On the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, many people come online to celebrate the number of books they read during the year. Today, I saw one tweet from a user who read 150 books in 2024 alone, and another tweet from someone who read 140 books and counting.

Reading about the reading accomplishments of strangers online can be inspiring — it’s a great feat to get through so many books in a year. Sometimes, however, reading about these accomplishments can make me feel disappointed in myself for not reading as much as I’d like to.

As these personal reading accomplishments flood the internet, major publications also publish lists of the “best books” of the year. What I love about these lists is that they expose me to new authors and works of literature. And though these lists bring me joy, there is an underlying disappointment. When I compare the list of books I’ve read to these “best books” lists, it can seem like my reading list often lacks the hottest books in town.

But not anymore.

A couple years ago, I decided to take my reading habits into my own hands, and not let what others are reading — or not reading — have an outsized influence on my reading choices and perceptions of myself as a reader.

I wrote a journal entry related to this topic in February 2022, published below, as my final post for the year 2024.

I wish everyone reading this a happy new reading year ahead.

***

I won’t read a book just because everyone is reading it or says it is a good book to read. It doesn’t matter if the book is a New York Times bestseller or whether it has received high praise from the most distinguished people in our society. For books like this, I’ll probably read a review or two, so I have a sense of what the book is about and then see if it evokes enough curiosity or interest to make me feel a need to read the entire thing.

Most books I bought off the beaten path have suffered an unfortunate fate in my hands: I never finished reading them.

And the misfortune of these books doesn’t end with my not reading them. Some have wound up as a makeshift stand for my laptop or coasters for my hot cups of coffee. I have put some away under my bed to free up space for the books I actually read and enjoyed. Some of these books may find consolation in being a prop in fake candid photos I often ask my friends to take of me.

This cycle of me buying books and then not reading them hurts me too. If I were to sum up how much money I’ve spent on books I didn’t read (and may never read), the total would probably be enough to buy me a PS5. What a waste. I don’t even want to think about this anymore.

At first I thought a lack of discipline on my part was the reason why I let so many good books go unread. But on second thought it’s apparent something else must be going on. Discipline may be part of it but it certainly can’t be the whole story because I make it through a couple of books every year.

So, what sets the books I read apart from those I don’t?

When I look back at the list of books I’ve read (and reread in some cases), I notice that they have one thing in common: I had a concrete reason to read them.

For example:

• I had specific questions and turned to these books to find answers (Oil, Politics, and Violence by Max Siollun; AWO: the Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo; A History of Nigeria by Toyin Falola; The Trouble with Nigeria by Chinua Achebe).
• I read because they told stories that interest me (Governing the Urban in China and India by Xuefei Ren; How to Rig an Election by Nic Cheeseman; Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser).
• I read because they offered ideas on how I could practice my core values (On Caring by Milton Mayeroff; Do It for A Day by Mark Batterson; The President’s Devotional by Joshua Du Bois).
• And the very act of reading these books helps bring me closer to people I care deeply about (All About Love by bell hooks; The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow).

If I feel like I don’t have a compelling enough reason to read a book I won’t read it. And it doesn’t make sense for me to squander my scarce reading time on books that elicit only a weak curiosity in me. Or on books I’m not that interested in.

I need to be spending my time on the books that I determine are good for me to read, given what life experience I’m navigating or learning priority I’m pursuing at the time. And those books may not necessarily be the ones capturing everyone’s attention at the time or featured on one list of must-read books or the other.

That a book is popular is too low a bar to earn it a place on my reading list. In this school that’s my life, I get to decide which readings are mandatory, which ones are optional, and which ones don’t make it to the reading list at all.

A big part of reading, I’ve learned, is deciding what not to read.