A Good Book is the One You Enjoy Reading
A year long reading challenge & the stifling of my inner snob
I read 52 books in 2022!
My goal was to read fifty books in a year, so I’m feeling pretty good about that number. I didn’t slide in on two wheels on the 31st of December and I managed to squeeze in a couple extra books.
Setting out last January, I didn’t put much thought into what I would read. I just determined to get busy and stay that way until I tore through fifty books. Setting a reading goal was a new experience for me. I usually just read books, as often as possible, with no rhyme or reason.
I knew I could accomplish my goal. What I didn’t realize, was how the experience would affect my reading habits.
Today, I’d love to share how my reading life has shifted since the beginning of the challenge.
Here are the three main takeaways from my year long reading challenge…
A Good Book is the One You Enjoy Reading
I’ve been a reader for as long as I can remember. I read all of the Babysitters Club, Goosebumps and Little House on the Prairie books. It was all about pleasure. I read what I liked.
But….somewhere along the way, I became a snob.
I was more concerned with literary standards than my own enjoyment. Don’t get me wrong. I still read plenty of books for pleasure. Mystery novels especially. A genre I have loved ever since my ninth grade english teacher assigned “And There Were None” by Agatha Christy. Shout out to Miss Alfson!
Unfortunately, If I read too many mysteries in a row, I felt guilty. Like I was falling below the standards of serious reading. I felt obligated to sprinkle in more lofty titles like “The Grapes of Wrath” by Jon Steinbeck or “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. Two titles I liked……a lot more than other books I’ve forced myself to slog through in the name of literature.
Something funny happened when my focus shifted from “quality” to quantity though. Knowing I would read guilty pleasures faster than obligatory classics, I let myself read all the mysteries and thrillers I could get my hands on.
Once I felt free to explore the many authors and series in my favorite genre, my reading life naturally became more prolific.
Turns out, if you like the book you’re reading, and you really really need to find out who murdered old Uncle Frederick in the barn with the hatchet, you are a lot more likely to pick up the book and actually read it!
Graphic Novels are Legit!
As I made progress towards my goal, one thing became clear : I wasn’t going to reach it with the 500+ page novels I’d been lugging around. Harry Potter is great and all, but I needed some lighter reading material.
The solution to this problem? Graphic Novels.
My curiosity about them had been brewing for a while and I recognized a golden opportunity to a) knock a few books back and b) discover a whole new genre.
I started with “Maus: A Survivors Tale : My Father Bleeds History” by Art Speigelman. “Maus” is an illustrated portrayal of Speigelman’s relationship with his father. It’s also a retelling of the harrowing experiences his father endured during the Holocaust. The book caught my attention when It became the center of a Controversy in Tennessee after a school board deemed the material “inappropriate for students” and banned it from classrooms.
I’m a sucker for banned books.
I devoured the 159 page masterpiece in one afternoon, immediately marched down to the local library and checked out “Maus II”.
Shortly after that, I read Neil Gaimon’s iconic “The Sandman Vol. 1 : Preludes and Nocturnes”. The “Sandman” books are fantasies revolving around, you guessed it, The Sandman. The deity responsible for our slumber and dream lives. I’ve read three books into the series so far. I loved the first one. The second was quite dark, but I liked it. The third was…not my favorite. I think I’ll still read the fourth and see if any of Gaimon’s creative magic returns.
I read other gems like “Persepolis : The Story of Childhood” by Marjane Satrapi. A heartbreaking autobiography of the author’s childhood in Tehran. I’m looking forward to reading the sequel. If you need more convincing….Persepolis was also banned.
I even read a graphic adaptation of “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari, the nonfiction tome dedicated to the evolution of the human species. There truly is a graphic novel out there for every type of reader.
Series are a Reader’s Most Reliable Safety Net
Do you have a TBR pile? You know, the books you have piled on bookshelves, nightstands and every where else waiting To Be Read.
I have a TBR pile. A big one. Even so, I don’t always pull from it when I’m ready for a new book.
More often, I go to the library and wander around until I find the perfect book. Sometimes I’m successful. Sometimes, I’m still at risk of leaving empty handed after an hour combing the shelves.
When this happens, I fall back on whatever series I’m working my way through at the moment.
Right now I’m reading a few different series of books. The Ruth Galloway Novels by Elly Griffiths, The Chief Inspector Gamache (or Three Pines) Mysteries by Louise Penny and The Saxon series (The Last Kingdom) by Bernard Cornwell.
They each give me a little different flavor to choose from. The Ruth Galloway novels are dark and atmospheric, while the Three Pines books are more comforting (though still have an edge) with descriptions of French Canadian culture and food you can almost taste. Cornwell’s Saxon Series are exciting and fun books to read. They take you into another world with bloodthirsty Danes and the beginnings of the English Monarchy.
At any given time, I can go get the next book in one of these series and know that I’m in good hands.
I’m also working my way through the Harry Potter books. Book five: “Harry Potter and the Oder of the Phoenix” was my reward for reading all fifty books before the end of the year. It clocked in at almost 900 pages and took me an entire month to finish.
In the same vein, It’s a good idea to collect a stable of favorite authors to fall back on. When I can’t figure out what to read and don’t want to read a series, I revisit specific authors. I know I can count on Louise Erdrich for rich, densely layered epics. John Boyne tells his stories through the lens of history. His books personalize well known events with well developed characters and emotional scenarios. Jane Harper takes us to Australia with her murderous tales, often set in the unforgiving Outback. Lisa Jewell pumps out fun, page turning thrillers that I find compulsively readable.
I could go on and on. The more I read, the more authors I find that make me want to read every word they’ve ever written.
Ten Million More Takeaways….
Honestly, I could probably list ten (million) more ways the reading challenge affected me. Mostly because I love love love Books and the only thing I love even close to as much…is waxing poetic about books. I’ll end here though, because you don’t have all day. But you do have plenty of good recommendations and reading tips to go out explore. I’ll leave you to it. Happy Reading!!