My favorite books to read are books that I've already read. I get into moods for certain books. I'll think, "I'm in a mood to read Anna and the French Kiss," and then I'll sit down and spend the rest of the day devouring it. If I'm in a mood for a series--that's my entire week gone. I love revisiting my favorite books, and I think, generally, it's a great way to study craft. I don't feel bad about reading a book for the 10th time. If a book isn't worth reading 10 times, in my opinion, it's hardly worth reading once. However.
Thanks to Goodreads' "Your Year in Books" feature, which gives you a run-down of all the books you've read in a given year, I discovered that in 2016, I'd only read 13 new books. Most of them had been enjoyable, but looking at the list, I didn't think I'd reread a single one.
I'd reread multiple series that year. Giant series. I reread Game of Thrones, Harry Potter (twice), The Diviners, The Shades of London, Outlander, etc.
I spent most of my reading time in 2016 rereading. And I loved it! But, looking at my "Year in Books," I started growing worried about my reread list.
It wasn't actually that big and I wasn't adding to it. I missed--truly, deeply missed--that feeling of falling in love with a story. Worse, I started to think: when you're a writer and you're reading the same dozen books over and over, there has to be a point where that starts hurting your craft.
I wanted to find a new book--or even a series--to fall in love with. I wanted new books to inspiring my writing.
Going into 2017, I gave myself a 50 book reading goal. 50 new books. I'd read 13 books in 2016, and hadn't really loved a single one. And that isn't uncommon for me. I don't really love that large a list of books. If I was going to find new books for my re-read list, I was going to have to work for it.
50 books in a year isn't a difficult task for me. When I love a book, I generally do devour it in a single sitting. Re-reading a series, I can get through a couple of books a week. 50 new books in a year is harder.
It was so hard, that in addition to forgetting to pick up most of the books I'd set down after a page or two, I completely forgot about the challenge until I checked my Goodreads page in mid-August.
I had read 3 new books.
I needed 47 more to reach my goal and I had little more than a third of the year in which to read them. I was not only far from on-track to read 50 books. I wasn't even on-track to read the 13 I'd read in 2016!
You will be unsurprised to hear that I didn't read 50 new books this year.
As of this writing on December 22nd, that number is still climbing. Out of those 30, I even discovered an entire new series to reread. (V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic.)
I'm so proud of the effort I've taken to make new stories a priority this year, these last few months especially. With the help of my library's iphone app, I've been listening to an array of audiobooks that I never would've picked up on audible. I've read ebooks that have been on my list forEVER. I've picked up print books. I've read YA, nonfiction, adult fantasy, picture books, middle grade, short stories and graphic novels.
Next year, my goal is still going to be 50, and after the mad-dash of the last few months, I think I'll probably make it.
UPDATE 30 Dec 17:
After a mad dash and help from a good 15 or so graphic novels, I've read 52 books this year. My favorites of the 22 I've read in the past week are: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero, A Properly Unhaunted Place by William Alexander, Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson, and all of the collected volumes of Lumberjanes.
This week has given me such a boost of confidence, that on Monday I'm setting a goal of 100 books for 2018.