Hello, friends. I'm finally back in Florida, unpacked, and ready to resume reading and blogging! But before we get much deeper into the New Year, I'd like share my reflections on 2024 reading and lay out some intentions for 2025. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the way my reading year unfolded. I made a couple of small changes that made a big difference in my overall enjoyment.
But first, the numbers...
46 books read - fewer than previous years (more below)
84% fiction, 16% nonfiction
56% new-to-me authors, 44% authors I'd read before
7% books in translation
16% classics
9% rereads
format:
print/ebook only 24%
audio only 7%
read/listen combination 68%
average rating: 4.2 (That's high, but I don't finish books that aren't to my taste.)
Shortest book / Longest book
Recitatif by Toni Morrison, 96 pages
Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin, 945 pages
Most shelved / Least shelved (goodreads)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Where the Forest Meets the River by Shannon Bowring
My favorite books of 2024 are listed in this post.
The biggest change I made in 2024 was to abandon the goodreads challenge. This turned out to be a big success!
Reading one book per week is a comfortable pace and I typically set a goal of 50/52 books each year. For the past couple years I've struggled to meet that goal. What ended up happening, especially in the last quarter, was that I found myself searching out and reading shorter books rather than the longer books I really wanted to read. Without the challenge, my 2024 reading turned out to be more satisfying. I read several books from my goodreads 500+ page tbr shelf... including two over 900 pages that I've wanted to read for years!
I also became more active in the Modern Mrs. Darcy book club in 2024. I read (or DNFd) all the selections, attended online author talks each month, participated in online forums, and took part in other group events. I'll continue this in 2025.
INTENTIONS for 2025
After a one-year experiment, I will no longer use The Storygraph. I found that it didn't add much to my reading life beyond an attractive monthly graphic. Plus, my reading community is all on goodreads.
Buddy reads (with blogging friends and MMD members) were a lot of fun in 2024. I'd like to do a few more in 2025.
Be more intentional in my reading selections, especially when it comes to nonfiction titles.
Read all MMD book club selections... and it's okay to dnf if they're not working for me. I will also participate in a small bimonthly world lit book club.
Continue making a monthly list of tbr possibilities. This helps guide my reading in a planned direction while still allowing for spontaneity.
How was your 2024 reading year? Will you be making any changes in 2025?
Hooray! I'm glad you're back in Florida. I always love to see your beachy photos. :) Recitatif was my shortest book, too, but my average rating was a bit lower than yours at 3.7. I think I rated books more harshly this past year. I'm keeping my Goodreads goal, but really don't pay much attention to it. I'm planning my reading each month with a short list of books I really want to read. I'm going to spend the year reading Elizabeth Strout's entire collection, starting at the beginning again. I'm also going to read CJ Box's mysteries, as well as William Kent Krueger's. I have seven books by Maggie O'Farrell to read over the course of the year, which will also be fun.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the sunshine!
Les - It was stressing me out to see "you are x books behind" every time I opened goodreads and It was a relief for me not to see it this year. It will be fun to reread Elizabeth Strout! I discovered a few months ago that I've read all of her books except Abide with Me, so that will be a priority for me. Checked Ann Patchett's backlist, too, and found that I'd missed Taft. That will be on my list for the year, too. I've only read one book by Maggie O'Farrell, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, and definitely want to read more!
DeleteIt's good to be back in FL, but the back-to-back blows of Hurricanes Helene and Milton caused more Ian-recovery setbacks that I'd feared. We were completely spared this time, but many on the island were not so fortunate. I look forward to sharing beach photos again!
I haven't read Taft or Run (Patchett's) and plan to get to those this year. I loved The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox and Hamnet. I'm currently reading O'Farrell's After You'd Gone, which is a really odd story. I'm sticking with it, but it can be a bit confusing. Glad I'm reading the print edition!
DeleteLes - My next Maggie O'Farrell will be This Must Be The Place. I'm not familiar with After You'd Gone, but it does sound like one best read in print. I read Run shortly after it was published and remember liking it at the time. I got the annotated Bel Canto for Christmas, so will try to read that later this year, too. I left it in CT!
