Looking back at a list of the 122 books I read in 2023 leaves me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, this year's reading included a handful of the best books I've ever read, but on the other, I can't help but feel that I wasted too many of the precious reading hours I have left to me. I suppose, however, that I'm lucky to finish the year feeling more positive than not about what I've been reading in the last few months.
That said, I've been considering ways that are, I sincerely hope, more likely to make me feel generally better about 2024's reading than I feel about 2023's. Some of what I've come up with seems contradictory, I admit, but this is what I'm thinking:
- A deep dive into the back catalogs of those mystery writers who have influenced all those who followed them (writers like Anna Katherine Green, Dorothy L. Sayers, Katherine V. Forest, P.D. James, among many others)
- Reading some relatively early mysteries by writers from Europe, Africa, Central America, South America, Japan/Asia, etc.
- Read pioneering mysteries from women, African-Americans, Native Americans, etc. - especially those who were writing in the 1940s-1960s
- Use Nancy Pearl's three Book Lust titles for a little help choosing books from the early 2000s that won't disappoint me
- Reading more literary, character-driven novels no matter their genre
Here's where the contradiction comes in, though, because I also plan to:
- Read some of the books resting on my own shelves, few of which fall into the categories up above (although my extensive Library of America collection will be a big help)
- Accept more review copies than last year, while at the same time selecting them more carefully than ever before - and reminding myself as often as needed that publishers are not doing me a favor by providing an ARC; it's really the other way around
- Consider reading the entire 2024 Booker Prize list, but start much earlier than I did on the 2023 list
- Read and review standalone short stories from current magazines
- Read 2024 titles but doing a better job of distinguishing between quality titles and "eye-candy"
- Read more nonfiction (a goal I fail at every single year)
- Allow for, and don't feel guilty about reading, "wildcard" books, books that come out of nowhere to force their way into my hands
I'm hoping that my energy level, family obligations, health considerations, etc. allow me to maintain the surge in my reading and blogging that began in June of 2023 when I was able to return from an extended blogging absence. Anyway, that's the plan. It's probably overambitious, but at the very least, it will be interesting (to me) to look back on this post at the end of 2024 to see how close I came.
I am constantly amazed at the time and thought you put into your reading. Amazed is overused but it is still how I feel. You have real plans and ideas. Were you an English major in school? Maybe you have said, but I've forgotten.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry your year wasn't as fulfilling reading-wise. 122 books! I am at 52.
The mention of health considerations makes me nervous. Hope you are okay.
Nan, I didn't major in English but I took as many lit classes as electives as possible and took several more at night long after graduation just for the fun of it. It's a bug I caught as a boy and it never went away.
DeleteI'm very much a numbers/statistics/probabilities kind of guy, and I hear the clock ticking now. I've had longterm goals for a while that never seem to happen, so I'm starting to get that feeling of "if not now, when." I've kept a list of books/authors read for 54 years now, and when I started it I was hoping someday to reach 3,000 books. As of this morning, the list is at 3,963 books so I'm starting to feel as if I'm reading in "bonus time" now. Starting another year from day one really got me to thinking, I suppose.
Well it seems you want to dip into the past with your reading in 2024, as well as dip into some current award kind of fiction too. Hmm cover your bases. I think it's what makes you the most happy while reading. I think it's a good plan. You have me wondering now if I should deviate how I proceed in 2024 ... I will ponder this.
ReplyDeleteI spend a lot of my day in my home library, and when I look at all the great books just sitting there on the shelves it makes me kind of sad to realize how many of them I've never read and how many others I would love to experience all over again. But I can't imagine not reading new books either, especially review copies and favorite authors. So you're right...a matter of finding the perfect balance is what I'm going for. And that's much easier to say than to do.
DeleteHi Sam, Interesting thoughts about the new year of books. Anna Katherine Green's mystery novel The Leavenworth Case I read and it was really good, a mystery but also it works as a Victorian novel set around 1870's NYC . I know what you mean about nonfiction and a video blogger was talking about pairing a nonfiction and fiction book together that covers a similar subject. I have to read more books this year though that's for sure because with 32 books I read that's not enough of a sample to create a worthwhile top 5 list at the end of the year.
