2021: Mid-Year Check-In
This year, I once again set myself the goal to read 52 books - and given how crazy 2021 has been already, I’m not surprised that I’ve only managed to read 18 books so far. With the help of the Storygraph (read here why Goodreads is not a fave), I’m able to share with you what those 18 books have looked like in stats (shout-out to stats-nerds!).
But first! My top 3 books (so far):
The Stats
Fiction vs Non-Fiction
I try to keep a consistent alternation between fiction and non-fiction reading, but I think I threw the towel in after reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara earlier this year. After so many heart-wrenching pages, I just wanted something certain and expected - even though the memoirs I picked up were anything but.
Reading Mood
If you ask me what I read, I’d probably say “I’ll read anything!” and I’d be totally ignoring the fact that I obviously have a type. This graph seems to perfectly depict my shelf of almost every Rachel Cusk publication.
Genre
Despite how I have pigeon-holed myself in terms of moods, I have actually read widely in terms of genre. As much as I want to diversify my reading to include works by authors of diverse backgrounds, or sexuality or differently-abled bodies, I also want to diversify my reading content - though these sometimes overlap.
Rating Breakdown
Most of the books I’ve read this year I have rated 4-stars or higher (including four 5-star reads!). It could be the case that I’m just very generous, but its more likely that I’ve found my niche (as my mood graph would indicate).
What influences my reading?
Although I have goals to read more widely (and tools like the Storygraph’s statistics help to guide my reading), I can’t forget that I pick books based on factors beyond these goals. Some of the books I’ve read so far this year have been for a book club I’m in or a buddy read with my best friend. Some were chosen because they were short and I could squeeze them in between the mountain of reading I have to do for law school. And some books I picked up because they were the right size to slip into my bag and read on my commute - I could dip in and out of them on those short train rides.
There is definitely no harm in reading for the sake of reading - it is a leisure activity too! But being reflective on what and how you read can help to ensure that you expose yourself to more challenging ideas beyond what may be normally contained on your bookshelf.