![]() Sharing a reading experience with someone is among the most intimate bonds. And when another friend said she’d started reading a book she saw I’d just finished, I was thrilled. I was pleased when a follower told me I’d inspired her to set a reading challenge of her own. On top of tracking my progress on Goodreads, I shared books on Instagram as I read. I was immersed in reaching a goal-a goal that was beginning to feel arbitrary. And more importantly, I wasn’t immersed in reading. And while I chose lighter books, I still barely took the time to watch the waves striking the shore this summer. My favorite summer memories from past years involve dragging a fat hardcover down to the beach, dozing off between chapters on my towel: books like Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies. I love big, sprawling novels and wish I’d made time to read more of them in 2019. But when I found myself stuck in a 700-page tome for three weeks, the next few books I picked off the nightstand pile had significantly fewer pages. ![]() I also never thought I’d select a shorter book simply because it would take less time to read. The pressure to finish books sucked some of the day-to-day joy out of my reading life. I bolted through short story anthologies cover to cover, most of which I ordinarily would’ve thumbed through, reading only the stories with openings that piqued my interest. So I wound up finishing several books I felt lukewarm about from the very first chapters. ![]() And the thought of that sent my Type A brain into a tailspin. I didn’t want to fall behind-like I said, Goodreads will tell you when you do. Why waste time on a book I don’t love, trudging through to reach an ending that won’t satisfy? But reading a book a week made it harder to justify abandonment. In the past, I’ve always felt at peace with abandoning a book before finishing it. But morning reading? I’m all for it, and for the tone it sets for the rest of my day.Īs the year progressed, I read several books I wasn’t wild about. I’ve never been able to read before bed because I fall asleep mid-page. Instead of lighting up my phone screen the moment I woke up in the morning, I’d open a book instead, reading on the couch with my first cup of coffee. I liked my new reading pace, making haste with books. To track my progress, I used the Goodreads Reading Challenge, which informs you when you’re ahead of schedule, on track, or behind on your reading goal. I started out strong, finishing four books in January, then five in February. Plus, I liked the way it felt in principle: If I stayed on track, not only would I get a clean slate at the start of the work week, I’d get a second clean slate in cracking open a new book. Surely I could handle 12 more titles than I’d read the year before. I was intrigued by the 52 books in 52 weeks reading challenge I’d seen on Nicole Zhu’s blog. I wanted to catch up with my own compulsive bookstore purchases and watch that pile on my nightstand shrink even more rapidly. Moving into 2019, I resolved to raise my reading goal. ![]() I set my first annual reading goal at 40 books, finishing the final page of book number 40 before the ball dropped that New Year’s Eve. The outer accountability of habit tracking has helped me form healthier routines and utilize my time more wisely. For a while, I even tracked the minutes I wasted on social media (I don’t recommend this-it’s too depressing). ![]() I’d jumped on the habit-tracking train before: daily words written, weekly miles run. So, in an effort to maintain positive habits after graduation, I decided to track my reading. My writing professors touted the importance of students reading thousands of books before taking a stab at penning their own. I’ve loved books since I was a kid, but I didn’t identify as a voracious reader until grad school. ![]()
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