Hello guys and welcome back. Today's video
is going to be me talking through my 2019
reading stats and also my 2020 reading goals
finally! I have already filmed this video,
I filmed it, I edited it and then I hated
it so I was like "I'm just gonna re-film it"
so yeah, here we are. So I'm gonna give you
a run-through of 2019 and then we can finally
like get it out of the way, off this channel.
Because
I know January has literally been me talking
about all about 2019 as if we're not in 2020.
In my last video the fantasy
to poetry video, I miscounted the
amount of poetry books I read, I
really right now don't know how I did that.
Like to this day I'm just like "how did you
miss
that out?" but, I read two other poetry collections,
so
I basically, nearly smashed that goal. I read,
I'm gonna put the book here, no I'm gonna
put it here
urm I know why I forgot about it because I
thought it was awful and I just
want to purge it from my mind.
I spoke about it in one of my monthly wrap-ups,
but I read
this poetry collection that I really didn't
like, it's by like Atticus Poetry or something
like that. And then I also read Derek Owusu's
That Reminds Me, which is a long poem, poetry
in verse. So, I completely forgot about that
and I think with That Reminds Me it's because
I read it on my Kindle and the format it was
in and how I was viewing it made me completely
forget about what it actually was.
So I think I said that percentage goal was
4%, but I think it's now more like 7%. So
as we all know in 2019, I read 75 books and
my reading goals, like totalled up if you
count them in terms of % that's 58% made up
of the goals I set myself. So that's African
Literature, science fiction, poetry, essays
and mythology and then other genres etc will
fall outside of that. So those 75 books are
made up of 13 audiobooks, 26 e-books and 36
physical books. In 2018 I read 55 book, urm
so whilst without audiobooks, there would
still be an increase in the amount of books
that I read. I can only say that increase
has come from the fact of like travelling
between England and Scotland, going on holiday
twice last year, so I had time like on planes
and stuff like that to do some reading. But
obviously, audiobooks has added to the fact
that I read a lot more books and that is mainly
because I discovered the Poirot series by
Agatha Christie. And I listened to a couple
of other audiobooks as well.
In 2018, the only audiobooks I can remember
listening to is Lincoln in the Bardo um by
George Saunders and I really enjoyed that.
So I guess the only other rundown I'm going
to give you in terms of 2019 is in terms of
genres. Urm so obviously I spoke about like
sci-fi, then there's essays, mythology, poetry,
whatever. They all obviously have their own
further genres that they breakdown in to.
But I just looked at my Goodreads and sort
of counted things from non-fiction and fiction
and then other genres as well.
So in terms of the other stats, I'm going
to give you for 2019, I just decided to take
a look at genres. I didn't break it down by
like fiction, non-fiction and then drill down
into what those genres are. I literally just
broken it down into fiction, non-fiction,
mystery, sci-fic etc etc. So, my top like
sort of genre within fiction which includes
like contemporary, literary fiction, women's
fiction, whatever you want to call it, you
know a lot of the African related books that
I read would fall into this category. I've
got that down here as 24, I think it's a lot
more. Non-fiction I have here 11, which I
think is quite accurate and I'm really surprised
at that because I really thought that I read
less non-fiction last year, but I'm really
glad to see that, that's the number. Sci-fi
is here as 14, poetry 7, the other genre that
has come up that I was completely not expecting
but obviously it makes sense, is mystery.
Which has come up with 11, which is obviously
because of the Agatha Christie books which
is really nice because I don't think there
has ever really been a point in my reading
where mystery, like I, can remember it vividly
standing out. Or even being more than 5 so
that was really interesting to see. And then
yeah other things were just like fantasy,
classics and romance was 1. Like I think if
you took a look at my reading two or three
years ago romance would have been really high
on the list, so that was just really interesting
to see.
So that is it for 2019, we are done and dusted
with that I will not be speaking about it
anymore. That is probably a lie but still.
So now I'm going to talk about the reading
goals that I have for this year. I do realise
it is February and this will probably go up
half way through February, but nevertheless,
there still very very many months left in
the year. So I think I have 8 goals, maybe,
yeah. I think there are 8 goals and 7 are
reading related and 1 is channel related.
