Love this. I've noticed a real surge in the number of readers I talk to who are explicitly seeking "more 4- and 5-star reads" as primary long-term reading goals, and while I understand the spirit behind it I often hear myself gently talking readers out of this "always be optimizing" approach to the reading life. My observation is that the most meaningful and lasting reading experiences both surprise and delight us, and by selecting for expected 4- and 5-star reads we eliminate the opportunity for a book to deliver the unexpected. Thanks for thinking through this out loud!
I have big thoughts about this which I'll have to capture when I'm not at work. I am a person who tracks a lot about my reading (though not as many as some) but I'd say I don't do this with the goal of helping me select books (particular books, that is, I do use it to help me keep in mind categories of books I want to prioritize) and never have used the data that way. I'd say any inclination I have for optimizing my reading manifests in different ways (like following more and more bookstagrammers or overcommitting to buddy reads.)
Over the years I have come to realize that my reading and my tracking of that reading are two totally separate hobbies. I have a self built spreadsheet honed over a decade and I love nothing better than wondering something about my reading and figuring out a formula to tell me something about that thought. Some Sunday mornings I’ll be fiddling with my spreadsheets (yep, read books and TBR are totally different beasts!) for over an hour, and a voice in my head will say, shouldn’t you be actually reading these books you’re daydreaming about reading and another voice will respond, nope, I’m enjoying spreadsheeting this morning.
I did learn something this year that influenced my reading. Was it June that you discussed reasons not to DNF a book? Well, around that time I added a percent books DNF’d. I knew that I quickly and easily put down a book I’m not enjoying, but to put a percentage on it was shocking to me. It was 33%! Those books felt like a huge waste of time. The number both prompted me to do a little more considering before picking up a book (why is this on my list and what is appealing to me about it?). I prefer to go into a book not knowing much about it, so I was often trusting my past self to smartly put things on my TBR, but I am highly susceptible to other people’s enthusiasm, so a lot of books were not right for me. The other change I made was to be more thoughtful about why I wanted to put down a book with Sara’s thoughts about putting down a book in mind. I found these two changes to be very satisfying. I don’t think I ended up finishing any a books that I really wished I had DNF’d instead, but I did finish a lot of books I found rewarding. In the second half of the year I DNF’d 15% of the books I picked up. I am not sure that I would have worked so thoughtfully without the number and I know I would not have realized the great improvement without the data.
I loved reading this Sara! As someone who never makes lists or charts, I feel seen :) For me, over analyzing in that way (spreadsheets) spoils the reading experience a bit. I’m also not a data driven person! Thanks for such a thoughtful post.
Amen to that. In my view reading is always about adventure and discovery and I can't understand how quantifying your reading experience in terms of numbers and ratings as if reading is a self-improvement project is very meaningful. I would rather stumble across one book that I truly love and read other books by the same author and see where it takes me, rather than chalking up the number of 'reads' and setting goals and finding 'success,' as if reading is something like going to the gym or counting the number of steps you take per day.
I enjoy the great books more when I read a few clunkers. I keep track of my reading on Goodreads and on my own, but I find the star system pretty unhelpful. We all have vastly different interests and ideas about what makes a great book. My favorite books have been the gems I found at the library that I’d never heard or read about. Great topic!
I keep track of what I'm reading in a medium data sort of way. I list the author, title, date finished,county of origin and genre in broadish strokes; fiction, fantasy, mystery, non-fiction,YA. I mostly compare things with my 3 adult children, all in their 30s. Sometimes the trends lead to a new approach for the coming year. (my 2024 list starts with this: " My plan, my vague/hope/plan is to read more literary fiction and fewer quick mysteries. In addition to the books for my two book groups, I
hope to read 3-4 VLNs over the summer months, some of the tities on the NYRB Women 24 list, some of the books on Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club list and look into the Japanese Literature Challenge). Comparing with my kids is fun; our reading has some overlaps but is extremely varied. Of note last year (and something none of us was happy about)...the only book we all read last year (my mother and daughter-in-law, too) was Pineapple Street. None of us thought it was good. But is was very buzzy and we all live in NYC and one of us a few blocks from Pienapple Street.
I like your new TBR concept...I think I do a version of it by constantly rejiggering the pile at the side of my bed.
I really enjoyed this post! As a born type-a it’s been easy for me to fall into the traps of over optimization. In the past few years I’ve been trying to pull back a bit from thinking about my reading log too much. This put words to that reaction and helped me to understand it more.
Also, thank you for convincing me to finally read trick mirror!
I track my reading on Goodreads just to record which books I read. I try not to add too many books in my tbr because it would make me anxious.
