2024 is coming to a close and I feel like I had a good reading year. I got caught up reading my physical books, started listening to audiobooks, and have been organizing my Goodreads shelves. I enjoyed getting back to writing TBR posts and have learned a lot about my reading habits and what works for me. I wanted to share what I took away from this year.

Picking Two Books to Read Versus Three

I wrote and published eight TBR posts (January, February, March, April, May, July, September, and November). Out of those eight months, there was only one month where I read all three books I picked out. I’m realizing that reading three physical books a month is ambitious. Reading isn’t my only hobby and along with working full-time, working out, and spending time with friends and family, I can’t commit to three books. Going forward, I will be picking two books a month to read. If I finish those two books before the end of the month, I will have a backup book ready. This could be a book to rent from the library or a book on my shelf that I have wanted to re-read.

I think this is going to work a lot better. I don’t want to feel rushed to read a book. When I tried to read three books in a month, it made reading not fun and more of a chore.

Regularly Listen to Audiobooks

I did not expect to love audiobooks as much as I do, but here we are. I listen to audiobooks when I clean or when I’m at work. Audiobooks work great when I’m on a long car ride because Libby doesn’t drain my phone battery as much as if I were watching YouTube videos. I tend to listen to Romance on audio because if my mind wanders, I don’t miss much versus if I were listening to Fantasy. I have been enjoying Memoirs and Non-Fiction as well.

I am going to aim to listen to one audiobook a month. I think that’s doable.

Emphasis on Graphic Novels

While I had a great reading year, I did not read nearly as many comics or graphic novels as in years past. I don’t have a good reason as to why. I will say, I haven’t been to my local comic book store regularly. With me and my husband focusing on our budget, I have cut out spending in certain areas including comics. One thing I want to do next year is reorganize my comics shelf. I want to start donating series I have no interest in completing. Additionally, I want to finish more comic series. I tend to read the first volume of a series and never return to it again. I would rather have fewer comics on my shelves but own the complete set versus a bunch of first volumes of so many series.

I want to get back into making regular comic book trips. I miss reading comics. It’s something I enjoyed and have gotten away from.

Keeping My Goodreads Shelf At 300 Books or Less

At one point, my Goodreads TBR shelf was at 600 books. That’s wild! There is no way I’m going to read 600 books. I have been going through this shelf and getting rid of books I may not have a high priority to read. My reading interests have changed over the past five or ten years, so I wanted to cater my shelf to books I am interested in. I think it’s good to have options, so keeping this number below 300 is a good idea.

2024 was a good reading year and I can’t wait to plan out the books I will read in 2025.