This is a long post to review my 2024 reading goals and any themes or thoughts from my reading.

Top Challenges and Reading Goals

Read 60 Books

I read 208 books. This is a ridiculous number. I do not plan on reaching close to this number any time soon. The audiobooks really helped as I listened to 56 of them (27%). I would often switch between formats such audio and print or ebook and audio. I would choose the one I used the most. Overall, I am more than happy with this number.

Reading Glasses 2024 Challenge

A couple of activities were more difficult. I probably did not achieve the choose a book based on its cover. I love a good book cover but I ultimately have too many books that I wanted to read based on other things like content.

The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge 2024

This was a good challenge. I like reading across a wide variety of genres and this one had diverse and specific targets.

Read more from my physical TBR: “Read at least 25 books from my physical TBR shelves so I can free up space. In 2023, 23% of the books I read were from the TBR. Ideally I’d like to increase this to one third or at least one quarter by the end of 2024.”

This included any books I brought into the home or that we already owned (including my husband’s books). Library books do not count as they have a time limit.

In 2024, I read 35 books from this challenge which is 17% of my total reading. This is lower than my 23% in 2023. However, I read more in quantity since this was such a big book year. I do think it was moderately successful. I made a sticker chart on my fridge for this challenge and will do again in 2025.

The rest of these were more guidelines and ongoing challenges:

• Read 3 classics from Boxall list: Continuing this life long challenge. I read four.
• Read more from previously started series: I am not doing the best at this but I don’t care that much so I’ll continue series books when I feel like it.
• Track the settings: I gave up after a couple of weeks. I read too many books and it was tedious to track in text or even in a map format.
• Read 1 poetry book: Completed.
• Read 1 Shakespeare play: Failed.
• Read 1 French book: Read 2 books. One of which was not Tintin.
• Read and give away books: Doing well. I weeded out a lot of books that I no longer wanted to read or had on ebook. I did get more and that’s okay. I gave, donated, or sold most of the books I finished.
• Keep physical library books at less than 10 books: I was doing very well with this goal until about September as I got a few new books. I mainly borrowed graphic, manga, or children’s books. I still prefer graphics in print form.
• Read more classics: This is an ongoing alongside the Boxall challenge. Going fine as I read Middlemarch and North & South this year.
• Read more ebooks and audiobooks: Goal was to increase to one third digital both audio and e-text. I did 27% audio and 21% digital text which means 48% were non print. I could have done better on digital text considering the next topic.

Ebooks, audiobooks, and E-reader upgrade

I started 2024 with one old ereader and by the end of the year I have four ereaders. Started to track how many books I would read with each them. I would sometimes switch between readers.

Kindle Keyboard 3: My old faithful which I am not using much anymore. Battery only lasts through about one and half novels. Used for about 8 books.

Kobo Mini: Thrifted for $10. Added a cover, updated the battery, and firmware for another $20. Great size, but lots of ghosting and no light. Will only be used when I need to pack a very small reader that I don’t care much about losing. 10 books.

Kobo Libra 2 (white): I decided not to get the Kobo Libra Colour and quickly got this one before this was discontinued. Love it. I like using this on a tablet holder with a page turner at home. 15 books.

Kobo Clara BW: I did not want to bring my Libra 2 on vacation. The Mini told me that I really liked a portable reader. Got this in October. I love the lighting. I still prefer buttons in general and the bigger size but accept the compromise for the portability and travel. 11 books.

Ipad: I read 3 books on my iPad as they were graphic novels or children’s books. I do not enjoy reading on my iPad and will continue to avoid using it for reading.

A big conclusion to using more ebooks and audiobooks was that as much as I liked them, I still love physical books. I love especially acquiring books at used books and little libraries. I missed having physical books around me when I was travelling. I found them comfortable objects and part of my home life. I have decided to ease on any no/low buy of books.

Genres, Themes, and Reading Trends

My top ten genres according to The Storgraph were as follows:

1. Fantasy
2. Literary
3. Contemporary
4. Memoir
5. Graphic Novel
6. Children’s
7. Romance
8. Classics
9. Manga
10. LGBGTQ+

I had about 40 total genres listed. I continue to be a wide genre reader.

Fantasy: This was part of my life as a child and continues to come in and out of my life. I expect it will always be my top genre by number. It has ballooned over the last few years especially with romantasy. I am still not sure how I feel about romantasy. I like cozy fantasy and am consuming isekai style fantasy more.

Literary and Contemporary: Litfic is where it is at. I wish I could read it more voraciously, but it requires more dedication and time so the other genres balance it out.

Memoir: This jumped up two spots from 2023 due to the audiobooks. I really like nonfiction on audio especially read by the author or excellent voice actors.

Graphic Novel and Children’s: While Graphic Novels this started strong at the beginning of the year, I found myself dumping at least a couple of graphic novels. Since I have read so many, I’ve become more particular about the art styles I enjoy. This is a genre that I will continue to appreciate. I enjoyed visual art more through an increase in Children’s books and manga as well.

Romance: I tried to like contemporary romance. Probably not for me but Romance is featured a lot in my the other genres including Classics.

Classics: How I love classics and I hope to get this back even higher one day. Like Litfic, I wish I could find more time to read it.

Themes

Debut Authors and New Books: Now that I am on Bookstagram and listening to book podcasts, I have read more newly published books than ever. It allowed me to discover debut authors and to be part of the zeitgeist in a way. I am trying to achieve this balance since I usually read these books through the library or digital means. I still want to read more from my backlog.

Japanese and Korean Translated Fiction: I do not know the exact number but I read a lot of translated fiction in 2024. Most of them from Japanese authors as I read several Japanese translated novels and manga. The genre is cozy for me. I read at least three Korean translated books.

Irish fiction: Somehow towards the end of the second half of the year, I kept reading books by Irish authors. The Irish authored books got consistently high ratings from me and were well written. I loved many of them for being messy and character focussed.

Finally, my 2024 Best Books by month. This is not an absolute list and I read so many great books.

JANUARY:
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett

FEBRUARY

The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono

MARCH
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

APRIL
The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot

MAY
Middlemarch by George Eliot

JUNE
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

JULY
Foster by Claire Keegan

AUGUST
Duck, Death and the Tulip by Wolf Erlbruch
James by percival Everett

SEPTEMBER
Everything Is OK by Debbie Tung

OCTOBER
The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoughue
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa

NOVEMBER
Butter: A Novel of Food and Murder by Asako Yuzuki

DECEMBER
Denison Avenue by Christina Wong
The Makioka Sisters by Jun’ichir? Tanizaki

Overall Mention: Ascendance of a Bookworm Manga series by Suzuka, originally by Miya Kazuki with quof (Translator) – I am now on the light novel series and this has been a comfort read.