Reading Report for 2024

TLDR: I read 104 books and we're going to talk about how.

Last year I read 104 books and made reading a devoted hobby while successfully recapturing a love of books and the worlds they could hold that formed my childhood. I read so many wonderful books, many of which I’ve told you about here in the confines of your inbox. To celebrate doubling my goal of reading 52 books last year, I’m giving you a rundown of my reading habits, how I choose books, and how I’m approaching reading this year. In my next newsletter, I’ll cover a list (around ten!) of books I read last year that I think are worthy of your reading list.

104 books? Really?

104 books seems astronomical, even to me. I feel like my reading habit lands me in a strange place. Often when I talk to people about what I’m reading, how quickly I read, or how much I have read in the past year, it’s met with comparison to my conversation companions' reading habit. I, of course, hate that. I don’t want anyone to feel bad about how much they are or are not reading. There is no morality in how much you read or what you’re reading.

My goal last year was to chase a high of reading I had only in elementary and middle school. At that time I had a devotion to it– often waking up early to read for a couple of hours in the morning before getting ready to go to school. I’ve even written a newsletter about it in my advice column This Might Hurt A Little. Last year, one of my only goals was to recapture the joy I felt at 4:30 AM when my alarm clock went off, and I’d sleepily make my way to my pile (it was a pile!) of teddy bears to curl up with a book and read. As an afterthought, I set my Goodreads reading challenge goal at 52 and didn’t think much of it.

How?

Of course, there have been some questions once friends and internet acquaintances found out about my prolific reading habit, chiefly among them: How are you reading that much? There’s a lot that goes into answering this, but I will happily oblige.

First of all, reading is an active hobby of mine. This year I have been walking and swimming a lot, and with that, I have needed a hobby that provides me with downtime. I’ve also been trying to reach for my phone less. I’ve filled a lot of time with reading that would have otherwise been spent scrolling through the endless void of social media. I try to reach for my Kindle or a book instead of my phone when I am bored, or when I’ve got downtime between activities. On average I read two or three hours a day. I start every morning with reading for about an hour, either before or after writing. I also read at night before bed. Sometimes, if the book is good, I will spend more time in the morning reading. For example, this morning I sat down to read at around 8 AM. I had expected to read until 9 AM when I’d ordinarily start on emails for the day. Instead, I finished the book I started reading yesterday.

Also, it’s a good time to mention that I read fast. I didn’t know this until I was talking to my husband about it. I took a couple of tests and can confirm, at least by the power vested in me via internet speed reading and comprehension tests, that I am a speed reader. I’m not the fastest speed reader but a speed reader nonetheless. This makes sense to me because sometimes I find myself reading too quickly and needing to go back and read a page to make sure I comprehend.

I’ve also recently gotten bored with television. This also plays a huge role in the amount of reading I’ve done in the past year – I’ve majorly cut back on my TV consumption and most of the movies I’ve watched this year have been in a theater. This frees up a lot of time for nighttime reading.

Last year I also left a full-time design agency job, and that freed up a lot of time and left flexibility in my schedule. Especially in the early days, I would spend a ton of time reading, often knocking out a book a day, sometimes two. It set the foundation for reading as a hobby, as well as reading as an escape. It was a great way to transition into self-employment again and became a balm when I needed it when I was feeling freelance anxiety.

The biggest factor, though, is that I make sure to choose books I’m interested in and after the past year I’ve gotten great at picking and choosing. I’ve chased a lot of new interests this year in the horror and science fiction department, and breaking into whole new genres helped me find new things to grab my attention. If I’m not interested, generally I will put a book down, though it is a rare occurrence that I have to DNF something.

So how do you even choose what to read next?

My to-be-read pile is massive. It spans two bookshelves. That doesn’t include the library books I have on my Kindle either. It feels intimidatingly large at times. I’ve tried over and over again to make lists of what I’m going to read next and, generally, it fails. My most tried and true method of choosing what to read next is to chase whatever my interest is at the time. Is that something that has been sitting on the TBR shelf for months? Excellent. Is that a press book that just came in the mail, and has been sitting beside me for 10 minutes? Amazing.

I am pretty loose on choosing what to read next, because one of the benefits (and privileges) of my reading candor, is that I don’t spend too long with any one book. If something else catches my eye after I’ve already started a book, then my decision on what to read after I put my current title down is already made for me.

Sometimes I will go to my TBR shelf with a vague sense of where to go. If I’ve just read a candy-sweet romance novel, then I will either want to read sci-fi or horror next. If the books have been too anxiety-inducing, I’ll try and find something lighter to read. If I've been reading fantasy for several books in a row, then I’m going to crashland back into the real world with a memoir. The internet would call me a mood reader, but I just say I read whatever I want to.

Where are you getting your books from?

One of my prized possessions is my library card and many of the books I read last year came from my beloved branch of my Nashville Public Library. I also made the decision to get a Kindle last year (in retrospect I wish I would have gone with a none Amazon e-reader, but that’s an aside) and I get a lot of titles through Libby via my library card.

Most of my purchased books came from McKay’s, a long loved Nashville used book store, thanks to the $900 gift card I received for completing McKay's Road Trip, which I wrote about here. I would also leisurely go into Novelette, my favorite Nashville bookstore, about once a month and buy always buy book. If you take one suggestion from this newsletter let it be the fact that you should find a local bookstore and become a regular. Trust me when I say it’s much more fun to shop in person, with people who love books guiding you than it is to order online.

When I do order online, almost everything comes from Bookshop.org, an online retailer that ships from independent bookstores. It is certainly my preferred method of online book shopping. It’s a great way to avoid book shopping on Amazon that also benefits independent bookstores. I made a Bookshop.org list of everything I read in 2024 (minus the few things I wouldn’t recommend) that’s shopable here. Transparency note: If you purchase anything from my Bookshop.org links, I also make a small commission.

How many books are you going to read in 2025?

My goal for the year is 52 books again. I know what you’re thinking: Are you going to read less this year? No, I’m not and I know I won’t. I just don’t love the pressure of shooting for an astronomical number. It feels unnecessary. It felt awesome to hit 52 books in the middle of the year. I have no clue how much I will read this year. I can tell you that I’ve read a book a day since New Year’s Day, but of course, I have been on holiday break until today. At the time of writing this, I finished my seventh book of the year on the seventh of January (Lisa Marie Presley’s memoir!) and I hope there will be many more days when I’m so rapt by a book that I finish it in a day, or even in one sitting.

My reading goals this year aren’t numbers-based. I want to read more books by debut authors, I want to read more horror and science fiction. I want to buy less books and work through some press books and the shelves of things to be read that I already have. I want to fully immerse myself in the genre of romance and read several Emily Henry books. I want to read an Epic (thinking Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf) and above all I want to just keep reading the books my friends tell me they think I’d love.

A last word of advice?

It’s simple: read things that you love. Find out what makes you tick and chase it. I said this earlier, and I’ll say it again: There’s no morality in how much you read or what you’re reading. If you love smutty romantassy books about dragons, keep reading them. Are you a mystery girly who likes to read the same story with different characters? I am sometimes too and we should keep on with those stories even if we know it’s the same person (the weird sibling) every time. If you’re just dipping your toes into reading literary fiction, read all the Sally Rooney. Don’t let anyone rain on your parade. We’ve all experienced what it’s like for reading to feel like a chore in school, but the truth is that reading can be fun. Keep it fun and chase after things that devour your attention and make the world around you melt away. Every book you pick up is a chance to get transported elsewhere and learn something new. Read for that feeling.

Me with a selection of the books I read last year!

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