For 2024 I decided not to buy new books and pick the unread ones from my shelves. I bought a lot second hand books when I was at university and never read many of them. So let's see if the tastes of my 20's match or not my 38 years old self! 😊
Also I don't have social media, I surely would be lost in all the new releases/recommendations and this would not make my reading experience enjoyable. Happy reading to everyone from Italy!
I strike a balance by exploring diverse genres, relying on recommendations, and regularly trying something outside my comfort zone. I think a lot has to do with expectations. When I read a book I don’t expect to love it and I am also not disheartened when I don’t enjoy it as much.
I track my reading casually, enjoying the process without getting too caught up in metrics. I have a notion table where, once I finish a book, I simply drag it into another table, add a rating and that’s it. While I appreciate optimizing, I also value the spontaneity of a less deliberate reading life.
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show touches on this idea too. Sometimes it’s the three-star read that’s still rattling around in my brain a year later.
This article really resonated with me. In the last 4ish years (since the start of COVID) I've really tracked my reading heavily, made reading goals, and kept them for the most part. I have increased the amount of reading and number of book I read each year a lot. YET, I have also been dissatisfied with my reading life since I started this (a little). I've realized that by tracking everything... I took the joy out of reading and found myself quickly finishing a book to meet some metric. I made a conscious choice to slow down my reading...even if my numbers are lower this year. And while its only bet 9 days, I don't feel the pressure I have to complete books.
I really appreciate you thoughtful essays. Thank you
I love your last paragraph. And when you describe the books “that make me think, get me talking, lead me down rabbit holes, and surprise me” --- those sound like at least 4-star-reads to me.
As a mood reader and someone prone to turning most things into to “work,” I’m very protective of my reading life. I also read fewer books than most Bookstagrammers (40-50 a year), and often think that makes me less open to a meh novel. If I’m only reading four books a month, I’m definitely going to prioritize a potential favorite. But I read more backlist books and classics than new releases--I’m not chasing the newest 5-star. If I’m chasing anything, it’s my own delight in storytelling.
The last thing I want to feel when I close a book is now I have numerous tasks to do: enter it in a spreadsheet, look up the publisher, review it in numerous places. I often wish I could remember how a book landed on my TBR shelf (do you remember/know Nick Hornby’s columns that tracked not just what he read but also how books entered his home? I loved that!) ---so I’m hoping to occasionally write a #howtheygothere post for my memory’s sake.
Love this. I've noticed a real surge in the number of readers I talk to who are explicitly seeking "more 4- and 5-star reads" as primary long-term reading goals, and while I understand the spirit behind it I often hear myself gently talking readers out of this "always be optimizing" approach to the reading life. My observation is that the most meaningful and lasting reading experiences both surprise and delight us, and by selecting for expected 4- and 5-star reads we eliminate the opportunity for a book to deliver the unexpected. Thanks for thinking through this out loud!
I had no idea this level of professional reading existed! Thanks Sarah for this piece and for the questions you raise.
I have big thoughts about this which I'll have to capture when I'm not at work. I am a person who tracks a lot about my reading (though not as many as some) but I'd say I don't do this with the goal of helping me select books (particular books, that is, I do use it to help me keep in mind categories of books I want to prioritize) and never have used the data that way. I'd say any inclination I have for optimizing my reading manifests in different ways (like following more and more bookstagrammers or overcommitting to buddy reads.)
Over the years I have come to realize that my reading and my tracking of that reading are two totally separate hobbies. I have a self built spreadsheet honed over a decade and I love nothing better than wondering something about my reading and figuring out a formula to tell me something about that thought. Some Sunday mornings I’ll be fiddling with my spreadsheets (yep, read books and TBR are totally different beasts!) for over an hour, and a voice in my head will say, shouldn’t you be actually reading these books you’re daydreaming about reading and another voice will respond, nope, I’m enjoying spreadsheeting this morning.
I did learn something this year that influenced my reading. Was it June that you discussed reasons not to DNF a book? Well, around that time I added a percent books DNF’d. I knew that I quickly and easily put down a book I’m not enjoying, but to put a percentage on it was shocking to me. It was 33%! Those books felt like a huge waste of time. The number both prompted me to do a little more considering before picking up a book (why is this on my list and what is appealing to me about it?). I prefer to go into a book not knowing much about it, so I was often trusting my past self to smartly put things on my TBR, but I am highly susceptible to other people’s enthusiasm, so a lot of books were not right for me. The other change I made was to be more thoughtful about why I wanted to put down a book with Sara’s thoughts about putting down a book in mind. I found these two changes to be very satisfying. I don’t think I ended up finishing any a books that I really wished I had DNF’d instead, but I did finish a lot of books I found rewarding. In the second half of the year I DNF’d 15% of the books I picked up. I am not sure that I would have worked so thoughtfully without the number and I know I would not have realized the great improvement without the data.