ReplyDeleteI found a tremendously well put together collection of her work on Amazon this morning for 99 cents. It's over 7,000 pages long, so the problem of finding something of hers to read is definitely taken care of. Can't wait to dip into it.
DeleteI like the idea of pairing related fiction/nonfiction titles. That would make both titles more meaningful, I suspect.
That's why I'm not able to do a top ten nonfiction list this year, Kathy. I only read 23 nonfiction and came up with a decent list of the top five, but most of those were not even written this year.
I know exactly what you mean about trying to choose more carefully the books you'll read in the years you have left. This occurs to me too I have to say, probably more than it should. And I am going to try to do that this year, I have so many really good books sitting moldering on my shelves and Kindle and it's a real shame they're going unread. It's good to make plans and I like the sound of yours, Sam. Look forward to reading the posts that come from them.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cath. I have definite plans; now I need to follow them. We'll see about that.
DeleteI think when we reach a certain age and take a look at the books we've accumulated over a lifetime of avid reading, it hits home that some of them are never going to get read if we don't get a move on. I'm there, and I'm feeling the urge to make more use of my own library and less use of all the 2024 eye-candy that is about to surface for the first time.
In fact, I've been gathering up some old "books on books" that were published from the 1930s through the early 2000s so that I can explore some of the lists and recommendations in those. I'm feeling good about where I want to be in 2024, and I hope it doesn't bore everyone when I post about it.
I like your reading plan. I definitely agree about trying to choose your books more carefully. I hate wasting my time on mediocre reads. One of my bookish goals for 2024 is to read more nonfiction, too. And I'm thinking I'd like to read more golden age mysteries next year. They've been reprinting them like crazy, and I think they're fun reads. I hope you find many more really good books in your reading next year. :D
ReplyDeleteIf you take a look at Amazon, you'll find lots of huge compilations of early writers, some of which include whole back catalogs. If you sample them first, and choose carefully, there are some excellent productions to be found for anywhere from a dollar to two dollars. Then you can pick and choose and sample to your heart's delight.
DeleteYou have lofty reading goals to improve your reading experience. I read current novels instead of rereading the old favorites so I can get a better grasp of how contemporary people think and act and feel. At least, I hope that is what I'm getting when I read modern books. Have a great new year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year to you too, Harvee. I think you're right about learning about how contemporary people think by reading current novels. But sometimes that's exactly what I'm trying to get away from because much of that thinking either bewilders me or angers me. Even reading novels about the whole covid experience is not all that easy for me to do yet. I hope you have a great 2024 reading year...I'll be watching. :-)
DeleteYou have some big plans for 2024, a bit overwhelming. It all sounds good to me. I haven't honed in on my reading goals for 2024 yet, although I think that they will be similar to my goals for last year. I do think that Nancy Pearl's books will be a good source for books published prior to 2003, and fun to read through also.
ReplyDeleteI also think about how much time I have left to read the books I really want to read (like... all of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series, Anthony Price's books, books by Ross Thomas, Robert Barnard, Victor Canning and Peter Dickinson).
I would like to read more nonfiction, but realistically I have to push myself to do this and then I don't enjoy it, so I just let myself do it when it happens, and don't plan for it.
I love those Nancy Pearl books, Tracy. I have the second two in paperback but realized that my copy of the original Book Lust book had been lost at some point, so I bought the e-book version this week. I seem to find something new in them every time I flip through them.
DeleteThose series you mention are exactly the ones I want to begin exploring this year, too. In some cases, I've read several of the books in the series, but it's been so long (way before I bothered to review them even for myself) that I remember very little about them other than the nature of their main characters and a generally good feeling about them. Maybe we'll be reading some of those authors at the same time; that would be fun.
Nonfiction is "harder" for me unless it's a memoir or the biography of someone I'm already fairly familiar with. I think my problem is that nonfiction requires more patience, and I have very little of that left, especially at this age. Books on books is also a good alternative NF for me.
You've got some good plans, Sam. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cathy. Happy New Year to you!
Delete