Gayla, I appreciate your roundup of 2023 and your perspective (as someone with longer tenure than me on Substack) on the growth of bookish stacks! You are encouraging and kind to keep up with so many of us newer arrivals! My 2024 goals are related to my Quiet Reading newsletter. I’ve learned that people enjoy both my longer research essays and the short “quiet reading” sketches, so I’ll be trying to find a nice balance between the two. Thank you for helping bookish folks find each other! 🙏🏼 Happy reading! :-)
Finding balance is difficult sometimes, I don't envy you with this. I enjoy helping readers find other bookish newsletters and giving them the boost that a few bookish creators provide to me when I was just starting out. :)
Gayla, at the moment I am overwhelmed by the titles in my TBR, including so many books I’ve already bought and haven’t yet read, especially suspense titles. But many years ago, when I was looking for new reading ideas, I had fun with several self-created challenges. One was compiling lists of “best books” of the century from many sources and creating a master list of classics I’d overlooked. Another quirkier one was reading books that were extremely popular decade by decade (but not popular now, necessarily) and reading those chronologically. It was amazing to read books that have been entirely forgotten AND to discover that way back, 75-150 years ago, there were relatively few books published (so Americans who read a lot were reading the same books as their peers) and to realize how many early 20th century bestsellers were not all that good! The authors we still read have endured for a reason. It changed my ideas about how books and publishing have changed. Anyway: I prefer DIY challenges to those created by others and I’m happy to drop them the moment they stop being fun.
My TBR is massive, but I don't let it overwhelm me. The more books I have, the more opportunity it provides to read something really great. I like the idea of "self-created" reading challenges and yours sound like you had a lot of fun doing them. Thanks for sharing and thanks for reading!
What a nice retrospective. I look forward to your Newsletter this year and think the interspersed travel will make it even better. Best wishes for the year ahead.
I've never thought about goals for my reading life. A reading life is...life. Usually, I read books that interest me, that someone has recommended, or that I feel would be good for me to read, and I listen to books that are easy and don't require a lot of thought. But, you said you want to retain more of what you read, and I resonated with that! Sometimes I think I've got too much information coming in and I don't really process it all. Thank you, Gayla!
That's a great way to look at your reading life; it's just "life." I agree on "too much info coming in" and I'll add, "not enough going out to allow room for what is coming in." Thanks for reading!
I find there is so much competition for my reading time: Netflix, social media rabbit holes, the news, etc. But I am determined to read more and have had a good start so far. Nothing gives me more pleasure.
There is always competition for "reading time," and I think for all of us, that will always be a problem, to an extent. I am finding less competition now that I've retired and it's nice to have more time to do what I want.
It's so interesting that you mention a reading journal. I've been keeping a list of books I've read for the past several years but I realize that the title alone only conveys so much of what that experience mean for me. I've decided this year to resume my practice of capturing key lines I loved in a common book. I have found that looking over these lines in the past have told me so much about issues I am struggling with or ideas I find compelling or simply beautiful or innovative ways of saying timeless things. I'm looking forward to doing it. I haven't yet begun.
I journal regularly -- it's a mess in there but it's my mess: lists, ideas, random bits of quotes I've picked up via eavesdropping, long conversations with myself, and more. I often write about what a book made me think about or some new insight I got from reading a certain author. These often make their way into my newsletter.
I am glad you are looking forward to building on your "book-adjacent" writing in your newsletter. After such a big change in your life, I suspect you will be traveling a very different road and it will spark all kinds of things in you. I love your plan to build some trips around literary festivals and book events! I think it is a terrific way to travel. I'm looking forward to it all.
Betsy, thank you for reading and being so generous in your comments. I wish I had been one of the readers that have kept track of every book they've ever read--I'm so jealous. I like your idea about capturing key lines, phrases etc. and wish I had the "whatever it takes" to be able to keep something like this going. I envy you. I have never journaled, I have often said I'd like to, but I also know myself and know I'd never keep it going either. lol You got so many great ideas. :)
Gayla, I'm best described as an intermittent journalist. I do it in clumps and there are long gaps in between. Lists are easier but even so, I have to catch up when I ve fallen behind. If you are moved to start any kind of journaling just not in it any time you get the urge and see how you feel.
I'm sure I won't start journaling any time soon. I know me pretty well and it would be futile at this point. lol I did start keeping an electronic planner on Goodnotes so I can keep track of all my bookish activity (book clubs/book reading deadlines, patreons, membership sites, etc) and so far, so good. Ask me again in 3 months and there might be a totally different answer. lol
For my book goals this year, I've decided to focus on reading the books I own as I have so many unread books that are taunting me from my bookshelves! Thanks for this wonderful writeup, I enjoyed reading your reflection and wish you a wonderful year of reading ❤️ PS I loved the Winterhouse series!!
Hopefully your books are nicely taunting you and not hitting you over the head with angst that you have so many unread. I learned about the Winterhouse series from the Currently Reading Podcast and I loved it. When I got to the end of the first one on my Kindle, it suggested a couple more series similar to WH and I want to read those also. Thanks for reading!
Hello! I had set a goal to read 10 books last year to get myself back into reading and I had read 13 books by the end of the year. I hope to up the count a little but not too much where I feel overwhelmed. I love challenges but my TBR list is so long that I don't know if I'll be do any. I do keep a journal of the books I read and what helps me is to jot down a couple of sentences summarizing the chapter I just read with the most important things that happened. I'm also trying out StoryGraph to help me further see what I most like and where I find my sweet spot.
