Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme that was created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books and then cohosted with Dani @ Literary Lion. It is currently hosted by Aria @ Book Nook Bits and Dini @ dinipandareads. The meme encourages participants to discuss a new topic each week and visit each other’s posts to keep the conversation going.
Prompts: How many books do you typically read in a year? Do you always track your reading? Does keeping track of the books you read motivate you, or stress you out? How do you keep track of the books you read? Do you have a 2025 reading goal?
How many books do you typically read in a year?
This has varied over the years. I spend quite a few years right after becoming a mother where I was lucky to read five a year, beyond that, 50 a year seemed to be my usual with 100 a year when I actually tried. Last year I read 163, which is insane to me. This year I planned for 100, but I would love to see 150 become my new normal.
Do you always track your reading?
Loosely. On Goodreads? Absolutely. Everywhere else? Hahaha…. ha.. ha. Seriously though, my Kindle auto tracks my reads on Goodreads and I am lazy. I do keep a spreadsheet to calculate my CAWPILED ratings, but I literally only put the book title in there and use my yearly Goodreads challenge to find the author and other information for wherever else I might want such information.
Does keeping track of the books you read motivate you, or stress you out?
Keeping track settles my ADHD and OCD, but it also activates my anxiety because I procrastinate like a pro. Seriously, if there were an Olympic event for procrastinating, I would take home gold in every category.
How do you keep track of the books you read?
Clearly, I am insane, because I clearly am. So, obviously I use Goodreads to track my reads in a short term manner. It’s mostly so I know what I read to compare to my CAWPILED spreadsheet since I don’t track the authors there, only book titles.
I do have a Storygraph account, but I’ve been super bad about updating it. I looked recently and I’m like 30 books behind on what I’ve read from when I last looked at it. Oops. I want to use it, because I like supporting smaller businesses, but Kindle updating on it’s own is just so helpful and I’m not a big fan of the Storygraph app and layout. Maybe it will improve. I’m just not good with change. It’s the Neurodivergent in me. Change is hard.
I also have a multiyear reading tracker that I purchased on Etsy that I like a lot, but I have been super lazy with and haven’t started filling it out yet. Oops, I should get on that probably. I didn’t fill it out for 2024 either. It’s supposed to track for five years, which is awesome if you like data, but lame when you don’t actually spend the few moments to set it up and fill it out. I guess I would rather be reading?
But the biggest way that I track my reading, is through Notion. Notion is a general productivity and note taking app. I personally use Notion for a ton of stuff. I have so much of my life there. My recipes, my homeschool records, my second brain. I don’t use it as a planner/to-do list like many people do, digital versions of those things just don’t work for me.
One of the many things I keep in Notion, is my library. It’s a serious work in progress, but I am slowly adding in all the books I have read and the ones I own. My printed library is way easier, my digital library on the other hand is insane. I have hundreds upon hundreds of free kindle books, nevermind my purchases, old arcs (which why bother getting rid of when I can still read them again and a again?), and freebie downloads from author/publisher newsletters and whatnot. I’ve been using it because it just makes tracking things so much nicer on me. I can track exactly what I want, how I want, where I want. It makes it so much easier going through things. My ADHD leaves me as one of those people who absolutely loves spreadsheets, so setting this up and maintaining it fills that void while being more useful to me.
Do you have a 2025 reading goal?
My primary goal this year is to read 100 books. I’m well on my way for that. I’m also doing a JAFF themed 12 in 12 challenge, a Jane Austen challenge, and a 25 in 25 challenge. I fear I will have regrets, namely on that last one, but who knows.
- How many books do you read each year?
- Do you bother to track your reads anywhere?
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