For some time, I’ve been thinking about the consumption of books. Not just the questions of larger consumption – what books are being sold, how much money is being spent on the production and purchase of books and book merch, why have reading and book buying become so trendy in recent years and how does that play into greater cultural trends, and how are we engaging (or not) with books on a textual level? – but questions about my own personal consumption.
Like many book lovers, I track my reading. I’ve been on Goodreads since 2010, and in recent years, I’ve gotten hooked on StoryGraph. So I have data on my own reading habits. (Data on readers, of course, is another question we could pursue in this greater conversation, but that’s for another day and, likely, a smarter person.) From 2020 to 2025, I consistently read over one hundred books a year – sometimes even upwards of two hundred. I enjoyed trying to top myself, to consume more, especially as I started following bookstagrammers and book bloggers and really keeping up with new releases and the latest thing, whether it was a certain title or a subgenre that was suddenly everywhere.
I’m not going to lie, it was a lot of fun. It was a great escape, and immersing myself deeply in a genre or two broadened my understanding of literary craft and trends in a way that is invaluable. But a year or two ago, it started to feel less satisfying. So I told myself I’d read slower, be pickier, and let go of the competitive urge to top those two-hundred and thirty-five books I read in 2021. And then, of course, I had the bright idea to make a cross-stitch reading tracker for the year and got carried away in the design and ended up pushing myself to read more and more in order to fill it, which led to a record two-hundred and forty-five books completed in 2024.
So… yeah, that didn’t go as planned.
But in 2025, I really did slow down. I surrendered to my moods and whims and read what I wanted, when I wanted. And when I didn’t feel like reading or didn’t have time? I That was okay, too! I made an effort to balance my reading, incorporating more classics and fantasy and scifi into my steady diet of romance and mystery. I made a much more reasonably-sized shelf for my cross-stitch tracker, and when it became clear that I wasn’t going to fill all the shelves, I accepted it. And you know what? It felt good. But it’s only a step in the direction I want to follow.
For several months, I’ve been having (semi-)focused conversations with Heather from CraftLit, where we dig deep on all sorts of literary topics… and follow a few rabbit holes while we’re at it. (You’ll get to hear some of these conversations soon!) And it’s been invigorating.
I love studying literature and having good, meaty conversations about it. And while I have many bookish friends who are happy to have those conversations with me, I’ve missed the regular exercise of research and analysis. I’ve missed picking one book and mining it for everything I can in order to understand it not just on a surface level but deeply, intimately.
As a former English lit major, taking a few years just to enjoy reading has been good for me. Necessary, even. It allowed me to reconnect with my love of reading simply for the sake of entertainment and to try books I never would have read in my courses on British imperialism in 19th century literature… and similar topics. But there’s a season, and I’m entering a new season where I’m ready to find a balance between casual reading and deliberate study.
I want to share my journey with you. So, I’m planning to post more often – and to post more thoughtfully when I do. I’ll try some new things and see how they align with my current goals. And as I do, I’d love to hear what you think and about how your own reading journey is progressing – whatever that journey may be.
Until next time–
–b
Book It With Becca 