It’s that time of year again when bookworms everywhere share their stats and badges from Goodreads. Until last year, I was one of them, racing to hit my reading target before the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve.
The thing is, reading as a writer can be tricky. I love to read, but when I'm working on a book, writing consumes most of my free time, leaving very little energy for anything else. While I think I know my own voice well enough now not to be influenced by the style of whatever I'm reading, I still try to avoid reading in my own genre while I'm in the thick of it so that I can keep my ideas fresh.
But the biggest reason I stopped tracking my reading was simpler: it stopped being fun. Ploughing through books just to say I’d read them felt hollow. And let’s face it, life already has enough of that without adding to it.
This year, I’ve read what I wanted, when I wanted. I’ve binged some books, savoured others, and even abandoned a few (though I’ll never disclose which ones). For those enjoying reading challenges and proudly sharing their achievements—more power to you! For me, reading this year has been about rediscovering joy. After all, isn’t that what reading should be about?