The first goal is in relation to one of the
goals I set myself last year, which is to
continue reading the science fiction recommendations
that I got last year. I got a ton of recommendations
that I haven't gone through so I would just
like to continue reading those because you
know some of them I was enjoying, some I wasn't
but I would just
like to continue reading through them because
I did enjoy a lot of
the recommendations. And hopefully what
I will do halfway through this year, once
I've read
through like those recommendations, is
be able to modify this goal so
it's about picking up - going out
and looking for science fiction books myself
that I think I would be interested in and
picking up those books. So, first one just
keeping it simple and just continuing with
the recommendations that I have.
My second goal is to read more non-fiction,
like I mentioned earlier. I was really surprised
at the fact that my non-fiction reading was
like that high. I mean 11 books isn't that
much in terms of non-fiction but for me, I
was really surprised that that's what the
number was. This year I would like to make
a concious effort to read more non-fiction
books. As much as I love reading fiction I
think there is a need to be more aware about
the things that are going on in the world.
At least also aware of things that I am also
interested in and I think the way for me to
do this is through reading non-fiction books.
So I have closed myself off from the topics
that it could be in, but I'm naturally going
to gravitate to things that I am interested
in. I also think because this year I'll be
writing my dissertation I will be reading
a lot of academia, like just reading non-fiction
in the way that the language is set, might
make the sort of tough academic texts more
accessible to me. But yes, I want to just
make sure that I'm focusing on subjects that
I'm interested in, topics/areas that I'm interested
in and reading more about them. But also just
to gain greater sense of awareness about the
world.
My third goal is to read more self-help books,
if you had spoken to me about three years
ago I read like a ton of self-help books and
you know, loads of things have happened in
my life since then. You know, I've moved,
I've quit my job, studying for a masters etc
etc. But I have just noticed over like the
past year and obviously, there have been other
like, life-changes like moving twice within
the time that I've moved to another country.
And just other stuff, like personal life but
things to do with my work as well, that I've
just noticed that my mental health has seriously
declined and I think reading self-help books
really helped me to sort of always be working
towards something, or sort of be re-framing
how I see things in my life. You know the
goal isn't to cure yourself from everything
but I think having some strategies in place
might help. And also I just kind of enjoy
self-help books as well, I think I know I
definitely stopped for a while because I reading
a lot of books that were saying a lot of similar
things, so I was just like well it's enough
like I've read one I've read them all. But
I'm hoping to rediscover some new ones.
The fourth goal is to read the books that
I own. I have been increasingly aware of the
fact that I own a ton of books and I'm just
not getting through them. And it's making
me very anxious, I just don't like it. This
is definitely been an issue I've noticed since
I joined Booktube, the fact that I do have
a lot of books that I haven't been able to
get to. And that's been for various reasons,
like last year I did my sort of wandering
around Glasgow and going second-hand bookshopping.
Authors send me books, I also went to an event
last year like for work where I picked up
a ton of books and there is never been a point
in my life where I had so many books that
I haven't read. Like when I was younger, or
like even up until when I moved to Scotland,
I would always just sort of buy one or two
books read them and then buy some more. Like
I was never just be like buying ten books
and then just never read them. So I do find
that is the case now and I just wanna get
through them, there is something personally
for me of the, you know not using them, not
reading them. I don't them to just sit on
my shelf gathering dust, so in the other bedroom
I have started to remove the books from here
and put them in the other bedroom. So that
they are on my desk, so that I know like what's
been read and what hasn't been read. So that
it's in my face that I shouldn't be buying
anymore books. So what I'm going to do is
really make a conscious effort to just get
through those books, there's a reason why
I chose them. And I know on Booktube loads
of people have this issue but I just feel
like mine have come about through circumstances
that have sort of been like you know, not
out of my control. But you know, I didn't
financially invest in a lot of these books
but I do have them and I don't want them sitting
there just gathering dust. That's just not
what I want.
