2023 Reflection
Did I meet my 2023 reading goal?
I joined a challenge my friend Amanda (@eastofreaden) put up to pick 20 books off my TBR list. My goal when choosing these books was to get through some of my library of existing books.
I didn’t start with much hope; I had only read 6 books in 2022, and I knew some of the books on the list I created for myself to read in 2023 were textbooks. I anticipated they would take a while, yet still become priority. I said I’d be happy if I got to reading 10 of the books, but didn’t expect it.
I got through 12 books from the challenge and 6 additional new books purchased throughout the year. I met and exceeded my goal to build a regular reading habit again!
I also put in the goal to make progress on my book stats spreadsheets, but I don’t think I made much progress at all last year. I took on a very draining project to benefit my mental health and then I got a cat, so I wasn’t spending much time doing other things.
Books In-Progress Before 2023
- I started Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents in August 2022, it took me five months to finish because it was tough to read.
- I began Developing Quality Technical Information: A Handbook for Writers and Editors by Michelle Carey (et al) in 2020, it’s a textbook so I expected it to take much longer to read but I managed to finish it this year!
- I started A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher W. Alexander in 2019. I got through about 150 pages while on an airplane and have read a bit here and there since then. This book is 1200+ pages, so I expect it will take me a while to read.
- I started An Actor Prepares by Constantin Stanislavski in 2017 and got through most of the book in 2013. I’ll probably finish this early 2024.
New Reads
- 2 books I picked up at a bookstore and decided to read impulsively
- Touch: Recovering Our Most Vital Sense
- Haunting the Outer Banks: Thirteen Tales of Terror from the North Carolina Coast
- 3 books I read on recommendation
- Shady Characters: The Secret Life of Punctuation, Symbols, & Other Typographical Marks
- ChatGPT for Nonfiction Authors
- How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching
- 3 books I listened to, which I haven’t been able to do in years (I lose focus)
- I Didn’t Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt
- The Book of Yokai: Mysterious Creatures of Japanese Folklore
- Leading Content Design
- 2 new (to me) books by favorite authors
- Men Without Women
- The Halloween Tree
- 3 books I wouldn’t have otherwise read, but did for the challenge
- Chinese Fairy Tales and Legends
- The Exorcist
- The Book of Hallowe’en
2024 Goals
This year I’m in a different place completely than where I was when I made my goals for 2023. I’ve gone through a lot of crap; 2023 wasn’t very kind to me, though I can’t complain too much. For every terrible 10 things there was one really good thing, so I guess it all evens out in the end.
This year, instead of visiting my library exclusively, I want to open my mind and try new things. I want to sacrifice who I am for what I can be.
I still like the idea of having a list of books to choose from when I decide to sit down to some reading, so I’m joining Amanda’s 2024 challenge called: Not the Bees! A Nicholas Cage Reading Challenge. Each prompt is a quote from one of the actor’s characters.
I took each prompt to heart and although I did add some books I already own in my quest to read more of the books I already own… I also branched out. I tried to find books by people with similar experiences so that I could get different viewpoints on the same thing, and I tried to find books about stuff I never would have thought to find.
Here’s what I came up with:
In addition to listing my initial selects for the challenge here, I’ve also added them to the prompts in the Storygraph challenge page, if you’re into that kind of thing. |
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I have a few TBD titles that I couldn’t find books for, but last year I found I wish I had left some flexibility to add titles to the list, so this year those will serve this purpose!
My goal for 2024 is to read at least 12 books and write about at least 6 of them. I’d also like to add all books I currently own to my book stats spreadsheet; I can fill in the metadata as I have energy, but I want to get the titles down.
January isn’t even halfway done yet and I’ve already read two books!