Gayla, I appreciate your roundup of 2023 and your perspective (as someone with longer tenure than me on Substack) on the growth of bookish stacks! You are encouraging and kind to keep up with so many of us newer arrivals! My 2024 goals are related to my Quiet Reading newsletter. I’ve learned that people enjoy both my longer research essays and the short “quiet reading” sketches, so I’ll be trying to find a nice balance between the two. Thank you for helping bookish folks find each other! 🙏🏼 Happy reading! :-)
Finding balance is difficult sometimes, I don't envy you with this. I enjoy helping readers find other bookish newsletters and giving them the boost that a few bookish creators provide to me when I was just starting out. :)
Gayla, at the moment I am overwhelmed by the titles in my TBR, including so many books I’ve already bought and haven’t yet read, especially suspense titles. But many years ago, when I was looking for new reading ideas, I had fun with several self-created challenges. One was compiling lists of “best books” of the century from many sources and creating a master list of classics I’d overlooked. Another quirkier one was reading books that were extremely popular decade by decade (but not popular now, necessarily) and reading those chronologically. It was amazing to read books that have been entirely forgotten AND to discover that way back, 75-150 years ago, there were relatively few books published (so Americans who read a lot were reading the same books as their peers) and to realize how many early 20th century bestsellers were not all that good! The authors we still read have endured for a reason. It changed my ideas about how books and publishing have changed. Anyway: I prefer DIY challenges to those created by others and I’m happy to drop them the moment they stop being fun.
My TBR is massive, but I don't let it overwhelm me. The more books I have, the more opportunity it provides to read something really great. I like the idea of "self-created" reading challenges and yours sound like you had a lot of fun doing them. Thanks for sharing and thanks for reading!
What a nice retrospective. I look forward to your Newsletter this year and think the interspersed travel will make it even better. Best wishes for the year ahead.
Thanks Mark and I'm excited about what my reading year holds and even more excited about sharing with others. I hope you are doing well.
I've never thought about goals for my reading life. A reading life is...life. Usually, I read books that interest me, that someone has recommended, or that I feel would be good for me to read, and I listen to books that are easy and don't require a lot of thought. But, you said you want to retain more of what you read, and I resonated with that! Sometimes I think I've got too much information coming in and I don't really process it all. Thank you, Gayla!
That's a great way to look at your reading life; it's just "life." I agree on "too much info coming in" and I'll add, "not enough going out to allow room for what is coming in." Thanks for reading!
I find there is so much competition for my reading time: Netflix, social media rabbit holes, the news, etc. But I am determined to read more and have had a good start so far. Nothing gives me more pleasure.
There is always competition for "reading time," and I think for all of us, that will always be a problem, to an extent. I am finding less competition now that I've retired and it's nice to have more time to do what I want.
It's so interesting that you mention a reading journal. I've been keeping a list of books I've read for the past several years but I realize that the title alone only conveys so much of what that experience mean for me. I've decided this year to resume my practice of capturing key lines I loved in a common book. I have found that looking over these lines in the past have told me so much about issues I am struggling with or ideas I find compelling or simply beautiful or innovative ways of saying timeless things. I'm looking forward to doing it. I haven't yet begun.
I journal regularly -- it's a mess in there but it's my mess: lists, ideas, random bits of quotes I've picked up via eavesdropping, long conversations with myself, and more. I often write about what a book made me think about or some new insight I got from reading a certain author. These often make their way into my newsletter.
I am glad you are looking forward to building on your "book-adjacent" writing in your newsletter. After such a big change in your life, I suspect you will be traveling a very different road and it will spark all kinds of things in you. I love your plan to build some trips around literary festivals and book events! I think it is a terrific way to travel. I'm looking forward to it all.
Betsy, thank you for reading and being so generous in your comments. I wish I had been one of the readers that have kept track of every book they've ever read--I'm so jealous. I like your idea about capturing key lines, phrases etc. and wish I had the "whatever it takes" to be able to keep something like this going. I envy you. I have never journaled, I have often said I'd like to, but I also know myself and know I'd never keep it going either. lol You got so many great ideas. :)
Gayla, I'm best described as an intermittent journalist. I do it in clumps and there are long gaps in between. Lists are easier but even so, I have to catch up when I ve fallen behind. If you are moved to start any kind of journaling just not in it any time you get the urge and see how you feel.
I'm sure I won't start journaling any time soon. I know me pretty well and it would be futile at this point. lol I did start keeping an electronic planner on Goodnotes so I can keep track of all my bookish activity (book clubs/book reading deadlines, patreons, membership sites, etc) and so far, so good. Ask me again in 3 months and there might be a totally different answer. lol
For my book goals this year, I've decided to focus on reading the books I own as I have so many unread books that are taunting me from my bookshelves! Thanks for this wonderful writeup, I enjoyed reading your reflection and wish you a wonderful year of reading ❤️ PS I loved the Winterhouse series!!
Hopefully your books are nicely taunting you and not hitting you over the head with angst that you have so many unread. I learned about the Winterhouse series from the Currently Reading Podcast and I loved it. When I got to the end of the first one on my Kindle, it suggested a couple more series similar to WH and I want to read those also. Thanks for reading!
I was thinking I'd make this my goal this year as well, plus to revisit some of the really great books I already own. (:
I hope you have a great reading year!
Hello! I had set a goal to read 10 books last year to get myself back into reading and I had read 13 books by the end of the year. I hope to up the count a little but not too much where I feel overwhelmed. I love challenges but my TBR list is so long that I don't know if I'll be do any. I do keep a journal of the books I read and what helps me is to jot down a couple of sentences summarizing the chapter I just read with the most important things that happened. I'm also trying out StoryGraph to help me further see what I most like and where I find my sweet spot.
That's exciting to be coming back into reading, setting a goal and achieving it. You should be so proud of yourself. Thanks for reading.