Reading in Public No. 88: Maintaining reading satisfaction through the year-end hullabaloo

Mental shifts and reading tricks for avoiding the annual overwhelm

Hey readers! I’m currently working on a piece about how Bookstagram and online book culture more broadly impacts our reading lives. If you have thoughts you’d like to share, please take a few minutes to answer some questions for me!

---

As a public and professional reader, it can be sometimes tricky to know how similar my own reading life quirks are to those who are reading this newsletter. We are all book lovers, but through my years of talking about books online, I’ve learned that everyone’s reading is distinct. We vary not only in what we like to read, but how and why we read as well. What I try to do with these Reading in Public essays is explore in detail how and why I read and the factors informing my reading life. Sometimes these verge into larger cultural conversations around literacy and sometimes they’re deeply personal thoughts on what it means to read in public.

I say all of this because sometimes—and today is one of those times—I’m writing about a phenomenon I experience like clockwork in my life without being sure how much it impacts anyone else. I’m talking about the frenzy I feel in the last couple months of the year and how much it disrupts my reading life. As we approach the end of the year and the best-of-the-year lists start rolling out, I fret over the books I haven’t read. I don’t set a numeric reading goal for myself, so it’s not about the quantity, but I do feel antsy about the new releases I was excited about that I never got around to reading. This is also the time of year when I start craving slow backlist books and grow a little tired of the homework I’ve assigned myself, so it’s all a perfect storm of restlessness and decision fatigue. It’s possible that if I were more organized in keeping my TBR I could avoid some of this, but the real issue is I just don’t have time to read as many books as I want to read! Even the best system can’t get around that.

When this happens, as it inevitably does, I have a few go-to strategies that help mitigate the situation. Nothing ever totally quiets the noise, but there are certainly some moves I can make that help me maintain a satisfying reading life even as the end-of-year feelings build up. Maybe you feel this way too. Or maybe the final months of the year are your best stretch of reading all year—maybe they’re just the same. But however you happen to experience the turning of the calendar in your own reading life, I hope some of these strategies prove useful when you do feel stuck or frazzled or overwhelmed in your reading, whether that’s right now or at a later date.

• Pick up a book no one is talking about. I’ve written about this previously and it remains my favorite way to combat all of the best-of-the-year discourse. Inevitably, I will miss out on reading many of the books named to best-of lists in November and December so trying to squeeze in as many top book contenders as possible is futile. So when I start feeling stressed about everything I’m not reading, I pick up something totally under the radar. This always helps me refocus on reading rather than thinking about what I want to have read, and it reminds me to trust my taste and instincts.

• Make a short list of books I want to finish. As much as I love seeing them from others, I don’t create a ten-before-the-end list. But I have found that a very short list of books I’d like to prioritize before the end of the year can help with my decision fatigue. Sometimes this is just one single book! Three is another book number for me with this strategy, but I try to never let it exceed five. This helps me focus on a smaller selection when I’m feeling overwhelmed about what to choose next. This year, I’m doing this one by one. I have selected the one book I want to finish before the end of the year and when I finish that, I’ll choose another.

• Let an outside factor determine one (or some) of my books. By the end, the decision fatigue is real. I’ve read a lot of books and have maxed out my ability to make wise choices; I can easily end up floundering. This is when it becomes helpful and enjoyable to let some other external factor select what I read next. This could be a recommendation from a friend, letting newsletter readers vote on a book, choosing something to buddy read with someone—really anything that puts a little less pressure on me. This year, I’ve been reading books by authors I’ve met at festivals. It’s been so fun! I stop agonizing over whether I’m in the mood for that exact book in this exact moment or if I think it’s the best book I could possibly read right now and just read it because I have a fun reason to do so. I’ve been able to move from book to book easily and confidently this way—and the books have been fantastic!

• Lower my numerical goals if necessary. I haven’t set a quantity reading goal in quite a few years, but when I did, I would occasionally lower it if I needed to. How did I know if I needed to? It really wasn’t so much about whether or not I was going to hit the goal, but rather if the goal was changing my reading habits. When I started avoiding long or even average length books to meet my goal, I knew it was time to adjust.

• Read a quick book to kick things into gear. On the other hand, sometimes reading something short and sweet is exactly what I need. Reading begets reading and having the dopamine jolt of finishing a book makes me excited to read more books. I like to keep a few short books in sight as the year comes to a close so I can reach for them if and when I need that energy.

• Preemptively shift books into next year’s TBR. Sometimes it’s very helpful to just decide and acknowledge that I won’t be able to get to something. Not only does this serve as a reminder that the books will all still be there in 2026, but it means I have fewer options swirling in my brain about what to read now.

• Get a little less precious about how I read. Recently I was in a very particular kind of reading rut: a bedtime reading rut. I was in the middle of a couple books that I really wanted to save for uninterrupted daytime reading so I could settle in, annotate, and devote my most optimal brain power to them. But then I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to read in bed at night. I kept starting and stopping new books while simultaneously languishing in the middle of these other books I am actually enjoying. Last night I just took one of those precious daytime books upstairs with me when I went to bed and, as you probably could have guessed, it went fine! More than fine! I read seventy pages of it and got my momentum back. Sometimes my ruts are more about adjusting how I’m reading than what, and this shift has me feeling so much better about my reading.

• Let go of what I can. There are certain literary homework assignments that I need to finish by the end of the year—my FictionMatters Book Club books, for example! But there are other books I’ve more casually committed to reading, and sometimes I need to let those go. I really wanted to read a scholarly companion text with Possession this year, and I just can’t fit it in. Some of my in person book club books are going to go unread. It’s always important to me to feel a sense of freedom in my reading life—especially this time of year—so sometimes I just need to let a few things go knowing I can get back to them when things calm down.

• If it’s a true reading slump, lean in. When I’m in a real reading slump, the best thing I can do is let myself not read. It is okay to have periods where we don’t read! Fighting it doesn’t help me; focusing on other things potentially can. Often what I am feeling at the end of the year is something different: I am reading, but I’m not focusing on what I’m reading because I’m thinking about what I’m not reading—it’s too much noise. The key for me though is to pay attention to what’s actually happening. If I really don’t feel like reading, I need to let that be okay. If I’m drowning in noise, I need to actively work to block it out. Confusing the two can lead to a lot of frustration.

Tell me your thoughts! Do you experience this end-of-year overwhelm? If you do, how do you tune it out?

---

For questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to reach out by emailing fictionmattersbooks@gmail.com or responding directly to this newsletter. I love hearing from you!

This email may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links above, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

If you enjoyed today’s newsletter, please forward it to a book-loving friend. That’s a great way to spread bookish cheer and support the newsletter!

Happy reading!

Sara