Reading, 2023 and 2024
Last year, I watched an Instagram reel on the importance of reading books. I didn't think anything of it until I later saw a YouTube short that said the same thing.
This targeted advertising stuff is no joke.
Clearly that's not true. What is true is that I read 24 books in 2023.
On the surface of it, that seems like an accomplishment. I'm proud to have redeveloped my reading habit and I'm happy to have rediscovered my love for it.
But I don't think it's that straightforward. There were a few problems:
1. I don't remember most of the things I read.
Which is totally fine with fiction, of course. But I go into non-fiction books with the intention of learning something and come out the other with a vague sense of being slightly more informed, sometimes. I couldn't really tell you anything about David Epstein's book Range that you wouldn't find out for yourself by reading the first 20 pages1, other than that I enjoyed reading it. Some may say that that's enough, but it does leave me feeling that the reading process was somewhat unfruitful.
2. Reading to have read.
One unfortunate consequence of counting the number of books I read is that I'm biased towards shorter, quicker reads. Two examples from 2023 - Brandon Sanderson's novella The Emperor's Soul (coming in at a snappy 104 pages) and Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss. Sanderson's book, in particular, was a very enjoyable read - I'd heard of his really good "magic systems", to which this was a good introduction. Regardless, I'd be lying to myself if I didn't acknowledge my real reason for starting this book - its length. As the Peter Drucker saying goes, what gets measured gets managed.
3. It can be a slog.
In wanting to learn about the French Revolution (and to up my book count, of course), I started The Coming of the French Revolution, by Georges Lefebvre. I'd begun it twice over the course of the year, put it down for several weeks, and lost all context when I picked it back up, forcing me back to the start. With a little more introspection, I would've realized that I kept stopping the book because I didn't enjoy it. That, unfortunately, required a battle with the ego's determination to never abandon a book. I spent over a month 2 plodding through a dry book I didn't enjoy and learned precious little from (which is more a reflection on myself than the author, I'll admit), for the minor achievement of adding it to my count for the year. I could've read anything else in that time, maybe even something else about revolutionary France.
A Different Kind of Challenge
For these reasons, in 2024, I'm posing myself a different kind of reading challenge. I want to read less. I have a couple of long reads lined up - The Power Broker by Robert Caro and Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter. These should take substantial time, but I've wanted to read them for a while now; the book count is not going to get in my way anymore.
On the flip side, I also want to bail more. If I can train myself to read more, I can train myself to quit as well. I like the "100 minus your age" threshold for deciding to drop a book. It doesn't have to stay dropped either. Maybe a book I drop this year will interest me a year, or 10, down the line. Today's just not my time for it. After all, we never step in the same river twice.
Lastly, book reviews. I did this in 2020, when I forced myself to review every book I completed - a quick look back at what I'd read before moving on to the next one3. Then...I got lazy. But now, armed with a blog, I have no excuses. If anything, finishing fewer books will help me avoid writing about them - a win-win!
And that's it. Happy reading!
Although maybe there's a good reason for that.↩
On a sub-200 page book, ironically enough.↩
I don't actually know if that process was particularly helpful, but I now have a stack of paper with my thoughts, as of 2020, on Dune, Cat's Cradle, and The Stranger (Albert Camus), among others. That's got to count for something.↩