Welcome to another year in the reading life.
If you're like me, you enjoy reading as leisure as well as a tool for growth.
As we kick off the new year, I wanted to set several reading life goals and put them out in public to hold myself accountable. While these are some of my more important goals these, like all other goals for the year, are "soft" goals. They are not must dos but rather want to dos. They are things that I know, if I do them, will enhance my life.
Let's begin with the goal I set for myself for 2023 and what it will look like in 2024.
In 2023, I took a "book buying break." Put simply, I tried not to buy any new books unless there was just no way I wouldn't be able to get the book any other way in time to read it for whatever I needed it for.
This specificity gave buying a book two requirements.
Years ago when I hear money expert Ramit Sethi ask, "What's your rich life?" my answer was immediately that I can buy any book I want at any time. It's still true. But this definition of a rich life has a dark side. This led to shelves and shelves and shelves full of physical and virtual books - most of them unread. I don't mind having a large unread shelf, but I'd prefer to spend my money on things I'm actually going to use.
So, in 2023, I decided to take a book buying break which meant that I wasn't "allowed" to buy any book that I could get from the library in time to read it for whatever purpose I was reading it for. This didn't mean I bought no books but it certainly meant I bought far fewer books and, in the end, I was happier for it. So, rather than being on a permanent book buying break this is just now my procedure for books.
If I can get the book from the library without having to buy it in time for whatever I need it for, then that's good enough. I can still buy any book I want. After all, that's how I define a rich life. However, I simply don't want to clutter up my shelves - both physical and virtual - with books I never plan to read and have spent good money on.
Also, in 2023, I explored why I'm building my fully virtual bookshelves. As we came into 2024 in fact I tried a physical book again and the inability to adjust the size of the text just makes it harder to read and enjoy. It doesn't mean I'll never buy another physical book again but I'm definitely going to think twice about it and preferably only get physical books from the library.
I also take better notes on digital books - with and without my trusted readwise - and further improving upon my note taking is a goal for 2024. I wish someone would make a phone or tablet that had a "paperwhite" screen that would come over the traditional screen when you want to read in bed at night, but alas I'll have to continue to contend with the evils of blue light because I do NOT need another device and the added device isn't as useful for my note taking strategies.
I did an okay job for part of the year of publishing my book notes but for 2024, my goal is to publish a book note every month. I've going to achieve this with the help of the Bookly App which will, I think, create a little monthly summary for me of what I've read. My aim for 2024 is to publish at least one book note a week on my community (these will be available as free reads in my community - you can sign up here - and then have it release the following day or week on sites like Hive and Medium. I don't know if I'll keep doing the reading life round up each month or not or just the Bookly summary. We'll have to see where all that goes.
Part of this is developing a better reading and notetaking workflow when I decide a book is going to get a summary made. Part of the challenge of my reading life roundups is that I didn't always decide I would include a book until well after I'd read it. This will mean I need to decide to include it right from the start and make some notes as I read. This process, that I've been using in December, is working so much better for me so far. Hopefully I can keep it up.
This is THE BIG ONE. I've set big "do every day" goals for myself many times but this seems doable. I'll be using the Bookly App to track my reading streak and total time by book.
In addition to the overall reading life goals, I want to think a little about what I'm going to read. There will be overlaps in some of these (for instance, a "business book" might also be a book for my book club)
Running my own business means staying on top of all kinds of business thinking, including reading business books. My goal is to read a total of 6 business books in 2024 - or an average of one every other month.
I can struggle to read fiction. However, good fiction novels are good for your brain so I want to read at least one novel every month just to give my brain a break from all the facts and learning but also to let my brain engage fully in a completely different world.
In addition to reading all 12 book club books, I want to attend at least 8/12 book club sessions. I was TERRIBLE at making sessions last year. I have them on my calendar this year already which was oddly part of the challenge with attendance in 2023. Here are our books for this year:
* January: Real self-care by Pooja Lakshmi
* February: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride
* March: Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
* April: Lighter by Yung Pueblo
* May: None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
* June: Good Morning, Monster by Catherine Gildiner
* July: The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb
* August: Hidden potential by Adam Grant
* September: Better Living Through Birding by Christian Cooper
* October: The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
* November: The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker
* December: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
While I don't have anything against white males or white people in general, I'm trying to diversify my reading on a regular basis and read books by non-white and non-male authors as much as possible. I'm going to aim for less than 20% white male and less than 50% white authors by the end of 2024.
I've forgotten the joy of reading ARCs and getting in on a book before it's out in the real world. I've already read two that will release later this year and I'm excited to share notes from them close to their release. One of them even inspired a project I've decided to take on myself and plan to publish in September of this year.
While I like to take notes while I read, I also love to listen to audio books. Particularly for novels and memoir, audio books are a delight. I have plenty on my shelves to read and I'm hoping these keep me company on some walks as I get my strength back both during and post cancer treatment.
Did you set reading life plans for yourself? If so, what are they? I'd love to hear and talk about bookish things with other people.
