It’s not too late for reading resolutions
These tips will open a new chapter of fulfillment — without the tallying
New Year’s reading resolutions can be tricky. Popular online reading challenges generally involve setting a goal to complete a certain number of books.
But is reading, say, 50 novels over 12 months really the recipe for a fulfilling reading year? Not necessarily (even if it does make someone a 1 percenter).
“I found that focusing too much on my book numbers in recent years was affecting my reading habits in a negative way,” Nina Akalis wrote when we asked subscribers to our Book Club newsletter about their reading resolutions. She found she was more hesitant to pick up long books and forced herself to keep reading books she wasn’t enjoying.
So her goal this year is to “pick up whatever I feel like reading without caring about its length.” That will probably entail bringing a 953-page copy of “The Pickwick Papers,” by Charles Dickens, on her next vacation.
If you, too, are looking for an attainable reading goal this year, and one that doesn’t involve tally marks, here are some ideas from our readers.
Set a timer
If reading every day is your goal, you might consider establishing a time objective. Erin Sager is setting a timer for 20 minutes, during which she’ll read without distractions. Margaret McNarry, meanwhile, is trying to read for an hour every day rather than her usual habit of binge reading a couple of times a month. “That’s not to say I won’t binge read!” she qualifies. “I really need to make a dent in my TBR list on my e-reader; last count was 586.”
Read fewer books
Many respondents were recovering book challenge participants who want reading to be an activity to savor rather than a means to an end.
Last year, Julie Reeser read 102 books, “but looking back over the titles, I’d be hardpressed to tell you much about them,” she writes. “That doesn’t feel like how it should go, so I want to read more deeply in 2024.”
Others feel that while reading can be a wonderful escape, it can also be too much of one. “I think I withdraw from friends so more time can be spent reading,” Judith Horowitz admits. “The last three years have yielded 80+ books per year. I think 75 is quite enough.” Document your progress
Raise your hand if you keep meaning to write down the books you’ve read. Stacey Becker is with you. “I plan to do this every year, but forget. Then 10 books in … it is too late,” she writes.
Maybe this will be the year. You could even take it a step further, as Vicki Wennerstrom does, and assign each book a letter grade.
“So when I’m looking for more books to read, I’ll look back at my list of previously read books for writers I particularly liked,” she writes. “Writers who I gave a ‘B+’ or the rare ‘A’ to are then checked on online for other books they’ve written.” Peruse your personal library
If you’re anything like us, your shelves are crammed with books you haven’t read. That’s the case for Andi Paris, whose resolution was to read all the books on her bookshelf before buying more. (She’s already failed, she writes. She bought five books in the first week of January.)
Dean Bryant hasn’t entirely forbidden new books. But of the 80 he plans to read this year, at least 50% of them must come from his own stash.
Tackle a classic
Some respondents are finally getting around to reading “The Iliad” (might we suggest the new Emily Wilson translation?); others are completing Proust’s bibliography.
Laurie Munn is going to read a Jane Austen book (“Nope, I never have!” she writes, preemptively addressing our incredulity).
Stephanie Martin is embarking on her third “winter reading classic” challenge, which entails reading one of the greats. She “started big” in 2022 with “Ulysses,” then moved on to “Moby-Dick” in 2023. This year, it’s “The Sound and the Fury.”
Swap scrolling for stories
Yes, the screen is evertempting, but a book is more satisfying.
Denise Bolton is weaning herself “off mindlessly scrolling on my phone or computer, an activity that has increasingly overtaken my reading time and offers me little pleasure in return,” she writes. “I don’t think I can completely stop all contact with the internet, but I have been horrified by how much time I give over to it each day and I want to reclaim some of those hours (and my deteriorating attention span) for the hundred or so wonderful books that are waiting for me on my Shelf of Unread Books.”
Broaden your horizons
It can be easy to fall into a reading rut, revisiting the same genres. Several of our readers want to escape that fate by reading more nonfiction, more works in translation and more books set in different regions around the world.
Brenda Arnold tends to always read the same kinds of books when left to her own devices, but joining a book club where she lives, in Munich, Germany, has led to new discoveries.
“I’m the only native English speaker in the club, so the other German ladies come up with book suggestions that I’ve never heard of,” she writes.
Go big in a new way
Melissa Lefko read books in 2023, but, 102 she writes, “this year, I am excited to read deep instead of large.” And yet her goal is large, just in a different way.
“I have set a goal to read 24 of the BIG books that have been on my TBR shelf for years,” she writes. Those include such lengthy novels as “2666,” by Roberto Bolaño, “Almanac of the Dead,” by Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Luminaries,” by Eleanor Catton and “Cryptonomicon,” by Neal Stephenson. Make it a family affair
One of Jenny Collins’ goals is to read to her 3-year-old granddaughter every Saturday and Sunday.
Likewise, Libby ThomasWheat plans to continue bonding over books with her granddaughter. “We have influenced each other over the years,” she writes. “She convinced me to throw down a book after 100 pages if I hated it, and I’ve convinced her books on tape count as she walks Riley!”
And what about a little friendly competition? Shannon Bawulski would like to read more books than she did last year (a respectable 114) but, “more importantly,” she writes, “I need to read as many or more books than my sister, Erin (last year we tied).”
Inspire others to read
Marley Giggey would like to set a numerical book goal, but with a 5- and 7-year-old, free time is a luxury she doesn’t always have. So instead, she’s going to “encourage/inspire/bully as many people as possible into getting a library card and/or sign up for Libby,” the app that most public libraries use to lend e-books and audiobooks. “I’ve had great success with this in the past and get a thrill when folks reach out who I don’t speak with often to say they are using Libby for their book and audiobook needs.”
Bail without guilt
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating, given how many people wrote in to say this was their resolution: You don’t have to finish every book you start. If it makes you feel better, you can take a cue from Melanie Lasoff Levs: “I’ll thank the author in my head for their hard work, congratulate them for their publishing success and move myself onto the next one,” she writes.
Have next book ready
Ann Caggiano’s resolution for books is simple: “Never be without one.”
That’s a sentiment Susan McKendree echoes, though with a bit more urgency.
“I have long held the belief (although it only works for the most dedicated of readers) that as long as you have a new book to pick up and begin the minute you close the one you just finished, you will live forever,” she writes. “Not wanting to take any chances, I have nine new books waiting on my coffee table, as well as the one I’m currently reading (‘Tom Lake,’ by Ann Patchett). Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go pick up where I left off.”