Are you less than a passionate reader if you “only” read one book this year? Let’s unpack the joys and challenges of reading, #booktok, haul culture, and staying true to yourself in a performative, social media-driven world.
The Life of a Gen-X Bookworm
For as long as I’ve been able to speak, I have loved books.
I was that girl who kind of fit in socially at school but kind of didn’t. I wasn’t necessarily an outcast, but never felt like I belonged anywhere. Books made me feel like I didn’t have to fit in. I could be anyone and belong everywhere whenever I opened a book. Books were my truest, dearest friends, and the library was my home.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash
I even wrote my first book in the second grade for extra credit. It was just half-sheets of yellow legal pad paper stapled together, but it was my book. That haunted house story scribed in pencil, full of incorrect spellings and primitive illustrations, was all mine. Truthfully, the girl who wrote that book still inspires me today.
It doesn’t surprise me that my life’s path took me into a publishing industry career. I loved working in television, but something about being a champion and promoter of books feels more like a calling than a career. Literature fucking rocks. What can I say? It’s in my blood. That will never change.
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Passionate Reading: Making that Book Count
When I first discovered apps like GoodReads, I was a kid in a candy store. Weren’t we all? So many books! So much gorgeous cover art! So many wonderful GIF-laden reviews ranging from thoughtful to snarky. These were my people. Then, discover a holy grail for bookworms: a reading tracker and an annual goal. Sign me up for that shit; I’ve got this, I’m a passionate, voracious reader.
Or am I?
Oh no, I didn’t read forty-eight books this year. Sure, I bought them, but did I read them? Nope. It’s just one book a week! What? You can’t even read one book a week, Jaye? You’re not a real reader. Look at NerdyReader_365; they read 365 books every damn year. And you can barely read a book a month these days. What the hell has happened to us?
Just this moment after writing the above paragraph, it dawned on me that for all the decades I was absorbed in book after book after book, I never really… counted them until pretty recently.
But I was constantly reading. How many books a year did I read back in the day? I have no bloody clue. What if I “only” read one book that year? Was I any less of a reader? I couldn’t breathe without a book in my life. If that book was my one read the entire year, it was my best friend, always by my side; my safe place, my escape, my everything. It would have become the Velveteen Rabbitt of my book stack that year: tattered and torn but alive. Does reading get any more passionate than that?
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From #Bookworm to #BookTok
Fast forward to what reading feels like today.
I love watching a good book haul on YouTube or social media. You can’t deny that #booktube, #booktok, and #bookstagram created a renaissance for physical books—and I am here for it! But weirdly, at times, it feels like reading has become more about consumption, performance, and competition. Haul culture has gotten so extreme that a simple stack of four books to read in a month seems like “nothing” now. If your haul isn’t stacked to the ceiling, are you really a reader, bro?
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Reading Pages, Not Numbers
I’m here to say if you only read one book this year, yes, you are a reader. If you love books but don’t have time to read double to triple digits’ worth of books in a year, yes, you’re still a passionate reader. I’ve allowed social media to make me feel “less than” in my love of books, and I officially reject that right here, right now.
So, let’s make this year’s GoodReads challenge official: my goal for 2024 is to read one book.
If I read more? Great. If I don’t? It doesn’t fucking matter. That one book will be my world. And that is the definition of a passionate reader.
My 2024 GoodReads Challenge
So enough about me, tell me how you feel! Do you love setting huge reading goals for the year? Does it bother you if you don’t meet those goals (or am I too “Type A”)? What is your personal goal this year for reading? What are your feelings on social media, book hauls, and the #bookcommunity? I would love to know what you think! 🤓📚
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