by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
I’ve made a point to more than double the amount of reading this year than the year before. As with my consumption of film, music, and TV, I’ve tried to expand into new genres as a reader, hoping to better-inform my writing.
This has been made easier, once again, by keeping up with a TBR list (to be read) and by tracking what I’m reading.
Finding books to read:
I get a good number of suggestions from friends (both online and in person). But I’ve also found these things useful:
Goodreads. It’s not nearly as scary as a reader as it is for a writer. Here I track what I read, make private notes on the stories, and rate them to remind myself how I enjoyed them. I also follow reviewers whose tastes overlap with my own. Or sometimes I end up in a sort of rabbit hole of recommendations there.
Book challenges. This has been a useful way to branch into other genres. This year I’ve used Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge and I’ve taken some of the suggestions in this post of from Katie McLain.
Newsletters. I have found good recommendations for (mostly) nonfiction from Austin Kleon‘s newsletter and the Farnum Street newsletter.
Website: I’ve discovered lots of good books through Largehearted Boy’s year-end compilation of best books lists.
Tracking Reading
I’m doing my tracking through Goodreads (not my author profile there). This way I can make private notes on various books, remind myself how I liked it, and find out from Goodreads when authors I enjoy have new or upcoming releases.
How do you find what you read? Do you keep track of it?
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