For a few years now, I've done a "year in review" of my reading life/books I've read in the past year. I do because I enjoy the opportunity to reflect on what I've read, as reading is a significant leisure time activity, and because, ultimately, I'm a book nerd. Also, in reading other such reflections across the internet and listening to similarly themed podcasts, its a great way to pick up new recommendations. For a glossy, general overview, my Goodreads summary is here.
I wanted to make my reading this year more intentional - to read more, to be more diverse in my selections, as compared to prior years. Generally, it feels as if I accomplished both those goals. I wrote in this space last year that my goal was 65 books and 22,500 pages; on Goodreads, I challenged myself to 72 books, seeking to focus myself on how I wanted to spend my free time. I ended up reading 77 books this year (and over 27,000 pages), the most since I left college/law school and started keeping track.
Of these 77 books, 44 were fiction and 33 were non-fiction. I always try to keep this close to 50/50, but I think I just found many good novels to read this year, and some of the non-fiction titles I was interested in (and continue to be interested in) were a little more difficult to come by via the library. Last year, I wrote about how imbalanced I was in terms of authors, having significant more male authors than female, and only 25% of the books I read coming from authors of color (since I read, in part, to gain perspective, this was one area I wanted to be more intentional about). I did a much better job as it regards genders - 43 women authors as compared to 34 male authors. I also did a better job (with room for improvement) on seeking out authors of color, representing approximately 36% of my reads this year. It will continue to be something I track, simply to help keep myself aware of the multitude of literature and perspectives worth reading and experiencing.
Of the 77 books I read this year, the longest was Jill Lepore's These Truths: A History of the United States, and the shortest was The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu; both were fantastic books. Per Goodreads' rating system, I gave 13 books 5 of 5 stars, 27 books 4 of 5 stars, 31 books 3 of 5 stars, and 6 books 2 of 5 stars. I believe one of the advantages of being more intentional in my reading is being better at selecting interesting books and finding better places to get recommendations, which resulting in a reading year that was really good (over half of the books being 4 or 5 stars!).
Of the books I read this year, if I had to pick a single piece of fiction and non-fiction, I would say that Washington Black by Esi Edugyan was the best fiction I read this year, and These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore was the best non-fiction I read. I would highly recommend both of those. Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was a short story collection that was also one of the best books I read this year. Other books I would highly recommend would include Colson Whitehead's The Nickel Boys, Wanderers by Chuck Wendig, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age by Tim Wu, and David Blight's biography - Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.
I made my reading life more intentional this year and surpassed by goals. As I wrote last year, goals are meant to push us, and I choose reading goals because I believe my life is better when I read, because I become a better person when I choose this activity over others. While I don't want to sacrifice my reading choices for the sake of hitting a number, I still believe I can do more (and ultimately, there always feels like there is more that I want to read). With that in mind, I'm leaning towards challenging myself to 84 books next year (a neat 7 per month).
It feels ambitious, but that's how goals are supposed to feel.
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