Given my nervous system dysregulation started from setting unrealistic goals for myself in career and health, I don't set any target for reading activity lest I see this as another burden.
Therefore I don't proactively follow a book recommendation, just whatever flights my fancy and what I need. Sometimes I just visit the library and browse and borrow what pique my interest, although I need to be more selective as I don't want to bring 10 books home.
I also make it a habit to note down the key lessons or even quotes, I want to organise them better in my commonplace book. Thank you for sharing your lessons, I enjoy your writing and newsletter.
Sekar, your comment made my day! I love browsing the shelves of a bookstore or a library to discover books that I'd never found before. I think people are doing less of that these days with the ease of buying books online. We know what we want, we type in the title of that book in the search box, and we place the order. We need more surprising encounters in our lives.
Yes to this! A good habit to cultivate (if shopping isn't your Achilles' heel) is thrifting or vintage shop browsing. The number of things I found intriguing at those shops is insane. I rarely buy what I don't need, tho, for minimalism and stuff, but at least I can feast my eyes and tactile sense on those goodies, a simple joy that the internet culture has eroded...
My record was only ever like 35 books a year? That was the only year I had my sabbatical and time to do it. I stopped tracking my reading recently, I should start again! It helps to read more intentionally. Good tip on writing a summary of a read book, to consolidate what we've read, I'm gonna do that from now, thanks! I also want to analyze more on craft of writing, still struggling with it!
35 books a year is really good! I think we learn a lot of the writing just from the act of reading itself. I don't always pay close attention all the time, otherwise I am too drawn out of the story. But I do now pay attention to how the authors I like start with a story, write description of the scene, and how they end the stories.
Thanks for breaking the analysis down, it does sound more doable. For a longer book, maybe focus on how they open an and close a chapter? Description of a scene is a good one!
I used to read 100 booksa year. I know right?? It was a challenge I set for myself and like you, I reealised I was just reading for the sake of reading and just don't remember what I read after. In the end, I decided to read LESS.
My goal each year went down. I went down to up to 30 in 2022.
In 20223, sad to say, due to my addiction to social media being rekindled by the likes of Mastodon, Reddit and yes, Substack Notes, I barely read 10 books. Yikes.But I was reading a lot of blogs and newsletters.I never did stop reading, but my medium has changed.
I am not a fan of keeping a "body count" of books finished each year. As you mentioned, it motivates us to skip past that period of reflection and jump straight to the next book. Rather than counting, I aim to be much more active and reflective with my reading this year.
I am interested in this. Now, I have to think about how to do it together. Should we post summaries of books we complete as articles and tag one another, or should each create a new page on our site with our 2023 Reads? Either way, it cannot be just titles. There must be some reflective content to avoid it becoming a fancier way to do a body count.
I loved this piece!! My reading pace has slowed in the new year so far and it's hard not to be down on myself for it. I think each of your points are great reminders that reading should be for pleasure more than achievement. I also am going to follow your example about trying to be more intentional with my reading and not fear the bigger books!
Yes, when reading I try to prioritise the books that have other holds over the ones that don't to avoid it. Occasionally I have ended up staying awake all night to finish it. I don't recommend this on a regular basis though. The ones that don't have other holds can be extended so that helps - I think we can renew twice online here. Otherwise I have kept a paper list of books I want to borrow at some point (thankfully that one is all up to date now) so that I can request them at a later time.
What a great idea for studying writing - I will focus on this myself. I don’t know if your library has the option, but I recently discovered that for books with many holds, it is possible to defer your place in the queue and put a date that you might be ready to receive a book, so that others waiting can step ahead of you but you’re still kind of at the front. It doesn’t work for books no-one else is waiting for though, so I still struggle with those from time to time though I’m getting more mindful about what I have ordered vs my upcoming calendar. Thank you for the depth of thought in this post.
I may have seen that feature for the ebooks I get from my libraries through Libby but I have never used it. Thank you for the reminder. I sometimes find myself not able to finish the book within the 20+ days that I was given and had to return it due to other people's holds. Have you had this issue before?
Given my nervous system dysregulation started from setting unrealistic goals for myself in career and health, I don't set any target for reading activity lest I see this as another burden.
Therefore I don't proactively follow a book recommendation, just whatever flights my fancy and what I need. Sometimes I just visit the library and browse and borrow what pique my interest, although I need to be more selective as I don't want to bring 10 books home.
