Revising my 2024 Reading Goal
Coming into 2024 I resolved to read more books. I do read, and probably more than the majority of people, but nowhere near as much as I want to. I enjoy reading. But it is a constant battle against the Internet. So, making it a priority for this year is a thing I want to do.
I came in with the ambitious goal of reading 50 books this year, however I realized that this doesn't incentivize me the way I want. I've come to enjoy reading a lot more once I realized I can stop reading books when they stop being enjoyable or being worth the effort. And by making my goal 50 books, that pushes me not to quit books and thus makes picking up a book to read much more important.
First was "Our Oldest Companions" by Pat Shipman, which is a book looking at the history of humans and dogs. An interesting read, but I found it plodding at points and ultimately fell off. I had thought the book would be much more behavioral, and it does touch on that, but it is very focused on the transition point of wolves to dogs, and that as it turns out is not as interesting for me.
Second was a fiction novel which I'll admit I picked off of BookTok. "People from my Neighborhood" by Hiromi Kawakami. The pitch didn't reveal the true nature of the book, which I am glad for, despite it not being my cup of tea.
So, given that I'm in the third week of the year and I have abandoned two books already, it's clear that I need to change.
The current goal means I have to pick books which are ones I "have" to finish. And that isn't feasible. I need fluidity and flexibility.
Given this, I'm revising my goal. Rather than books, my goal is pages. If I arbitrarily set an average book length of 300 pages, then that translates 50 books into 15,000 pages this year. I tracked how far I got into each of the abandoned books, as well as the book I already finished. And it puts me at around 525 pages so far this year, which is a little behind pace for what I need for 15,000 pages. But is directionally where I want to be and so I feel good about it.
I've since finally dipped my toe in to Terry Pratchett's Discworld as I'm now reading Guards! Guards! and quite enjoying it. Additionally, I am working through an an audiobook called Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter. It's definitely infotainment, but I've taken a few interesting tidbits away from it. I'm glad I'm taking it as an audiobook, I think if I had read it as a book I would have bounced off at a few portions.