2024 in Books
Reading as a means of self betterment
At the end of 2023, I was wrapping up the year having read 6 books, which shamefully was a whole 6 books more than I had read the year before. Dan gifted me a Kindle in December, and I entered 2024 with the goal of making reading a habit; to feel cultured and brainy; honestly to just feel good about myself. I decided to start small and committed to completing 12 books—at least one book a month.
Most nights before conking out, I chipped away at a novel, mostly sticking to genres that I knew I liked, though I also enjoyed venturing out into new spaces in hopes of finding something different to seek out on virtual shelves and add to a slow-growing TBR list.
By the end of this month, I'll have closed out 2024 with a total of 26 books read—just slightly more than double what my goal was. It isn't a remarkably high number, but compared to where I was the year prior, it's a pretty big stride in the right direction. But beyond numbers, I'm just happy to have allowed myself to find the joy in reading again. I thought that hitting my goal would be the biggest satisfaction, but really, this is less about what I read or the amount I read and more about what I got out of it in the end and how I plan to adjust my approach to reading as a whole.
What I enjoyed and what I can take away from my recent discoveries
My interests this year were slotted into 5 main genres, and in looking at the books I rated with 5 stars, I was able to round up some of the key narrative characteristics that I gravitate most toward.
Of the genres I explored, I most enjoyed fantasy. World-building in high-fantasy finds like in Samantha Shannon's Roots of Chaos series, or in the whimsical fairy realm of the Emily Wilde series by Heather Fawcett were welcomed facets of escapism for me. It's clear that rich world-building and a touch of whimsy was something I sought in my 2024 reads.
I was also inclined to read books that mixed humor, warmth, and emotional weight, and I was easily hooked in by narratives centered on meaningful relationships — romantic, familial, and even interspecies (like in Shelby Van Pelt's Remarkably Bright Creatures). The common thread was in being drawn to stories that explored human connection in profound ways.
In the next year, I hope to take my newfound personal understanding of what makes a story compelling and apply it to new finds and in stories outside of the genres I spent most of my time with in 2024. Science fiction, as an example, is a genre I don't generally spend time with despite loving it in other mediums like film and television, and I'm sure there are novels out there with expansive worlds and captivating characters that I can explore to broaden my perspective.
Looking forward
More than anything, this post is really just a way for me to look at the bigger picture of what I collectively read in a year and figure out where my tastes tend toward in hopes of using them to find my next favorite read. We all know reading is good for you. It can reduce stress, improve your focus, and develop your empathy by exposing you to perspectives different from your own. Beyond all of that, though, I suppose I'm just looking for a way to make reading more fulfilling.
A numeral goal was a nice way to hold myself accountable, and I purposefully kept it approachable to ensure I could avoid that feeling of failure. Though, in the next year, I'm unsure that I'd increase this number or even keep it because I don't want to lose the point of what made getting back into reading most enjoyable. Finding myself caught up in a real, true page-turner was the most gratifying aspect of building this habit, so I want to enter the next year focused more on tracking down stories that feel worth my time rather than focusing too much on hitting an arbitrary quota.
While my approach to reading this year was simply about reading more books, I plan to focus my 2025 approach on reading more good books. And overall, I'm excited for the stories I'll read and discover in the new year, and thankful to have one additional small thing to look forward to.