Books are the mirrors of the soul. ― Virginia Woolf
Rethinking Reading in 2024
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I have been thinking a lot about the way I read lately. Since I signed up for Goodreads in 2011, I’ve set a reading goal at the beginning of each year. And every year as I met my goal, the next year’s rose and rose until, last year, I had a goal of 52 books and read 58. This felt good, of course. This felt like I won.
But something about it has been bothering me since we crossed over into the new year. Would I have been better served reading fewer books? Fewer, but bigger? Or tougher? Or just slower?
So I made a change this year: I lowered my Goodreads reading goal. It was a strangely difficult decision to make, deciding to break out of my year-over-year increase. But I did it and, already, I have noticed a positive change in my reading behavior. I’ve been happy about this change — until I detected a flaw in my goal.
In my essay about reducing reading goals, I said I intended not to surpass my goal. Now, a month after writing that declaration, I realize how stifling the whole thing is. What — I plan to read 45 books but no fewer, lest I don’t meet my goal, and no more, lest I negate my desire to read deeper this year? The idea of having to read1 a specific number number of books makes me feel claustrophobic. How unnatural; how restrictive.
All around the internet, I’ve seen people share their interesting reading goals. I love how so many readers seem to have the same idea: to be more intentional this year; to not read anything and everything that pops up on their radar. To simply mix up their reading habits.
is doing a rereading project: each month, she is rereading an old beloved book. She says, “taking a step back from my preferred genres leaves me feeling refreshed and inspired.” I love this notion of rereading a book a month. I have so many books I want to reread — including ’s Before and After the Book Deal and, always, one of the many Elena Ferrante books on my shelves. Rereading is a way to revisit the books that made us fall in love with reading in the first place.I found a series of reading goals on
, including more author projects (reading several books by the same author) and reading from your bookshelves.Shannon Bowring, author of The Road to Dalton (a spectacular book that you must read if you haven’t yet), has a more formulaic approach, with themed reading each month:
January: Female writers
February: Black writers
March: Books with green covers
April: Poetry and nonfiction
May: Short story collections
June: LGBTQ+ writers
July: New releases
August: Rereads
September: Anything goes
October: Books with orange covers
November: Indigenous writers
December: The TBR pile
This list is not for me, but I do appreciate how she’s focusing on LGBTQ+, indigenous, female, and black writers. I personally couldn’t spend an entire month only reading books with green covers, or short story collections. I’m a vibes reader — I pick up a book based on my mood, and I also have several books going at once. Still, I like how she’s broken the year down by month. I’m sure she’ll have some interesting things to say about her year of reading.
plans to listen to more audiobooks and do more puzzles or adult coloring books or cross stitch. Over at , the comment section is flooded with brilliant 2024 reading aspirations. says she is practicing a threshold reading goal. “We can get all caught up on the numbers and not appreciate what we read as much if we are trying to race to the next book.”This is how I should have originally phrased my 2024 reading goal: practicing a reading threshold, not aiming to read one specific number. Not surpassing my goal is important to me for reasons I’ve said before2, but I hadn’t thought to word it like this.
Ways to rethink reading in 2024
Throughout the many reading resolutions I’ve come across, I’ve picked up on some themes. Here are new (to me) ways to rethink our reading this year:
Create a reading threshold: Set a minimum and maximum goal, and do not exceed the maximum. This will give you the permission you may need to luxuriate, slow down, pay attention.
Monthly focuses: A new theme each month, such as female writers, indigenous writers, etc.
Rereading challenge: Choose one book to reread per month; or select all 12 and assign them now. Or, simply revisit old favorites whenever you want.
Do author projects: Read several books by the same author. The first book I finished this year was by Jhumpa Lahiri, and I have two others of hers on my TBR (Translating Myself and Others and Interpreter of Maladies). I suppose you can say this is my author project.
Read more backlist: New releases are buzzy, but backlist books deserve just as much time and attention.
In writing this post, I’ve figured out how to amend my own reading goal. I aim to read between 40 and 45 books this year. I am going to do some more rereading than usual, but may not commit to 12 like the reread challenge. And I am going to read more books from my shelves that I haven’t read yet. This feels right.
Virginia Woolf said that books are the mirrors of the soul. If that’s the case, I want to be nourishing my soul with the right books, and I know all this time I’ve spent thinking and writing about reading goals is bringing me closer to those books.
Now it’s your turn: What are your 2024 reading goals?
What I’m reading: Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (buzzy, but I think I can see why) and The Quickening by Elizabeth Rush (stunning). I’ve also started reading my second book in Italian this year (I’m telling you — reducing my reading goal is the ONLY reason I’ve felt free to do this): Harry Potter e la Pietra Filosofale. I manage only about five pages a day, but I am really enjoying it.
What I’m listening to: Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok.
Love,
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By my own design. Nobody is making me read anything; I am just highly motivated by reading goals.
I want to read more books like A Little Life, which is 832 pages. I want to read more books in Italian. Both of these take an incredible amount of time, and in the past, I’ve often opted for books in the 300-page range so as to not feel behind on my goal. Again, I am highly motivated by reading goals. Am I too beholden to them? Maybe. But that’s for another post.