Reading Renaissance
I’ve never done a reading challenge because while I think they can be great motivators, I am such a rule follower that I know I would choose my books to allow me to hit the goal vs. choose books I want to read. If I was worried about numbers, I would read shorter books to boost the final count rather than give Stephen King’s The Institute a chance. But because I’m not worried about numbers — not aiming for any particular number — counting the books I’ve read this year is more a statement of a reading renaissance than achieving any particular goal.
There are some years when finishing 12 books is an amazing feat. Other years where you realize you’ve somehow read 52 and could have done one of those one-per-week challenges.
This year, I’ve read 42 books so far. And none of them are Little Golden Books. (Yes, I would not put it past myself to count Little Golden Books towards my overall final number.) Four were audio books. Eight were extra books I snuck in doing my #15Best thing. (Yes, I’ve kept that up all year missing very few days.) It turns out that 15 minutes in the morning = about 10 extra books per year. All of those were non-fiction.
The rest were fiction except for one or two.
My favourite things I’ve read this year:
- Magic for Liars (Sarah Gailey)
- Her Royal Spyness (Rhys Bowen)
- The Oracle (Charles Soule)
- Normal People (Sally Rooney)
- A Study in Charlotte (Brittany Cavallaro)
- The 7 1/2 Deaths of Eveyln Hardcastle (Stuart Turton)
- Tell the Machine Goodnight (Katie Williams)
- Truly Devious (Maureen Johnson)
- The Testaments (Margaret Atwood)
What is on your list of favourite reads this year?
4 comments
“How to walk away” was one of my favorites this year.
I can relate to what you wrote about reading challenges. (I do the Goodreads challenge but I don’t stress too much about it. I don’t know why I don’t.)
However, I was just talking to my husband about the fact that even though I used to run quite a bit, I never really did any races. Signing up for a race seemed like immediate pressure and took the fun out of it for me. Suddenly I was running to train and not to relax.
Sometimes a goal is good. Sometimes it adds unnecessary pressure and ruins the thing you wanted to do.
I never sign up for the Goodreads challenge, but it tracks my books anyway. Since I’m reading only lightweight stuff lately, I have read A LOT of books so far this year. I couldn’t get into A Study in Charlotte, though – too much teenage angst and troubled behavior for me. I did like The Institute, although it felt…thinner than most of his other works. I read Commonwealth by Ann Patchett and didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Nothing has really stuck out, but all I’m reading is romance and memoirs.
I like the term, “Reading Renaissance.” That is exactly what I have been experiencing the last few months. I always do the Goodreads Reading Challenge, and though in past years I have been known to devour one or two easy books at the end of the year to reach my target, most of the time I’m quite relaxed about it. Last year for instance, I read only 53% of my target. I reduced it drastically for this year, and I’m now at 215% of my target!
I binge-read a fantasy series which made me feel deeply ashamed, but I couldn’t stop – there were 17 books! I’ve also recently been in a crime/thriller phase, and have particularly enjoyed Kill the Father by Sandrone Dazieri (translated from Italian) and recently Dolores Redondo’s The Invisible Guardian (translated less well from Spanish), which is the first of a trilogy. I also really enjoyed Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.
I’ve been doing the Goodreads challenge, partly because I like tracking my reading but also because I do find it somewhat motivating. I’ve had a fairly modest goal of 24 books per year for the past few years: I just made it in 2016, didn’t make it at all in 2017 and read 27 books last year. This year I’m already at 40 (!) books, which has exceeded my wildest expectations… what’s helped, I think, has been taking part in several book clubs, both online & my local library book club. If I do the readings for them, I’m guaranteed at least two books in a month. I think I’ll probably set a slightly more ambitious goal for next year & see how I do with that.
I’ve reviewed all my books on my blog, and I’ve read a lot of really good ones this year. My favourites so far would probably be Beartown by Fredrik Backman, Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, all three books by Nora McInerney, The Testaments by Margaret Atwood. And Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe, which totally blew me away. I can’t recommend that one highly enough.