It’s the time of the year when we are thinking about the last couple books we want to finish before the year ends. A quick glance at the Goodreads reading challenge reminds us of the number of books we still have left to read to successfully meet our goals, or maybe there is joy that we have already done what we set out to do. Then it may become the time to push ourselves and see how much more we can read so we have a higher goal to set up for next time.
The Complexity of Reading Goals
I did away with a number of books as my reading goals many years ago. Once I knew I could read a 100, there was no need to work towards that. Having settled into the daily rhythms of adulting with a full time job, social and family commitments and personal time, I strive for reading to be as free as possible of quantitative goals. I want to be clear: there is nothing wrong with setting a goal for the number of books you want to read. There are times when we need it to help us make time for books, for example when life is busy. It is a reminder to return to something we love.
Molly Templeton’s article How Do You Measure a Year in Reading? speaks to the loss of satisfaction when we don’t live up to the number of books we set out to read and all the context that is missing from the number itself.
There are numerous ways to measure a year or month in reading. You can track by number of books and pages or by grouping books by shared characteristics – genres, publication type (traditional self-published, small press), source (library, home library, review copy),… each breakdown says something about reading but what it is missing is the feelings that books left with you.
It will not convey the ones that stood out that made you stop reading for a week, the ones that made you cry, the ones that you still think about months later. You can start counting those too but a number is just a number and a book is unique, a standalone.
How do I measure the year in reading?
I have read almost 120 books this year and here is some of what that number will never tell you but only I can. 🙂
Rediscovering Favorites: The Power of Rereading
This was the year I returned to books I enjoyed. I reread Soundtracks to remind me of how I shape my thoughts. I restarted The Creative Act as soon as I finished it because I wanted to take better notes. The Forest of Enchantments felt a completely different book after tying the knot. Suddenly, the duties and responsibilities of a wife had more gravity. I committed to rereading The Inheritance Cycle which consists of 4 books, almost 3000 pages and then Murtagh, another 700 pages. Revisiting old favourites, some from over a decade back, has been an amazing time.
Unexpected Discoveries: Embracing Young Adult Literature
This was the year I discovered a deep love for Young Adult (YA) stories. Too long I pushed YA books off my TBR because I just couldn’t see anything I could engage with at a deeper level. I took a chance with Brighter than the Sun and Sol’s journey to balance family expectations while pursuing her own dreams reminded me that young adults too have thought-provoking insightful perspectives to offer on life. We can learn so much from them, their parents and community. Amber Smith’s The Way I Used to Be and The Way I Am Now remain favorites I look forward to binging on a weekend. These and The Unbreakable Heart of Oliva Denaro gave me new appreciation for younger protagonists. I am looking for more!
The Unforgettables: Books That Left a Mark
In books this year, I found characters I love like I have never loved before. Eden from The Way I am Now, Miki from Tales from the Cafe, Ren from The Keeper of Night duology and Isolde and Warren Wilby from The Hexologists. I gained new appreciation for my culture and its history through A History of Burning and learned about Tibet and its people in We Measure the Earth with Our Bodies. I cried a lot in these multigenerational stories.
This was the year I found books I never wanted to put down and hence can’t wait to pick up again: Babel was a thorough commentary on colonialism, language and translation through fantasy lens. Hello Beautiful is an unforgettable family story about separation and love. I took a million notes and yet, six months later, I cannot bring myself to write my review.
In Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, I found adult friendships represented so well! Those were some of the best days of my reader life – the immersion in this book was another level.
I mostly gravitated towards physical books, with occasional audiobooks and rarely ebooks. I found new audiobook favorites in Legends and Lattes and This is How You Lose the Time War. I would never read these books in any other format.
Theme-Centric Reading and Reflection
Sometimes, I tried to tailor my readings to certain themes. I read all the five Giller Prize 2022 finalists and put effort into reading more Canadian authors. I shortlisted books about Artificial Intelligence and read until I had read to my heart’s content.
I feel like I hadn’t read much historical fiction this year but what I did read was great! I explored outside of war fiction and loved The Sleeping Car Porter, The African Samurai, and Lady Tan’s Circle of Women. The Star and the Strange Moon and Wuthering Heights had historical settings too but the character driven plots were the highlights for me in them.
This year, I regularly returned to books that have helped me be kinder to myself. Tara Brach’s Radical Acceptance is the hug available any time I need. Soundtracks has enthusiasm that I can always pull from. How to Keep House While Drowning gave me direction in being a homemaker.
I borrowed quotes extensively from A Psalm for the Wild-Built, This is How You Lose the Time War, The Creative Act, Radical Acceptance, Our Wives Under the Sea, Falling Back in Love with Being Human.
Books that Challenged and Expanded Perspectives
Some books helped me grow and learn about myself through discomfort.
Forget Me Not made me acknowledge a reality I had not pondered – lives where people live so far removed from their own culture. I went on a roller coaster with The Untethered Soul – it was everything I wanted to hear but there was no way for me to implement what it was saying. I spent too much time trying to make sense of the surroundings and plot in The Mimicking of Known Successes. I saw missed opportunities for a stronger narrative in The Collected Regrets of Clover. The Jinn Bot of Shantiport helped me imagine an India of science fiction but the slow crawl of the plot couldn’t keep me there.
The Unfinished and the Unforgettable
There are some books that I never finished this year. The Archive Undying is one of them and I will return to it when the time is right. I love its world building and storyline and I just don’t have the capacity right now to study and immerse myself in it like I want to. Feeling Seen is a book I started last year and finally finished this year.
Timing matters a lot in reading and I am proud of the number of times I walked away from a book, unfinished, because I just could not do it or myself justice by continuing to read at that time. I struggle with the decision to put down a book from time to time. Don’t you?
Beyond Reading
Surroundings and Triggers
Reading isn’t just the act of reading words off a page or hearing a person tell a story. The year goes in anticipation of books in the mail or the thrill of visiting a bookstore. In shelving and browsing what I have, I find myself reaching for books in connection to one I am reading. The TBR grows by looking at books online. My head is full of books and I could not give you a count of the books I have thought about this year.
Should we look for them, our everyday life is full of reminders of books we have read as well as those we want to read.
Final Reflections and Invitations
My hope for us all is that we read for ourselves.
No matter how many goals we set, we are always enjoying our hobby. May we rejoice at the progress we make towards our goals, may there be no despair.
Whether we get 30 minutes of reading done on the way to the office or 2 hours after dinner, or none at all for one week, I hope that we experience the joy of returning to a book, starting a new book and the good anxiety of itching to get back into a book we have been enjoying. There are many other thrilling experiences in our reading life. May they all happen.
No matter how easily apps like Goodreads and Storygraph track the number for us, I hope we take the time to revisit what we have read, thinking fondly of all that we have done and how we have changed.
Do you set quantitative goals for how much you want to read? What have you been reading? What are some books that crossed your mind, read or unread?
About TBR Tales
Dive into the world of TBR Tales, where the journey through the to-be-read pile becomes a rich narrative of literary exploration. Join me as I navigate the pages of books, reflecting on the joys, challenges, and unexpected treasures found along the way. From rediscovering old favorites to embracing new genres, TBR Tales is a celebration of the reader’s life. Sign up for the TBR Tales Exclusive Mailing List and get an email from me when a new post is available each month! Thank you for reading. 🙂
Be First to Comment