library: I wonder about what kind of legacy we can leave sometimes. But I hope to leave a love for reading with my kids, and others I know as well. With that in mind, having a library is something I cherish. So why not make it a part of our legacy? Build a collection of books that reflect your personality, values, and life lessons for future generations. And in the process, catalog your personal library.
  • I have a spreadsheet at this time with just the titles of my books (and which was done a few years ago so needs an update, along with this personal meaning/note to catalog it properly).
• Write Letters to Yourself After Each Book(or At Least a Few): Reflect on how a book changed your perspective and what you’d like to remember.
• Translate a Favorite Passage: If you know another language (or want to learn), translate meaningful sections from a book. Another similar, related goal/activity, read a book in another language (than the one you usually read in). I hope to read a book in Hindi this year (a language I am familiar enough with) and at least a chapter of Ponniyin Selvan in Tamil (one of my 25 for 25 goals). I am at a kindergarten level in reading /writing Tamil (though I speak it fluently, for it is my mother tongue).
• Mentor a Young Reader: Share your love of books with a younger person through reading sessions or recommendations.
• Contribute to Book Preservation: Volunteer or donate to organizations working to restore or archive rare or endangered books. As for me, I joined Librarything in that hope a while ago, and even started on some small projects there but hope to do more (something) this year.

And Now, the End of This Post

Dear reader, do you have any bookish goals for this year? Do any of these appeal to you? Share your thoughts and your own bookish goals with me.