2024 Reading Queue update
How it went, what I've learned, and what I'm doing differently next year
Hi! If you’re new, you can read about how and why I created my reading queue (and what was on it) here as well as the mid-year update here. This is not meant to be prescriptive or comparative. If you enjoy reading about other peoples’ reading habits or are interested in reconsidering your own approach to making space for reading, then this is for you. If not, I joyfully release you to something more satisfying. Either way — onward.
Creating my reading queue for this year has been one of the best things I have ever done for myself. I started out just wanting to make my constantly growing TBR less overwhelming in order to help myself prioritize reading more1, but I’ve also learned so much from it.
For one thing, since implementing the queue at the beginning of the year and reading so steadily throughout it, it’s been easier to pick up on patterns in the kinds of books I really enjoy reading and what I want more of, and I’ve been able to incorporate this knowledge as I look ahead. I’m also constantly learning more about my brain and what works for me in general, and this experience has taught me a lot about how I can work with myself to do more of what I care about.
Kendra Adachi (of the Lazy Genius) talks about "book words" which basically is just words that describe the type of books you generally enjoy, and I noticed this year that one of my top book words is "atmospheric" - if I see this in a book's description, I'm pretty much guaranteed to want to read it. I love an immersive setting. Another of my book words is "cozy" which I really leaned into this year, and I was not disappointed. I like a dark and edgy story, but I think my nervous system has been needing more comforting books, and I've noticed these can span genres from romance to mystery to fantasy, which checks all my boxes.
I also really love to be surprised by a book. I love mystery twists you didn’t see coming, and the happy ending you weren't sure could happen. I love unexpected whimsy and quirky found family and witty banter and sarcastic narrators. I love complex characters and growth/redemption. I love softness and beauty amidst the darkness.
Another thing I noticed is that I really enjoy retellings and continuations or spinoffs of old favourites (particularly those that take old tropes and upend them in some way). I had a few of those on this year's list, and as I was making the queue for 2025, I decided to intentionally include some that would go with certain reads I had already chosen. I'm thinking of them as companion reads for a few of the titles on the list2. I also chose a number of retellings of Greek mythology after my reread of a couple YA novels about young Helen of Troy earlier this year.
I quickly realized that I did not leave enough room for romance novels this year. I foolishly left out romance as a category on my 2024 queue, thinking I’d continue casually grabbing romance novels between other reads as I’d been doing before, only to realize that this method only worked while I had been in the middle of a series and therefore already had an unofficial queue of sorts. This, of course, was the exact problem I’d originally intended to solve with the queue, so I won’t be neglecting it for the next one. I still managed to squeeze in some romance this year, but for 2025 it’ll have a designated category. A lot of the books I ended up picking from outside the queue this year were poetry and graphic novels, which also didn’t have their own category for 2024, so I have taken note of that for next year as well.
I will continue to leave plenty of room for fantasy because I've been enjoying it so much this year, and it makes up a large part of my TBR. I especially love anything witchy or high fantasy — if there are spells or magical creatures, I’m in. A lot of my favourites from this year were fantasy, which came as no surprise as it hasn’t changed since I was very young.
I have had such a satisfying reading year, and there’s SO much I’m looking forward to for next year. But I didn’t read everything on this year’s queue, and being able to put down some books that weren’t working for me or pass on some I lost excitement for has been an important exercise in flexibility for my often very diligent, black-and-white brain.
I’ve made a longer list for next year, which I feel comfortable doing due to the amount of books I’ve finished this year, as well as the reinforcement of the knowledge that this list isn’t a fixed to-do list, and I can adjust as needed or carry over to the next year if I don’t finish. This year I read significantly more books than were on the original queue, meaning that I was still able to be spontaneous and pick up any book that really struck me throughout the year. It was important to me that this list didn’t just feel like a rule to follow, and (so far) it hasn’t.
I’m excited to share more about my 2025 queue next week! I’ve debated whether to actually share the entire thing again, or just details about how I’m organizing it and some examples from what I’ve chosen that I’m particularly looking forward to. I’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to see more of!
How has your reading rhythm been this year? I would love to know if and how you’ve found ways to prioritize it (or anything else that’s important to you) this year, or how you might like to start next year. As always, feel free to share if this resonated with you.
because it brings me joy, not because I feel like I “should” read more. I just love it. Also, something to know about me is that I love making lists. When I was a teenager, I made lists about things like movies I loved and celebrities I found attractive. Literally, I had a designated notebook for this. Then, of course, I grew up and began using lists to try to optimize. This list feels like an important step toward reclaiming myself and my joy.
specifically: Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Anne of Green Gables — you’re welcome for the preview 😉
You forgot to mention the nose ring.