I’ve been largely absent on this blog this year. It’s been a very busy year for me — I bought a house in April and have spent a lot of time getting settled in, taking care of the yard, putting together my library. All the essential things.
One thing I have done this year has been read. As of today (Dec. 30), I have read 251 books this year. Looking at the stats page on Goodreads, most of them have fallen into the 4 star range, with the next largest category being 3 star. I only had one book I gave 1 star! I’d say that is a pretty good spread. It’s one thing to read 251 good books, and quite another to read 251 not so good ones.
I’ve read mostly romances and mostly shorter books this year, which I think has made my ratings skew higher overall. I tend to choose my romances more carefully. I have a pretty good grasp on what I do and do not like in romance. Sometimes SFF or mystery books can be more hit-and-miss, which will make me skew lower overall. Things that sound on their surface like something I would love might have tropes or writing styles that turn me off. And longer books take more effort, and have to work harder to keep my attention, which can make for a lower rating in the end.
As I head toward my 35th birthday, I think I’ve finally come to realize what makes me happy as a reader and how to curate what I read to my moods. I’ve learned that in times of greater stress — say, when closing on a house and all the mess that comes along with that — lighter and happier reads are best. When I am in a more relaxed mood, I can focus more on books that challenge me.
I spent some time this year reading The Silmarillion and The Unfinished Tales from JRR Tolkien. After watching Rings of Power and watching some videos of people reacting to it, I became very interested in how the source material differed from the show. I know that the only rights Amazon got was to LOTR itself and that they pulled from the appendices. So first, I went to the appendices to see what they started with. The answer was: not much. Pretty much just a chronological list of events with scarce details. Any details were in The Silmarillion or The Unfinished Tales, which they didn’t have rights to. I can see why they made the choices they made and it made the viewing experience much easier for me.
All this digression is to say that even though I have not been chronicling my reading on this blog much this year, I have been reading and largely enjoying what I’ve been reading. I think that is about all I can ask as a reader.
The Neverending Unread 