I loved reading this Sara! As someone who never makes lists or charts, I feel seen :) For me, over analyzing in that way (spreadsheets) spoils the reading experience a bit. I’m also not a data driven person! Thanks for such a thoughtful post.
Amen to that. In my view reading is always about adventure and discovery and I can't understand how quantifying your reading experience in terms of numbers and ratings as if reading is a self-improvement project is very meaningful. I would rather stumble across one book that I truly love and read other books by the same author and see where it takes me, rather than chalking up the number of 'reads' and setting goals and finding 'success,' as if reading is something like going to the gym or counting the number of steps you take per day.
I enjoy the great books more when I read a few clunkers. I keep track of my reading on Goodreads and on my own, but I find the star system pretty unhelpful. We all have vastly different interests and ideas about what makes a great book. My favorite books have been the gems I found at the library that I’d never heard or read about. Great topic!
I keep track of what I'm reading in a medium data sort of way. I list the author, title, date finished,county of origin and genre in broadish strokes; fiction, fantasy, mystery, non-fiction,YA. I mostly compare things with my 3 adult children, all in their 30s. Sometimes the trends lead to a new approach for the coming year. (my 2024 list starts with this: " My plan, my vague/hope/plan is to read more literary fiction and fewer quick mysteries. In addition to the books for my two book groups, I
hope to read 3-4 VLNs over the summer months, some of the tities on the NYRB Women 24 list, some of the books on Roxane Gay's Audacious Book Club list and look into the Japanese Literature Challenge). Comparing with my kids is fun; our reading has some overlaps but is extremely varied. Of note last year (and something none of us was happy about)...the only book we all read last year (my mother and daughter-in-law, too) was Pineapple Street. None of us thought it was good. But is was very buzzy and we all live in NYC and one of us a few blocks from Pienapple Street.
I like your new TBR concept...I think I do a version of it by constantly rejiggering the pile at the side of my bed.
I really enjoyed this post! As a born type-a it’s been easy for me to fall into the traps of over optimization. In the past few years I’ve been trying to pull back a bit from thinking about my reading log too much. This put words to that reaction and helped me to understand it more.
Also, thank you for convincing me to finally read trick mirror!
I track my reading on Goodreads just to record which books I read. I try not to add too many books in my tbr because it would make me anxious.
For 2024 I decided not to buy new books and pick the unread ones from my shelves. I bought a lot second hand books when I was at university and never read many of them. So let's see if the tastes of my 20's match or not my 38 years old self! 😊
Also I don't have social media, I surely would be lost in all the new releases/recommendations and this would not make my reading experience enjoyable. Happy reading to everyone from Italy!
I strike a balance by exploring diverse genres, relying on recommendations, and regularly trying something outside my comfort zone. I think a lot has to do with expectations. When I read a book I don’t expect to love it and I am also not disheartened when I don’t enjoy it as much.
I track my reading casually, enjoying the process without getting too caught up in metrics. I have a notion table where, once I finish a book, I simply drag it into another table, add a rating and that’s it. While I appreciate optimizing, I also value the spontaneity of a less deliberate reading life.
Preach, Sara!!!
Today’s episode of The Ezra Klein Show touches on this idea too. Sometimes it’s the three-star read that’s still rattling around in my brain a year later.
Sara,
This article really resonated with me. In the last 4ish years (since the start of COVID) I've really tracked my reading heavily, made reading goals, and kept them for the most part. I have increased the amount of reading and number of book I read each year a lot. YET, I have also been dissatisfied with my reading life since I started this (a little). I've realized that by tracking everything... I took the joy out of reading and found myself quickly finishing a book to meet some metric. I made a conscious choice to slow down my reading...even if my numbers are lower this year. And while its only bet 9 days, I don't feel the pressure I have to complete books.
I really appreciate you thoughtful essays. Thank you
This is exactly what I needed today! Thank you!
I love your last paragraph. And when you describe the books “that make me think, get me talking, lead me down rabbit holes, and surprise me” --- those sound like at least 4-star-reads to me.
As a mood reader and someone prone to turning most things into to “work,” I’m very protective of my reading life. I also read fewer books than most Bookstagrammers (40-50 a year), and often think that makes me less open to a meh novel. If I’m only reading four books a month, I’m definitely going to prioritize a potential favorite. But I read more backlist books and classics than new releases--I’m not chasing the newest 5-star. If I’m chasing anything, it’s my own delight in storytelling.
The last thing I want to feel when I close a book is now I have numerous tasks to do: enter it in a spreadsheet, look up the publisher, review it in numerous places. I often wish I could remember how a book landed on my TBR shelf (do you remember/know Nick Hornby’s columns that tracked not just what he read but also how books entered his home? I loved that!) ---so I’m hoping to occasionally write a #howtheygothere post for my memory’s sake.