I also make it a habit to note down the key lessons or even quotes, I want to organise them better in my commonplace book. Thank you for sharing your lessons, I enjoy your writing and newsletter.
Sekar, your comment made my day! I love browsing the shelves of a bookstore or a library to discover books that I'd never found before. I think people are doing less of that these days with the ease of buying books online. We know what we want, we type in the title of that book in the search box, and we place the order. We need more surprising encounters in our lives.
Yes to this! A good habit to cultivate (if shopping isn't your Achilles' heel) is thrifting or vintage shop browsing. The number of things I found intriguing at those shops is insane. I rarely buy what I don't need, tho, for minimalism and stuff, but at least I can feast my eyes and tactile sense on those goodies, a simple joy that the internet culture has eroded...
My record was only ever like 35 books a year? That was the only year I had my sabbatical and time to do it. I stopped tracking my reading recently, I should start again! It helps to read more intentionally. Good tip on writing a summary of a read book, to consolidate what we've read, I'm gonna do that from now, thanks! I also want to analyze more on craft of writing, still struggling with it!
35 books a year is really good! I think we learn a lot of the writing just from the act of reading itself. I don't always pay close attention all the time, otherwise I am too drawn out of the story. But I do now pay attention to how the authors I like start with a story, write description of the scene, and how they end the stories.
Thanks for breaking the analysis down, it does sound more doable. For a longer book, maybe focus on how they open an and close a chapter? Description of a scene is a good one!
I used to read 100 booksa year. I know right?? It was a challenge I set for myself and like you, I reealised I was just reading for the sake of reading and just don't remember what I read after. In the end, I decided to read LESS.
My goal each year went down. I went down to up to 30 in 2022.
In 20223, sad to say, due to my addiction to social media being rekindled by the likes of Mastodon, Reddit and yes, Substack Notes, I barely read 10 books. Yikes.But I was reading a lot of blogs and newsletters.I never did stop reading, but my medium has changed.
Wow 100 books a year is a lot! I am not sure how you did it! I think quality over quantity is the key. Thank you for sharing your heartfelt insights!
I am not a fan of keeping a "body count" of books finished each year. As you mentioned, it motivates us to skip past that period of reflection and jump straight to the next book. Rather than counting, I aim to be much more active and reflective with my reading this year.
Yes, let's do that together!
I am interested in this. Now, I have to think about how to do it together. Should we post summaries of books we complete as articles and tag one another, or should each create a new page on our site with our 2023 Reads? Either way, it cannot be just titles. There must be some reflective content to avoid it becoming a fancier way to do a body count.
Whatever works best for you works for me!
I loved this piece!! My reading pace has slowed in the new year so far and it's hard not to be down on myself for it. I think each of your points are great reminders that reading should be for pleasure more than achievement. I also am going to follow your example about trying to be more intentional with my reading and not fear the bigger books!
We will do that together: enjoying reading for the sake of it.
Yes, when reading I try to prioritise the books that have other holds over the ones that don't to avoid it. Occasionally I have ended up staying awake all night to finish it. I don't recommend this on a regular basis though. The ones that don't have other holds can be extended so that helps - I think we can renew twice online here. Otherwise I have kept a paper list of books I want to borrow at some point (thankfully that one is all up to date now) so that I can request them at a later time.
What a great idea for studying writing - I will focus on this myself. I don’t know if your library has the option, but I recently discovered that for books with many holds, it is possible to defer your place in the queue and put a date that you might be ready to receive a book, so that others waiting can step ahead of you but you’re still kind of at the front. It doesn’t work for books no-one else is waiting for though, so I still struggle with those from time to time though I’m getting more mindful about what I have ordered vs my upcoming calendar. Thank you for the depth of thought in this post.
I may have seen that feature for the ebooks I get from my libraries through Libby but I have never used it. Thank you for the reminder. I sometimes find myself not able to finish the book within the 20+ days that I was given and had to return it due to other people's holds. Have you had this issue before?
Bingo on every point!
Thank you, Yi!
Love this! Paying attention to the writing craft is an especially great one that I try to incorporate too.
Thank you, Aastha!
As someone who is trying to read more and who failed nearly every year at it, I love this collection of goals. Thank you for sharing them.
Thank you, Jenna. Slow and easy are my goals for many things this year..
I am an avid reader but don’t ever have goals for it. I love the idea of one big book a year as well as the regular stuff.
Not having goals for reading may just be the purest fun of it all!
True!