A few years ago, I wrote about how I dislike annual reading goals. The act of setting up a number or goal in reading as a yearly resolution feels to me like making reading work, rather than an activity worth enjoying. That’s not to say there’s not value in it — for many readers, there definitely is — but for me, being intentional in my reading brings meaning to my reading life.
Intentional reading is being selective with my reading. I’ve been doing the reading thing long enough now to know what phrases or descriptions ring my bells. I also have a good sense of where I can improve in my reading and I create strategies for getting better. Over the last few years, for example, I recognized how important reading more women and more people of color was; I set the intention of only spending my money on books written by women or people of color. By setting that intention, I work hard to seek out those books, many of which I may otherwise never have discovered, and I’m surrounded by them. If I need to read a book, I have so many fantastic options in my home.
Last fall, I made a decision about my reading life. It was something I needed to do. I’d sort of hinted at needing to change things up in the summer, but I hadn’t yet figured out how to go about it or what it was that I needed to do. When your reading life and your work life are so intimately and intricately tied, it’s hard to tease one of them apart from the other and separate the things you know you should be reading for work-related reasons from those you want to read for you and only you. I love talking about books intelligently and I love being able to be part of a conversation about books that are sparking discussion within the YA and broader book community. But I’m also not, nor have I ever been, a reader who needs to be up on the latest, greatest, or big-budget titles. I rely on reviews by others of those titles to help guide my decisions on them.
I was intrigued by Annika’s post about having only read books by women since 2013. I love when people suss out patterns in their reading and then they go at those things with full force. That’s an intention. But more, when the comments on Annika’s post turned really bothersome — and I moderated those comments for a few days, so I saw some of the worst of it — I decided that taking on a similar intention in my reading would be worthwhile. Why did a woman choosing to read only women make people so angry? What is so scary about choosing to read only women?
Leila answers that question about the challenge in a way that I didn’t know how to articulate while also offering more compelling reasons for taking part in the intentional reading of women’ stories:
And, as I watched that all play out, rather than scaring me off, all of the garbage levelled at that essay—and, of course, at the woman who wrote it—resulted in the realization that this year, every single book that I’ve read that I have connected on a kindred-spirit level has been a book written by a woman. It made me realize that lately, while I haven’t felt particularly welcome in a community that I used to consider welcoming, that I have felt embraced and affirmed and heard and challenged—in a positive way—by those same authors, in those same books.
It made me realize that at the moment, I want to surround myself with women’s voices. That I want to put my energy into listening to them, engaging with them, learning from them, and amplifying them.
I began reading only women in November. Knowing my bookshelves are packed with books by women and people of color, I’ve had so many outstanding options to choose from. Sure, I’ve already missed out on reading a few books I’d been looking forward to, and I know there are more books I’m going to miss out on reading in this coming year. I’ve felt my heart sink opening up packages and finding ARCs by favorite male authors, knowing that I wouldn’t be reading them this year. But the beauty of books and reading is when you set an intention like reading only women, books written by men do not disappear. I can pick up the books I’ve been eager to read in 2017. Or 2018. Or 2019. Or 2020. It doesn’t matter. They aren’t going to vanish into the abyss; they’ll be there when I am ready to pick them up. With the way technology works, even books that might not otherwise have a long shelf life can stick around infinitely thanks to eformats. Likewise, talking about good books never gets tiring and it’s never out of style. Backlist discussions matter as much as, if not even more than, talking about titles the weeks leading up to or immediately after their release dates.
By intentionally limiting the books I’m reading, I’m discovering how my reading is expanding. It seems counterintuitive, but now, rather than sticking to a certain type or genre of book, I’m reaching a little further. I’m excited to read more memoirs by women. I’ve always wanted to do that, but with the intention of reading only women, now I am permitting myself to reach for those books when I may have otherwise kept pushing them off in exchange for something else more timely or more related to what I feel like I should be talking about. I’m thinking about the connections between those books and my own life. Those books and the lives of other women I care about. Those books and teenagers, both those who may be intrigued by the book at hand or those who might find themselves connecting on a personal level to those stories in the future.
