Reading Goals and the Rise of Book Metrics
Every January, thousands of readers log onto platforms such as Goodreads, Instagram, or TikTok to declare ambitious reading goals: 50 books, 75, or even 100. Spreadsheets and tracking templates circulate widely, and friends publicly challenge each other to surpass previous years. What was once a private activity has become quantified and, in some online communities, subject to judgment.
The appeal of setting reading targets is clear. In an age dominated by distractions such as work, screens, and fatigue, reading can easily be sidelined. Literacy rates in the UK have stagnated; in 2024, approximately 54% of adults are literate, down from 58% in 2015.
As the UK launches its national literacy strategy, commentary has framed the decline in book culture as a civilisational crisis. Columnists warn of a post-literate society where the diminishing cultural importance of books signals the unraveling of habits foundational to modern public life. In this context, reading goals offer discipline and a sense of progress.
However, questions arise about whether annual reading goals truly enhance reading quality or risk diminishing the activity they intend to protect. As reading becomes increasingly tracked and performed online, there is concern that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by metrics and visibility. In a culture that counts steps, optimizes sleep, and gamifies meditation, the urge to quantify reading may reflect a broader tendency to make leisure measurable and competitive.
For Ayesha Chaudhry, co-runner of the Instagram account @bookishthoughts, this online book culture has become alienating.
“The numbers I see online are wildly unsustainable,”she says.
“I used to set huge targets – 70 or 100 books a year, written out in my diary. Then I’d get to December, feel guilty, and stare at all these empty spaces on the page.”
Last year, Chaudhry intentionally slowed her pace, reading only 10 books—the fewest since childhood—and found it one of her most satisfying reading years.
“I actually sat with what I was reading, and also turned it into something more interactive,”she explains.
“Most of those books came into my life through conversations, recommendations from people I met on holiday, or listening to an author at an event. They became social experiences rather than items to tick off.”
This shift eased pressure and overconsumption.
“I was buying books to meet goals, then feeling anxious because they weren’t read. It became a loop.”Now, her aims are non-numerical: exploring authors’ backlists, venturing into genres outside her comfort zone, and spending more time reflecting rather than counting.
Gamification and the Value of Reading
Philosopher Ian Nguyen situates this phenomenon within a broader cultural shift. In his book, Nguyen examines how modern life increasingly gamifies everyday activities, showing how metrics and scoring systems can distort experiences of what we value.
“Gamification is when you take a natural activity, such as reading or communication, and explicitly apply game-like design features – scores, levels, streaks – to motivate people,”he explains. The danger, Nguyen warns, is value capture: when rich, complex experiences are reduced to numbers that substitute for meaning.
“It’s very hard to share something like ‘this book changed me’ in a way that’s publicly accountable,”he says.
“But it’s extremely easy to share that you’ve read 100 books. So the number becomes a kind of social currency – even though it doesn’t track what mattered.”
From step counts and calorie trackers to follower numbers and productivity dashboards, modern life rewards what can be measured and compared.
“Large-scale data systems are built around what’s easy to count, not what’s genuinely important,”Nguyen adds.
“Curiosity, delight and genuine meaning cannot survive translation into a spreadsheet.”
However, not all extensive reading is driven by self-optimization. Ella Risbridger, author of My Mum’s Growing Up, read over 1,000 romance novels last year while researching her book but deliberately avoids tracking her reading.
“I try to avoid anything that makes reading feel like maths,”she says.
“Reading is where I go to escape targets.”
Journalist and author Afua Hirsch’s experience highlights this tension. As a judge for major literary prizes, she has read under intense deadlines.
“When I was judging the Booker, I had to read about 150 books in five months,”she recalls.
“It was literally a book a day.”
Hirsch describes this reading as both a privilege and a strain.
“Your brain becomes like a computer. You’re processing, and that’s stressful, especially when something is beautifully written and you want to linger.”After such intense periods, she often needs time to relearn how to read for pleasure.
Nguyen does not dismiss metrics entirely. Used judiciously, scoring systems can provide clear goals and immediate feedback. With genuine concerns about literacy and diminishing attention spans across all ages, numerical goals can serve as an initial step.
“Metrics can help people get started,”he says.
“But ideally, they’re temporary scaffolding. You need to develop your own reasons to read.”
Reader-First Platforms and Flexible Goals
StoryGraph, a reader tracking platform and the fastest-growing competitor to Amazon-owned Goodreads, was created in conscious opposition to the competitive reading culture online. Founded by Nadia Odunayo, the platform emphasizes a reader-first, data-light, and flexible approach.
“Before I built the product, I spent months just watching Bookstagram,”Odunayo says.
“A lot of people were stressed by social media and the sense that reading was a competition. I didn’t want to build something people would burn out from.”
Instead of focusing solely on the number of books completed, StoryGraph allows users to set page goals, time goals, or habit-based challenges. Page goals avoid incentivizing short books and accommodate books abandoned partway through.
“If you read 50 pages, that effort matters,”Odunayo explains.
“You’re not punished for curiosity, or for reading War and Peace.”
