Shala Howell

Happy New Year!

Another year, another set of unreasonable reading expectations.

Last year, I challenged myself to read 125 books. I’m happy to say I made it. Whew! Here’s a snapshot of my Year in Books, courtesy of Goodreads:

My Year in Books stats for 2019: 41,362 pages across 133 books, average book length 310 pages. Shortest book The Dinosaur Footprints and Roland T. Bird (24 pages); longest book Lady Julia Grey: Volume 1 (921 pages); most popular book American Gods; least popular book Hello! 85 Rutabaga Recipes.
Various summary statistics about my reading habits in 2019, courtesy of Goodreads. (Image: Shala Howell’s Goodreads page)

I am shocked, shocked, I tell you to discover that I was the only Goodreads member to read 85 Rutabaga Recipes in 2019. Y’all are seriously undervaluing the appeal rutabagas can have for 12-year-olds when properly prepared.

Book covers from January 2019. Susan Dennard, P.D. James, Vivian Shaw, Stephen Blackmoore, Martin Walker, Margaret George, and Charlie Holmberg helped me kick off 2019.
The first few books I read in 2019. (Image via Shala Howell’s Goodreads page)

Doing all that reading was amazing, most of the time. But scrambling to meet my essentially arbitrary reading goal at the end of the year tends to sap the joy out of reading right when I need that joy the most.

So I think in 2020 I’m just going to let myself read whatever I want, whenever I want, and see where that takes me.

Covers for various books by Elizabeth George, Bill Bryson, Dava Sobel, Carl Hiaasen, Georgia Dunn, M.C. Beaton, Claire North, and Preston & Child.
One more set of books because I can. (Image via Shala Howell’s Goodreads Year in Books Summary.)

What about you? What are your reading plans in 2020?

Related Links:

Published by Shala Howell

I spent two decades helping companies like Bell Labs, Juniper Networks, and a genetic testing company that was later acquired by CVS translate some of the world’s most complicated concepts into actionable, understandable English. Now I'm working on a different problem -- helping parents raise the next generation of critical thinkers. The first book in my Caterpickles Parenting Series, What’s That, Mom?, focuses on how to use public art to nurture children’s curiosity in the world around them. My next book will focus on science, and how parents without a science degree can answer their curious child's questions without enrolling in a college level refresher course.

2 comments

    • Yes, I more or less stopped setting reading goals and recording all my books in Goodreads when I found myself pushing through books I didn’t enjoy just bc they were short and would help me make that arbitrary number. It’s been much better since I stopped being quite so determined to read all the books and record all the books. I hope you can find balance! After all, if you’re reading for entertainment it should be entertaining.

      Like

      Reply

What are you thinking?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.