2024 Reading Reflection
Jan. 6th, 2025 08:33 am2024 was a mixed reading year for me. I read some books that I loved, some books that were fine. You can see all my 2024 books at Goodreads. I also spent a lot of time wanting to read new to me novels and not having the focus.
The best thing for my reading that happened in 2024 was I got a new bigger ereader. The primary goal was to reduce page turns and button presses for hand pain reasons, but having a bigger screen made it way easier to read PDFs and I read a lot of papers! I love the note taking features of the new ereader too!
A major focus of my reading in 2024 was research for projects I was working on. I learned more about Tang dynasty China for Harmonious Kinship and lot about doasist history for Wei Furen
My reading goal for 2025 is simple: Read joyfully! I’m sure what that means in practice but that’s the point.
Before the pandemic started I easily and happily read well over 100 books in a year. I read 170 books in 2019. Since the pandemic started, the most books I’ve read in a year is 73, and I’ve gone through months and months of not reading any fiction but fic. I miss being a person who reads that much. Reading has been a key part of my identity since I learned how to read. But I don’t think my reading brain is coming back, so I want to learn how to read joyful with the brain I have now.
And while I miss being that person who reads all the time, I think it's helpful and important to recognize that I do like being a person who reads academic papers, studies classical chinese and watches silly chinese reality shows. Those other things take time. I don’t think that’s the only reason I’ve been reading less, I really do think I’m less able to engage with new stories, but its good to keep in mind that other things have changed too.
I am going to be experimenting with reading differently. Maybe I’ll try reading in different times and places, maybe I’ll try reading less. I am not going to push myself to read things that I'm not feeling. And I’m going to acknowledge that change happens and that’s ok.
The best thing for my reading that happened in 2024 was I got a new bigger ereader. The primary goal was to reduce page turns and button presses for hand pain reasons, but having a bigger screen made it way easier to read PDFs and I read a lot of papers! I love the note taking features of the new ereader too!
A major focus of my reading in 2024 was research for projects I was working on. I learned more about Tang dynasty China for Harmonious Kinship and lot about doasist history for Wei Furen
My reading goal for 2025 is simple: Read joyfully! I’m sure what that means in practice but that’s the point.
Before the pandemic started I easily and happily read well over 100 books in a year. I read 170 books in 2019. Since the pandemic started, the most books I’ve read in a year is 73, and I’ve gone through months and months of not reading any fiction but fic. I miss being a person who reads that much. Reading has been a key part of my identity since I learned how to read. But I don’t think my reading brain is coming back, so I want to learn how to read joyful with the brain I have now.
And while I miss being that person who reads all the time, I think it's helpful and important to recognize that I do like being a person who reads academic papers, studies classical chinese and watches silly chinese reality shows. Those other things take time. I don’t think that’s the only reason I’ve been reading less, I really do think I’m less able to engage with new stories, but its good to keep in mind that other things have changed too.
I am going to be experimenting with reading differently. Maybe I’ll try reading in different times and places, maybe I’ll try reading less. I am not going to push myself to read things that I'm not feeling. And I’m going to acknowledge that change happens and that’s ok.
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