The platform also highlights non-numerical challenges such as reading across cultures, genres, or identities; working through prize shortlists; or reading only books already owned. Many challenges are open-ended, deliberately resisting the pressure of annual completion.
“You could be doing these challenges for the rest of your reading life,”Odunayo notes.
The tension remains clear: reading goals offer incentives in an era of distraction but risk importing productivity logic into one of the few remaining offline pleasures. As Nguyen states,
“Reading goals can be good starters, but if the number remains the reason you read, something has gone wrong.”
Running the Numbers: Authors, Booksellers, Influencers, and Librarians Reflect
Derek Owusu, author: 38 books
Owusu discovered reading for pure pleasure, reading at his own pace and rereading freely. He does not usually track the number of books read and finds the emphasis on quantity irritating.
“If I’ve read five books, who cares? I’m baffled by people being impressed or unimpressed by reading totals.”
His only goal is to read an author’s back catalogue if he enjoys their work, continuing until he tires. He reads with the intent to improve as a writer but finds it harder to read when writing, due to tunnel vision and concerns about plagiarism.
Rereading is integral to his process.
“People say you can’t judge an album after one listen, but a book gets one read and a definitive verdict. Nabokov said: ‘One cannot read a book: one can only reread it.’ The first time, you learn the texture; the second time, you see the craft.”
His opinions evolve with rereads. For example, he reread Albert Camus’s The Fall and questioned his initial admiration, attributing it to youthful angst. He rereads F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby annually, with varying impressions.
Chrissy Ryan, bookseller at BookBar: 145 books
Ryan set a reading goal of 100 books last year to maintain focus during reading ruts, which can cause anxiety about her career. The goal helped only because she allowed herself to stop if stressed by numbers.
Owning BookBar changed her reading habits; she buys books months in advance and reads extensively to decide stock. She sometimes reads books later than their release, such as Lessons, which she enjoyed and sold well.
Her favorite books read last year, some releasing this year, include Shuggie Bain and Milkman. She balances reading as both pleasure and work, acknowledging the pressure of taste-making. In December, she stopped reading ahead and read purely for pleasure, rekindling her love for books. She plans to revisit classics and older books to deepen literary context.
Jack Edwards, book influencer with 1.5 million followers across TikTok and Instagram: 137 books
Edwards sets achievable reading goals; last year, he aimed for 100 books and read 137. For him, the goal is not competition but awareness of time spent reading versus on his phone. He warns that phone usage can become toxic due to social perception.
He gamifies reading, recognizing that numbers attract clicks and satisfy people. However, he emphasizes competing only with oneself. He compares reading to gym training, building endurance and critical thought over time.
As a slow reader who lingers over books, he reads with a pen, marking passages.
“If someone pulls a book off my shelf, the markings show my path through it. The book tells the author’s story, but it also tells the story of me reading it.”
His favorite books last year were Internet Famous, exploring internet culture and loneliness, and Brighton Nights, a novel about an unconventional family dynamic set in a nightclub.
His current goals are mostly non-numerical, focusing on literature in translation, Argentinian horror, and Japanese and Korean micro-studies of character. This year, he is reading more African writers and exploring the continent’s literary heritage.
Librarian: 45 books
The librarian read about two to three books monthly last year without setting targets. Writing their own book limited their reading temporarily, which they consider acceptable.
Their reading included charity-shop paperbacks, large novels, classics, and lighter fare. Favorites included Winter’s Tale, appreciated for its cold atmosphere during a hot summer, and nonfiction such as Educated.
Working as a librarian, they do not feel pressure to read hundreds of books but find it helpful to know prize winners, as patrons seek recommendations.
“Some people read 100 books a year, and if you can do that, wonderful. But if you can’t, you shouldn’t be seen as any less of a reader. I think the competitive side of reading mostly exists online.”
They distinguish between racing through novellas and spending weeks with War and Peace.
“I hate fast fashion and fast anything, and I’m scared books are starting to fall into that category too. I’ve gone back to rereading books I loved as a child – it’s like re-listening to a favourite album. Forgoing that pleasure just to add another number to a tally feels pointless.”
Jan Carson, author: 300 books
Carson reads about four hours daily, combining pleasure reading, teaching materials, articles, and proofs. She breaks reading into segments: an hour in the morning, an hour before bed, and reading during exercise. She carries a book to fill small pockets of time, which helps avoid doomscrolling. Short stories are ideal for such intervals.
She keeps a semi-private spreadsheet to track reading but mainly for personal use. Many goals are non-numerical, such as reading an author’s entire canon in chronological order. For example, she completed Agatha Christie’s works in 2020 and is now on Toni Morrison’s 11 books. This approach allows observing writers’ development, which she finds encouraging amid a publishing culture that venerates perfect debuts.
Her favorite books last year included The Overstory and Lincoln in the Bardo. She reads across genres without snobbery. Some authors, like Marilynne Robinson and Hilary Mantel, slow readers down and reward attention. She is also drawn to older writers such as Elizabeth Bowen and Eudora Welty, whose sentences have a different rhythm. She values discussing books with friends, enjoying communal argument and exchange.
