Hi, I'm Vanessa, a contributing editor here at book riot. And it's the first
video of the year. Well my first video of the year, anyway. Happy new year.
Feliz año nuevo. Hopefully you all had a fantastic new
year, wherever you are, wherever you are. I just said that twice. So today I guess it
would be customary to talk about reading resolutions or just life
resolutions in general. You know, new year, new me. But is it really? Probably not.
Instead I thought I would focus on something a little bit different since I
am trying not to be so resolution happy this year. So much is just living more
with intent and being present. And for me what that looks like is setting five
what I'm calling not-solutions. Things that I'm not gonna do in 2019,
specifically as they relate to my reading habits. Not-solution number one
is that I'm not, not, I promise I'm not going to compare my reading habits
to other people's. Which is something that I say I'm never going to do, but I often do.
I just can't help it. Just the other day I was recording the first episode of the 2019
read harder podcast, which yes, I am going to plug at every opportunity.
Anyway recorded the first episode of that with Tirza Price who's so
fantastic, an excellent co-host, and at the top of the call we're sharing a
number of books that we'd read this year and how audiobooks really helped Tirza
read more books this year than I think she said she ever has, which I want to
say was somewhere in the vicinity of 130 books. On the other end of that call was
like
I just don't think I'm ever gonna get that close. Year-over-year I've tracked
my reading habits and set reading goals and stuff and I usually land somewhere
between 50 to like 75. I think this year I landed it like 60, 65 or so. It's, it's
like no matter what I tell myself and other people about not resorting to
comparison, I think it's just really hard to do when we live in a time when
everything is tracked and shared and all that good stuff. So anyway, long story
short, for my peace of mind and and more, getting more enrichment out of the
things that I am reading, I'm not going to compare how much I read to what
anybody else does. Not-solution number two is that I think not going to read as
many new books. Go figure. I think this is actually much harder to
do than you would think given that I am an independent bookseller.
People obviously walk through those doors and they want to know what's good,
what's hot, what's new. And to some extent I still feel like I have to kind of stay
on top of that. But one thing that I'm realizing which I've also talked about
before is that you don't actually have to have read a book um
at all or even in its entirety to be able to recommend it if you at least
have done a little bit of research on what the book is about. It obviously
helps and I will say that I'm pretty honest with customers about that. And there's
just so, so much sitting on that shelf right there that's looking at me like,
hey bro, you keep buying new books. I thought we were cool. And the truth is I
really been meaning to get to all of those backlist titles. And right when I
feel like I'm in the mood for one and I go to reach for it, I just know that
there's a lot of other new stuff that I need to be able to to discuss, both at
work and just in general. And I think I'm gonna give myself a little more room not
to do so. It's okay if we don't read, you know, all of the books that are sitting
on that a new release table at work. I'm gonna try to dive into some of the
back list things that I think are going to bring me more reading joy.
Not-solution number three: I am NOT going to finish books that aren't piquing my
interest. We talk about this a decent amount on
book riot. DNF-ing, it would refer it to, you know, do not finish or did not finish.
I definitely have given myself the leeway not to finish books that I don't like in
the last several years because there are way too many other books out there and
life is short. Like why would you sit around and be
bogged down by a book that isn't grabbing your attention? I don't know
about you, but for me as I've discovered, or rediscovered this year, if you keep
trudging through the book that just isn't peaking your interest, isn't you
know grabbing your attention, for me it just takes longer to finish it and it's
just something that I sort of lug from my place to place. Oh, take it to work,
bring it home, read. And it's staring at me like two months later. There I am trying to finish
it. And even though I do usually read more than one book at one time and I
finish the other stuff. I still-- you know what, no. I think my
issue is that I'm still giving the book too much time. I'm not afraid to walk
away from it but I'm not doing it quickly enough. I think new policy this
year's gonna be you know, twenty, thirty pages in, maybe forty if I'm still like
girl where's this going? Away with you. Too many other books to read. Again, look at
that shelf. Look at it. It is a lot. There's just so much
to do there. So anyway, not gonna read the book if it's just not doing it for me. Be
gone before someone drops a house on you. Not-solution number four is that I am really
gonna be loud and proud about audiobooks. And the not-solution part about that is
that I'm not going to be shy about talking about audiobooks. I talk a decent
amount about them on the internet. And yes, in case you're wondering, I do indeed
curate the audiobooks newsletter. I love audiobooks. I have for some time.
They, like Tirza and I were talking about, have allowed me to read a lot more and
more widely. But for whatever reason, again especially at work, I don't feel as
comfortable sharing when I'm recommending like, oh well, yeah I love
that book. I should be saying, listen to it on audio. And instead I'm like, yeah, I
read that. Sometimes it actually keeps me from recommending a really great audio
listen to someone. Like I really loved Calypso by David Sedaris.
I actually did read that one in print as well as on audio because someone
recommended the audio version to me. And bro, is that worth it. And then anybody that
does do audiobooks I think probably has a similar story to tell about a book
that you look really dig but like on audio it's next next level. So yeah,
that's one of my not-solution. I'm not gonna be shy about talking about how
audiobooks are a great way to go, how much they contribute to my reading
life. So there. And not-solution number five, which is a really big deal for me,
I'm not going to set a reading goal. Yeah I'm just not. Not gonna do it. I do
have some, or let me revise, I guess I should say I'm not setting a number
reading goal of like number of titles that I want to read this year for several
reasons. One due to my involvement in some projects both with again the read
harder challenge at book riot and with some other stuff outside of book
riot, there's certain there are certain obligations for books and manuscripts
and stuff that I'll be needing to read which I signed up for very heavily and
I'm really jazzed about. And I will be, again, part of read harder and just as a
I guess way to make sure that my own reading life is is very reflective of my
values, I'm setting some goals as far as reading you know diversely and widely
and inclusively and expanding what I am pretty proud of is you know already
being some really healthy reading habits. But to, just to be bigger and better in
2019 about putting my support behind marginalized voices, authors of color,
LGBTQI, lots of great stuff in my future. But the number of books,
I know that I'll be aware of them. Gonna see it and it's gonna be there. But I'm not
setting a goal. I think it's going to help me to be, again, more present in my
reading life. I'm going to stop looking at big books with the judgy eye giving
it that like, ojo. It's gonna take me a lot longer to finish you than these
two little novellas over here. Just gonna read what I want to read when I need to
read it, when I want to read it. And I think it's really gonna help me not be
so concerned. It's time to practice what I preach and part of that is going to be
not to focus on the number of books that I read in a year. So that's it. Thanks for
joining me today. Let us know what your reading resolutions or not-solutions
if you're joining me are going to be in 2019. I do hope that you will participate
in the 2019 read harder challenge just as a way to make sure that your own
reading is again diverse and inclusive and that maybe you'll you'll find some
stuff you didn't think you needed and are totally gonna love. Yeah, can't wait for
2019, if I could only say it correctly, and all that it brings. Hopefully all of our
reading lives will be enriched. See you next week.
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