Goal setting and rituals for reading
Perhaps it’s because I am devoted to reading or perhaps it’s a bit of the OCD coming out, but I am a goal setter when it comes to reading. Not any reading, that is, but reading for pleasure. While it seems a bit contradictory to set goals for pleasure reading, I kind of feel it’s a necessity to ensure that reading happens and happens in a manner that leaves me feeling like I’m squeezing the most out of my short amount of time and huge amount of reading.
Last year, I made it a goal to read 50 books. Since I was still in school full time and working 2-3 jobs, I thought a book a week was an entirely reasonable goal. More than just getting that numeric goal, I also made a silent goal of trying to read one fiction and one non-fiction work at all times. I am a heavy non-fiction reader, so this was a way to balance that interest with the need to expand my knowledge and taste of other books. By August, I had already pawed my way through 50 books, and I knew it was time to reevaluate that goal.
So I decided to aim for 100 books.
Although I kept myself skeptical about my ability to achieve that goal in just four months amid my other responsibilities, I pushed through. I make it sound like it was a chore, but in order to make sure I made time for myself and pursing selfish interests, it was necessary to schedule this time into my daily and weekly schedules. And boy am I glad that I did!
When the last day of December came around, I made it to a total of 103 books, three more than my secondary goal. I read a little of everything - hot fiction titles, both contemporary and canonical fiction and non-fiction, memoirs, and a hefty dose of young adult titles. With each new title, my mind walked away with new ideas, opinions or thoughts, even if the book ended up being a total dud. I think each experience leaves me with something — an interesting turn of a phrase, the desire to look up locations or organizations in wikipedia, the need to reflect in my own words, or with the urge to tell everyone why they, too, need to read the book. For me, it’s that bottle of water at the end of a long, hot, busy day: hours to be entirely absorbed in another world while also being wholly aware of the one in which I inhabit. Reading isn’t about escapism for me, but rather, reading is about becoming more aware of where I am, what I’m doing, and how I need to proceed. It’s the reprieve from working outside myself, reminding me to turn internally for a while.
Reading is ritualistic for me. It starts with cracking the spine open and browsing the LOC information, followed by diving headlong into the text. I’m an introduction reader, unless the introduction is written by someone who is not the author (except in the case of an edited work). In many of my reads, I feel like the introduction does the best job of summing up the thesis and drive, but more importantly, it tells me other peoples inspirations and aspirations. That motivates me to think about the work as more than words on a page.
When I finish my read, be it something I breeze through in an hour or something I spend a month plodding through, I write the title and author down. I have a small pink notebook that has served the purpose recording this metadata for 6 years now; before that, I had the service of a smaller yellow one for 4 years. It’s a bit terrifying to think for 10 years I’ve had the same ritual. This serves no real purpose except as record, since I do not include my comments or rate the titles. I think of it almost as an act of intimacy with the book, the way of remembering spending some quality time with ideas and words in a non-judgmental setting. Until GoodReads.com came along, I typically did not spend time rating the book. Now, however, this convenience makes me think much more critically about each book I read and in doing so, I think I’ve gained a much stronger appreciation for the art and the act of both reading and writing.
And now that I’m officially done with school, I’ve set my goal higher for reading this year: 120 books, which breaks down into 10 per month. Since I’m still in the process of job hunting, in between applying, I’ve been boning up on everything I can while I can. I’m up to 14 for this month, with a very delicious pile that waxes and wanes on a semi regular basis beside me. Since my library system down here has the wonderful service that allows you to request any book in the system and have it delivered to your home library, I’ve been able to get my hands on literally anything. And quickly!
Do you have any reading goals and rituals? I have come to like and look forward to my mini ceremonies.
