Sunday Thread: One book for the end of the year

Because the end-of-the-year book discourse has begun

Oct 20, 2024

Hey, readers!

I’m in Crested Butte with some friends this weekend so instead of your typical Sunday roundup, I have a very important question for you:

What is one book you’re hoping to read before the end of the year?

I’ve been seeing a lot of “ten before the end” posts on Instagram, which I always love. In these posts, readers share the ten books they want to read before the end of the calendar year. It’s a great way to be conscientious of time and prioritize the books that matter most to you.

Here’s mine from last year.

fictionmatters

A post shared by @fictionmatters

But as someone who already has quite a few constraints on my reading life, this type of goal can also stress me out. I ended up reading six of my ten last year—which is totally fine! I might still gather a stack of ten this year because I loved the process of looking through all of my books and remembering some of the ones that had gotten away.

My own response to “ten before the end” also revealed a lot about my personal reading habits and inspired at least two Reading in Public posts. There was this one about my top tip for end-of-year book overwhelm:

FictionMatters

Reading in Public No. 19: My number one tip for combating end-of-the-year book overwhelm

I recently came across this Reel from a Bookstagrammer I love named Sam in which she bemoaned “that time of the year again when I’m stuck on a loop, continuously plotting and calculating how many books I can squeeze into the end of the year…” and I found it incredibly relatable. As someone who shares book reviews and compiles best-of-the-year lists, I’m…

2 years ago · 34 likes · Sara Hildreth

And this one in January about my new TBR system, which in hindsight is a bit inspired by my approach to my ten before the end stack:

FictionMatters

Reading in Public No. 29: The TBR management system that saved my January reading

Towards the end of 2023, I started feeling dissatisfied about my reading life. I read a lot of books last year and I truly loved so many of them. I felt like I had a pretty good balance of new releases and backlist gems. I found some underrated books to champion and was pleased with most of the buzzy books I decided to pick up…

a year ago · 67 likes · 9 comments · Sara Hildreth

So today, rather than ask you to share TEN books you hope to read before the end of 2024, I’d love to know ONE book you hope to read in the remaining months of the year.

I’ll go first. Before the end of the year, I’m going to read My Friends by Hisham Matar. This is a book that many of my trusted reader friends have been raving about since it came out in January. Not only have they been raving, they’ve been telling me that I specifically might really enjoy it. I loved Matar’s novel Anatomy of a Disappearance so I’m already confident that I enjoy his writing. Plus, this book is on the shortlist for the National Book Awards, which I will be attending in November and I want to read at least every shortlisted fiction title before the event.

Your turn! Leave a comment and tell me one book you’re hoping to read before the year is over.

Sunday Thread: One book for the end of the year

Because the end-of-the-year book discourse has begun

What is one book you’re hoping to read before the end of the year?

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