“Moom, you’re the only reason I’m still on goodreads”
Okay then. I *am* still on goodreads but I am slowly switching my brain over to StoryGraph. Where all the Cool Kids are. A lot of people are voting against Amazon (which owns Goodreads) with their phones/laptops. I agree with their sentiment but I am conflicted because I developed a pretty good habit of buying certain things (oh, nothing exciting) on Amazon during the early days of the pandemic and am reluctant to give that up.
For the first time in a few years, I did not complete my Goodreads challenge for 2024. I think I was 15 books down (100 being my goal). I’m not sure *exactly* what the issue was. I certainly read some good books this year but I also read a bunch that I got kinda bogged down with. No specific titles come to mind, just in general.
I found myself seeking out “short” books for the last couple months but that wasn’t very satisfying. I mean, some of them were very good but I kept seeing longer books that were calling my name and I was so wrapped up in finishing the challenge that I eschewed reading them.
Okay. So I am done done done with reading challenges. For now anyway. I could change my mind at some point. I’m allowed to do that. Obviously I don’t need a challenge to make me read so I’ll just read whatever I feel like.
I wasn’t a super early reader but all the building blocks were in place by first grade, which was when reading was taught back then, and I TOOK OFF like a rocket. I particularly remember sounding out the word “surprise”, like “Oh, *that’s* how you pronounce “suprize” (the word in my head).
A hilarious memory (to me) is when I was four and I wrote my name with an “o” on the sidewalk in front of our shabby little yooperland bungalow. That’s right. A-n-n-o. I remember being very insistent that it was the correct spelling. The Commander disagreed but gave up on trying to dissuade me, wisely choosing not to die on that particular hill.
Anyway, the first book I *started* in 2024 2025!!! is “The God of the Woods”. It is 480 pages (not long but not short) and I am greatly enjoying it and closing in on the finish. Couldn’t put it down today (although I did finish my pantry purge). I read “Long Bright River” by the same author a while back and liked that one too. Whether these are everyone’s cuppa, I dunno. To each their own.
January 5th, 2025 at 9:08 pm
I’m guilty of buying too much from Amazon, not always because I’m lazy but because they stock the coffee and the chocolate that I use for my mochas. Very important. I’ve never done Goodreads and don’t like setting reading goals. Perhaps it’s because I did SO much reading both in French and English in college and it burned me out. Now I read purely for pleasure or Book Club, usually pleasure too although not always.
January 6th, 2025 at 10:05 am
I always enter the Goodreads Challenge and almost never reach my goal but I like having a goal. I’ve learned about myself, even well into my 70s, that I’m a very competitive person. I didn’t really know that about myself until a few years ago. Not sure I’m happy with the knowledge. And I too use Amazon (for a particular kind of chicken broth concentrate) far too often and feel bad about it. But I’m too selfish to give up the convenience.
I also didn’t read as much in 2024 as I usually do and I blame the election for that. Now that I’m trying to avoid news, political news, maybe I’ll have a great reading year.