As the year is winding down, I’m starting to think about my reading goals for 2019. Every year, I try to read a certain number of books, as well as reading from specific categories. Thinking about my reading goals reminded me of a habit I’ve kept since childhood.
When I was about 10 or so, my uncle encouraged me to start keeping track of all the books I read. It took me a few years, but I started diligently recording every book I read and its author. This was pre-Goodreads, so my records were all in my scratchy handwriting. Over the years, I continued this habit. Through high school and college, my reading was recorded in a Glee notebook. Somewhere between moves and time, I either lost or chose to discard my records, and I wish I hadn’t.
I would love to see what kind of books I was reading as a pre-teen and in my early teen years. Anyone who, like me, grew up home schooled with the Sonlight curriculum, has read a massive amount of quality children’s literature. I can still name many of those books—Caddie Woodlawn, The Bronze Bow, Greek Myths for Young Children, Homer Price—I hated The Bronze Bow. Aside from my school reading, which I adored, I was an avid library-goer.
If I had a list of the books I read from the library from ages 10-15, the list would dwarf the list of books I read during my college years. One summer, I spent afternoons with my grandmother, before she got too sick, learning to sew. When she got tired, I would walk the half-mile to the library. Going to the city library was a treat, because I had already read through my tiny local library. I started to get really into series. Children’s and young adult series were rising in popularity at the time, so I had plenty of reading material.
I remember reading a series about a young secret pop star (think Hannah Montana,) a series about twins who liked to cook, a series of retold fairytales, multiple fantasy series. I particularly loved diary-style series. Before I read Harry Potter at age 13, I loved A Series of Unfortunate Events for its dry humor and wit. I read through the trends. The early 2000’s saw several major trends in children’s and YA literature: retold fairy tales, funny and dark books about children, general fantasy, particularly about wizards and magical creatures, vampires and werewolves, steampunk-inspired literature, and plenty of “chosen one” hero stories. By the time I finished high school in 2010, I was exhausted from trying to keep up with all these series I had fallen in love with when I was younger.
My reading focus, when I wasn’t reading from my textbooks or recommended plays, moved to novels and nonfiction. Friends with broader reading tastes than mine recommended books I would have never read before. Although my reading speed had slowed, I was still reading and recording. Only in the last two years did I switch to a digital account of my reading habits, on Goodreads. I enjoyed the process of writing everything down, but the clutter from the notebooks is stressful to me. A digital record is tidier and provides me with more information.
I love being able to look back at what I’ve read, what genres I was into, and when I re-read things.
Before I set my 2019 reading goals, I plan on combing through my 2018 record to see what’s missing. Setting goals is my way of reading intentionally so that I do not just continue to read the same type of books, from the same type of author over and over again. As a writer, I strive to always read more and learn from my reading. I encourage you to start a record of your reading. You might be surprised with your own habits.
Ornament by Sweet Sequels.