My reading has slowed down a bit, too. I’m marking more passages, thinking more critically, and asking more questions of the books I’m enjoying. I’m finding the act of asking questions to be fulfilling more than the desire to seek answers to them. My thinking and engagement in books opens up in a different way when I choose to settle for uncertainty, rather than demand closure. I’ve never needed closure in my reading, but I’m letting myself enjoy the discomfort of not knowing.
I didn’t participate in the Read Harder challenge at Book Riot last year. It felt too restrictive to me in the same way other reading challenges are. But this year, I’m embracing the challenge. I’m really excited to try reading books that I otherwise wouldn’t, especially with my intention of reading only women sitting on top of it. I know I’ll enjoy a wider range of reading while digging even more deeply into the works of women. Rather than expanding only outward, beyond my comfort zone, I’ll also be moving inward, further down the hole of the types of voices and stories I’m hungry to read.
If you aren’t a person who feels driven by goals or numbers, you’re not alone. And if you are a person who is motivated by that, that’s great, too. We’re all different in our approaches to reading. There’s no one-size-fits-all, and there never should be. Spending time thinking about your own needs and interests as a reader and digging into them, questioning them, and redefining them, only makes you better able to talk with or connect to other readers. This is especially true when you work with teen readers who have so little time in their lives for pleasure reading as it is.
I’m excited to see what this year in reading brings. Since embracing intentionality in my reading life and redefining what that means as I go along, rather than once a year, I’m able to walk away at the close of each year feeling like I’ve grown as a reader and as a thinker.
Do you have any reading intentions this year? I’d love to hear them or about any challenges you’re taking on.
I haven’t set a yearly total for my reading either. I am trying to challenge myself to listen to more audiobooks this year than i did last year, but that’s the only area of my reading that has a number attached to it.
Besides that, my primary goal this year is to read more genres and work in what I’m calling genre binges. I had to read a lot of fantasy before ALAN for the panel I was moderating and it was fun to read so much of a genre that I usually only read in spurts. After that I challenged myself to read a bunch of historical fiction. I’m going to keep that up this year and include LGBT, racially diverse titles, and more.
I need to get back into an audiobook habit; I’m hoping having to listen to one for the Book Riot challenge will help a bit.
The idea of genre binges is really smart — I love that it’s helping you dive into things you might otherwise not pick up.
This will be the third year i’ve set a reading goal – and you gave me a good deal to think about. I never really thought about why i set the goal, i just did it. last year (and continuing this year), i added in things like “read 12 middle grade novels” and “read 12 picture books” because these are ages where I, as a librarian, have a hard time giving suggestions since they are not books i read with any regularity. but then i looked at the “read harder” challenge and that gave me more ideas for stretching my reading-suggestion-muscles. i’m not sure i will complete the full “read Harder” challenge but i’m definitely going to consult it. especially if i find myself getting in a genre rut!
Good luck with your goal of reading only women authors! i’ll follow your progress with interest on goodreads. and, again, thanks getting me to think more about my reading goals.
When I worked as a librarian, I did set up goals like that for areas I was less familiar with — I think there’s definitely a difference between a professionally-related reading goal and your own personal reading life (I get it a little with Book Riot, but definitely not like with librarianship).
If nothing else, the read Harder challenge is a nice way to try something new when you’re wondering what to read next or hit a slump.
I’ve been considering how I’m going to shape and direct my reading this year, too. I did the read harder thing by accident, simply by looking at it on the 30th and realizing I had read things that applied to the categories, but this year I think I want to do it more intentionally. And I definitely had a fail last year as far as reading people of color, even though, like you quote Leila as saying, I find that books by women of color are the ones that make me feel most like books are my friends. I’m going to try the YALSA/Hub challenge this year, just because I always say I’m going to and then never do, and I think I’m leaning towards what Sarah noted in her comment – not necessarily always genre binges, but I do want to do some of those. Or some author binges. Or thematic binges. I’d like to be able to use some concentrated reading not just to connect with books, but also to be able to write about them in more extensive, interesting ways.