DeleteI have This Must Be the Place in my stacks, but have three others that she published before it, so it will be summer before I get to it. I gave my brother the annoted Bel Canto for Christmas. Wish I had bought a copy for myself. It looks great! Maybe we can do a buddy read later this year. That will give me an excuse to buy a copy. ;)
DeleteLes - That would be great! I'm hoping to read Taft in the spring, then we could do Bel Canto sometime in the second half of the year :)
DeleteI've been rethinking and reworking my TBR and ended up with StoryGraph -- we'll see how it works for me. The bigger change, though, is that I don't allow myself to put more than 50 books on my TBR. It's not much fun to take a book off when I want to add one, but I hope that it means my TBR remains useful.
ReplyDeleteJoy - I like the idea of a more limited tbr. Sometimes all the choices overwhelm me. The Storygraph graphics are really good, plus they have all sorts of trigger warnings for books that many readers appreciate. One thing I love about goodreads is being able to check my friends opinions of potential tbr additions. After so many years on goodreads, I've gotten to know how my taste in books aligns with so many others. I hope Storygraph works for you!
DeleteI hope you are getting settled in Florida. I bet the weather is more pleasant right now.
ReplyDeleteI understand about Storygraph. I am focusing more of my attention on Storygraph this year, I think, and going to use more of their features. I tend to use these types of sites more for tracking and their stats save me from a lot of work I was doing on my own. I will still be on Goodreads though. :-)
I'll be posting my 2025 plans on Tuesday. I don't feel like I have a lot of specific goals or plans, but the amount of books I am committing to might be overwhelming. I have a feeling I will need to re-evaluate and cut back as time goes on.
I hope you have a wonderful 2025, JoAnn. I think your outlook for this year's reading is very reasonable and a good foundation for a good reading year.
Wendy - Storygraph does have a lot of features that I never investigated and I do like their stats. I may still put in books read at the end of each month so I can take advantage of them, but not update regularly. I'll keep an eye out for your reading plans!
DeleteEnjoyed reading about your 2024 year, Joanne. I think many of us are at a time when it is OK or more than OK for us to read what works for us, finish a book if we like it, set it aside if it doesn't, reread all we want to and basically, work things in our reading lives the way it works for us. I know I will never get to read every single book that I want to. Not enough time - ever - ha! My plan is to read happily and cheerfully and maybe hit 100 books read for 2025. No stress. Glad you guys are back in Florida and hope you have a great week!
ReplyDeleteKay - Yes, I think my attitude toward reading has shifted in the last several years... and I know I'll never get to all the books! That's one reason I want to try to be more intentional with my choices, but still leave room for occasional spontaneity! It's great to be back in FL, but a little disheartening to see how this past summer's hurricanes dealt many Ian recovery setbacks. But the beach and the sunshine always make me happy!
DeleteI really like your 2025 reading goals. I think I need to make some more intentional goals beyond the challenges I've taken on. Somehow, I got away from making a monthly stack of books to consider and felt much more adrift. I think I'd like to get back to doing that.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I am all for DNF-ing books that don't work for us! There are too many that will bring us reading pleasure.
Helen - Having that monthly stack for the past couple of years has made a big difference for me. I like have some, but not too much, structure! It's a fine balance.
DeleteMy reading has been entirely ADHD, and I'm going with that. I flit from book to book, give up on books on a whim, try books I don't expect to like and then find I love them. Not sure how long this phase of my reading life will last, but I'm OK with it.
ReplyDeleteAmy - I want to at least try more books I don't expect to like... those can lead to some of the best surprises!
DeleteThank you for recommending Team of Rivals. I figure if we can get through the Civil War and come back together as a country, we can survive the mess we have now.
ReplyDeleteI would love to do more buddy reads and group reads this year. I agree that if a challenge isn’t working for you, toss it aside.
Deb - I'm so glad you loved Team of Rivals, too. It really was inspiring... wonder who will turn out to be our next Lincoln? I'm hoping to read DKG's latest book sometime this year.
