When Did Reading Become Something We Had to Be Good At?

I've been thinking about this lately.

When did reading become something we had to be good at?

Not enjoy.

Not love.

Not disappear into for a few hours.

Be good at.

How many books did you read this month?

What's your reading goal?

How many pages do you read a day?

How quickly can you finish a book?

How many books have you read this year?

And somewhere along the way, it can start to feel like we're all keeping score.

"I've only read three books this year."

I've heard readers say things like this.

And it's always the word only that gets me.

"I've only read three books."

Only?

Were they good?

Did you enjoy them?

Did one keep you awake far later than it should have?

Did you fall in love with a character?

Did you spend an entire afternoon inside a world that doesn't exist?

Then who cares if it was three?

Three books isn't a failed reading year.

It's three bloody books.

Reading isn't a competitive sport

Unless there's something happening at the Olympics that I haven't heard about.

In which case, I'd like to see the uniform.

But seriously...

Someone reading 100 books this year doesn't love reading more than someone who reads ten.

They're not a better reader.

They read 100 books.

That's it.

Maybe they read incredibly quickly.

Maybe they have more free time.

Maybe reading is their main hobby.

Maybe they don't have an energetic toddler launching themselves off the furniture while they're trying to get through chapter four.

Our lives are different.

So why are we comparing the numbers?

I actually like reading challenges

Here's where this gets slightly complicated.

I love challenges.

I literally created reading challenges and Bingo games for Tales in Ink.

But I don't love them because they help me prove how much I've read.

I love them because they make choosing what to read fun.

There's a big difference.

If I'm staring at my ridiculous TBR and can't decide what to pick, an A–Z challenge can help.

Maybe I still need a book beginning with M.

Great.

Now instead of choosing between 150 unread books, I'm looking for the M books.

Or a Bingo square tells me to find a book with a map inside.

Fun.

Go find the maps.

The challenge helps me start an adventure.

It isn't standing at the finish line with a clipboard judging how quickly I got there.

Goals aren't the problem

If setting a goal of 50 books gets you excited...

Do it.

If you love watching that number climb throughout the year...

Brilliant.

If you're aiming for 100 and having an absolute ball doing it...

Go for it.

I'm not here to take anybody's reading goals away.

What I don't like is when the goal starts making you feel bad about reading.

You fall behind.

Now you're calculating how many books you need to finish this month to catch up.

You choose a shorter book because it'll help the number.

You avoid the giant fantasy novel you're actually dying to read because it's going to take too long.

You start thinking:

"I'm behind."

Behind who?

Where are we going?

Please read the giant book

This one matters to me as a fantasy and sci-fi reader.

Some of the books I want to read are enormous.

Absolute bricks.

The kind of book you could probably use to defend yourself during a home invasion.

And they take time.

If I spend three weeks reading one massive fantasy novel and absolutely love it, that isn't somehow worse than finishing three shorter books in the same amount of time.

I don't want a number making that decision for me.

I want to pick the book I'm excited about.

Even if it's 900 pages.

Even if I could read four other books in the same time.

Even if it completely destroys my monthly reading statistics.

Give me the dragons.

You don't need to read quickly either

I'm guilty of this one sometimes.

I'll see how quickly someone else finished a book and think:

"How did they read that already?"

Meanwhile I'm over here reading my 30 minutes before bed.

Some nights.

Because other nights I work close.

And some nights I'm exhausted.

And some nights I intend to read and somehow end up scrolling my phone instead.

That's my reading life.

It fits around everything else.

I'm a mum.

A wife.

I work.

I run a business.

I have responsibilities.

I'm not going to start speed-running fantasy novels because somebody on the internet finished twelve books this month.

I'd rather take my time and actually enjoy the bloody thing.

You also don't have to remember everything

We've talked about this before.

I can look at a book I've read and sometimes barely remember what happened.

Apparently my brain decided that information was less important than remembering the theme song from a television show I watched 20 years ago.

Useful.

That doesn't mean I read the book incorrectly.

It doesn't mean I wasn't paying enough attention.

I still experienced it.

I still enjoyed it.

And if I recorded some thoughts about it, I can go back and remind myself what mattered.

There's no exam at the end.

And you definitely don't need a perfect reading journal

While we're here...

Can we kill this one too?

Your reading journal doesn't have to look like something designed for Instagram.

Your handwriting doesn't have to be beautiful.

You don't need twelve different coloured pens.

You don't need to illustrate every book cover by hand.

If you enjoy doing that?

Please do.

I genuinely love seeing what creative readers make.

But if your review says:

"5 stars. Absolutely unhinged. Loved it."

I'm counting it.

Your journal is supposed to help you enjoy and remember your reading.

It's not being graded.

Maybe we're measuring the wrong thing

Instead of:

How many books did I read?

Maybe sometimes the better questions are:

Did I enjoy reading?

Did I discover something unexpected?

Did I find a new favourite author?

Did a book make me laugh?

Did something completely destroy me emotionally?

Did I finally read that book that's been sitting on my shelf forever?

Did I have nights where I couldn't wait to get back to the story?

Did reading give me a little escape when life was ridiculously busy?

Because those are the things I actually care about.

I don't want reading to become another KPI

I've got enough things in life that need measuring.

Enough things I need to improve.

Enough things I need to complete.

Enough things I'm probably behind on.

Reading doesn't need to join them.

I don't want to optimise it.

I want to enjoy it.

I want to get into bed, open a book and disappear for 30 minutes.

Sometimes I'll read heaps.

Sometimes I won't.

Sometimes I'll smash through a book because I can't put it down.

Sometimes the same book will sit beside my bed for three weeks.

That's okay.

I'm still a reader.

And so are you.

So let's change the question

Next time somebody asks:

"How many books have you read this year?"

Sure.

Tell them.

But then let's ask something much more interesting:

"What's the best book you've read this year?"

Now we're talking.

I want the recommendation.

I want to know why you loved it.

I want to know which character you couldn't stop thinking about.

I want to know whether I should add it to my already completely unreasonable TBR.

Because I'd much rather hear about one book you absolutely loved than a number telling me how many you've finished.

So that's today's question:

Forget your reading goal. Forget your book count. What's the best book you've read lately — and why should the rest of us read it?

Go on.

Destroy my TBR.