The idea of concentrated reading time is really, really appealing to me, too. Doing an author binge or genre binge or thematic one — on a writing level, those things help me unlock new ways of thinking, too.
I think setting a yearly goal helps with setting the intention to read in the first place. Maybe from there reading habits evolve over time. I sort of disagree with the reasoning for reading only women authors, or male authors, or minority authors, or this or that, though honestly people can read whatever they want it doesn’t much matter to me. Though the reason I like to read a little bit of everything is important to me and is as follows. Conversations about gender and race and other issues should include not exclude, so that we may fully understand, work through, and perhaps even solve some of these issues. The problem with the wealthy, white, male, heterosexual, physically able, etc dominant paradigm is just that, it excludes the voices, thoughts, opinions, and feelings of all others. Thus the justice system, law enforcement, government services, anything created and controlled by the dominant paradigm cannot properly address or serve anyone outside of that paradigm because those voices have not been heard. I think the solution is not to mimic this exclusive behavior, but rather to practice inclusion and read a little of everything. Spending a year reading only this or only that is not going to hurt anyone or anything and may even help you or others, but the attitude of exclusion I think has and continues to be a problem. What do you think? I hope I haven’t offended you or anyone else, I think this is such an interesting topic and I’m happy you’ve created a space for discussing it!
I hear what you’re saying, but when you’re devoting time and energy to a marginalized group — that’s what women are, especially in publishing, and it’s even worse for women of color or women who aren’t heterosexual — you’re not actually being exclusionary. You’re reaching out to be more inclusive of the voices that are so wildly absent. We always believe women dominate in books, but I’ve written at length, as have others, about how this is simply not true.
It’s not an attitude of exclusion. Those books by men don’t need my help or my eyes right now. They aren’t going to go away. I’m choosing to focus on the stories that matter most to me right now, and those are stories by women.
Cheers to that. Any time challenges like this come up, people like to claim that they like to read all sorts of things or that they only go by “quality” or the like, but again and again, that proves to be a culturally biased (if largely unconscious) ideal, and mostly people end up reading a pretty limited range of authors (as far as diverse identities are concerned, not literal number of authors) because there is a certain type of author that is promoted, reviewed, recommended, and exalted and a great many other types that are decidedly not. So, like Kelly said, it’s not exclusionary to “limit” yourself. You’re actually leveling the playing field, since the stuff you’re not reading is the stuff that has been given far more than its share of airtime, so to speak.
I feel the same about reading goals – I’m not motivated to read a certain number of books.. Maybe that’s more helpful to people who tend to get distracted by other activities, such as watching TV? I’ve set various intentions, but never as strictly as you’ve done with women authors – that intrigues me and I’m looking forward to seeing what you’re reading. My intentions have been to read more award winners, or to give myself permission to not read what my book club has chosen if it doesn’t resonate with me. This year, my intention is to attend a monthly reading group through my local SCbwi chapter, even though the meetings are an hour from my house. The group carefully selects books and does such a great job analyzing the stories, I know it will help me continue to grow as a writer.
I think numeric or strategic goals (like reading classics, etc.) are super helpful, especially for those who are hoping to get back into a reading habit.
I love the intention of permitting yourself not to read stuff — I do think that’s as valuable as what you do choose to spend your time reading.
I anticipate my time for reading will be reduced this year due to increased work commitments, so being intentional is sorely needed. Committing to reading works primarily by women of color means a great deal to me. I want to support these women and look forward to learning from them.
And these voices are part of why I’m choosing this intentional reading — I’m getting better with my reading of books by people of color, but I want to read even more specifically the stories and real life experiences of women of color.
I’m aiming for 50% poc reading this year. And I am doing read harder with the intention of fulfilling the challenge by reading books by poc.