DeleteWelcome back! It's a bit warmer where you are and I am looking forward to Not covering the plants every night, haha.
ReplyDeleteYou had a great year of reading. I'm looking forward to the Shannon Bowring book but our library doesn't have it yet. I just checked again....nope.
I could buy it but am trying to not make purchaes and utilize the library and what I have on hand.
By the way, I did remember you mentioning a Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi once I went to Goodreads this morning and saw Hildegarde Serle was the translator. I am going to try and read that one for the Women in Translation month. Also, now that I have looked at my Goodreads account I see I didn't sign up for the challenge either. I usually do so, must have slipped my mind.
Have not looked into the Modern Mrs Darcy site but you make it sound appealing. Looking forwad to buddy reads this year - those are fun!
Tina - It's good to be back... just love these sunny, warm winters! I hope your library gets the next Dalton book soon. Don't remember if you have access to hoopla through your library, but it is there now, too. I really loved that one... interesting to see what all the characters were up to 5 years after the first book. A Good Life is just as enjoyable the second time through. Still a very solid 4 stars for me. I especially enjoy the structure. I've been part of MMD for nearly 2 years now and plan to keep with it!
DeleteI've been doing more buddy reads lately and really love it! It's fun to have people to talk to about books as your reading them. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Lindsi - Yes, buddy reads are the best. I always enjoy talking to other readers about books!
Delete56 new-to-you authors is outstanding. Every year I saw I want to try out more authors, and every year I stick with the tried and true. But, like you, I don't want to spend time reading something that I don't actually like!
ReplyDeleteSee, I look at the GoodReads challenge as a milepost of sorts. I don't actually consciously want to read more--I have lots of interests and hobbies that take time. But, I like to meet goals, so I adjust the GR goal several times throughout the year so that in the end, I meet my goal :) This year, I upped it a few times, but I have lowered it in the past so that I didn't feel like I somehow failed in something that brings me joy.
Anonymous - That was 56% new authors, not 56 individual authors... though I wish I read that many! I like your way of thinking about the goodreads challenge... makes a lot of sense for people with many interests!
DeleteBTW, that comment was me! Once again, Blogger is trying to make me anonymous, but I won't stand for it.
DeleteThanks, Jane... gotta love blogger!
DeleteNice that you are back in Sanibel, yay! I'm sure you enjoy those beach walks with the audios, so perfect. You have some good plans for this year and ideas. Perhaps I shouldn't do a Goodreads challenge either -- I am so far but I lowered my number and it seems more doable without worrying etc. I tried to get my library to get the new Bowring novel but they declined -- how crazy! Regardless I will get to it. Good luck with all your reading plans.
ReplyDeleteSusan - Too bad about your library not purchasing the Bowring novel. If they offer hoopla, both the ebook and audio are available there. I ended up buying a copy when it came out... they are recent hoopla additions, I think.
DeleteI didn't even attempt to try Storygraph when all the hub bub over Amazon was going on. I will tell you, Amazon banned me from reviews which angered me beyond belief because I am a First Reads reviewer for them. Why did they ban me, because I compared a book character to Pippi Longstocking. I thought she was in the public domain but not. Just tell me to edit it out. Anyway, they deleted all my reviews so I was angry but they left them on Goodreads so I stayed there.
ReplyDeleteTi - That's crazy! I can't believe amazon banned you from reviewing! I'm glad you're still using goodreads... the main advantage for me is seeing what my friends thought of a book I'm considering reading. With all my community on goodreads, storygraphy just didn't have any advantage other than the graphics.
DeleteIt looks like you had a good reading year and taking off the stress of the Goodreads challenge sounds like a good idea. If you're not getting enjoyment out of it than what's the point of adding stress to reading! There's nothing quite as soothing as off season beach walks. When we were in Louisiana we used to drive over to the MS coast all the time to play on the beach in December and it was so fun. I hope you're having a wonderful week and you have a wonderful 2025!
ReplyDeleteKatherine - It's been pretty cool and windy here so the beach walks are shorter, but it's still great to be back last! Things are still rough after the recent hurricanes, but the beach is still a special place.
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