My fifth goal is in relation to a book that
I read last year. So last year I read Trick
Mirror by Jia Tolentino and she referenced
some amazing books in her essays and I want
to read 5 of the books that she referenced
in that essay collection. So yeah, funny me
talking about reading all the books that I
own and now I'm like haha I want to read five
more new books that I don't have. Urm, but
like I think one of the books she talked about
was The Second Sex by Simone Du Beauvoir.
I wanna read that, that sounds amazing, urm
again I think this will help me meet that
sort of non-fiction element. If I can I will
try and leave just on the screen here, some
of the titles that she speaks about. But yeah,
I definitely feel like they are going to sort
of broaden my horizons in the sense of are
many things to be discovered in the world.
But yeah just thought a lot of the stuff that
she referenced, spoke about in the glossary
or the bibliography that was there, they looked
really interesting to me. So I definitely
want to be able to pick those up.
So, my sixth goal is for me to read six essay
collections. So last year obviously I said
I wanted to read essay collections and this
year I'm quantifying it. I just seem to have
a hankering for essay collections, I don't
know why. You know I did read some hit and
miss ones last year, I have just recently
finished listening to 'What My Mother and
I Don't Talk About' which I enjoyed like I
actually really liked it. So I want to make
sure I'm continuing to seek out like essay
collections on things that I'm interested
in and want to give a read. So, I do have
I think two on my shelf from last year that
I didn't read. So I can easily just like use
the books that I have to meet this goal. I
have not defined in terms of any topic or
theme, again I'm just giving myself free rein
to read whatever it is I want. I find that
essay collections can be a bit hit and miss,
but I mean that's the case with everything,
but you can either get something like Jia
Tolentino's Trick Mirror which is completely
not themed, so it's not bound by one thing.
The only sort of running theme through that
was the fact that they were essays surrounding
things she was interested in. Then you've
got something like, I've got an essay collection
in there called 'White Rage' which is quite
political, so it's going to be about white
privilege and things like that and that could
get quite like boring because it's quite samey.
Whereas something like Jia Tolentino's Trick
Mirror was quite varied in that aspect. So
it will be interesting to see what I find
that I do like because when I listened to
'What My Mother and I Don't Talk About' that
was also very different because there were
different writers and it was all their personal
stories. I'm finding that I'm liking a mix
between maybe different writers and different
takes on a certain topic.
Also following on from a goal last year, my
seventh goal is to 9 poetry collections. Again,
just quantifying it because I think it just
makes it a lot easier and you know 12 months
in a year, 9 seems very doable. And poetry
is just obviously much easier to get through
than urm other books, so fiction, non-fiction
etc. No thoughts yet about what those collections
are, I do have a couple in my Amazon basket
that I'm really excited to get to. So, the
reason why I'm putting this goal down is just
to make sure than I'm getting to them. I really
enjoy reading poetry, like I love the way
it makes me feel. When I listen to spoken
word or I go and see poets perform, like I'm
always just so amazed and I love the way it
makes me feel. It's about the way people craft
their words together that just gets me and
I just think poetry just has a way of getting
to me. So I want to make sure that I'm still
continuing to access you know a form of writing
that I really really love.
So those are my reading goals. My final goal
is actually a channel goal and that is to
have closed captions on at least one of the
videos I upload during the month. I would
like for it to be more and I will always try
for that, for it to be more but I'm also really
aware that I have a lot of constraints on
time, so I don't want to overburden myself.
But I think accessibility is a really important
thing and you know someone like me needs to
be doing things to make sure my videos are
accessible to people. Not because of 'I want
everyone to watch my videos' but because everyone
deserve the opportunity to be to view things,
read things, watch things and not be hindered
because people like me are lazy. Urm so I'm
going to try my hardest to do those sorts
of things.
But yes that is it for my reading goals. I'm
really happy with them, I took the time to
like just think about my goals last year,
what I liked and didn't like and how I was
gonna sort of carry that forward and I dunno,
make them smarter. Make them worthwhile. And
I'm really happy with them so, I will probably
do a six-month check-in like I did last year,
where I'm not going to deeply talk about each
goal but I'm just gonna talk about like, you
know, am I changing them? How I'm getting
on with them and things like that. But I guess
during the course of the year you will get
to see sort of how I'm meeting these goals.
And yeah it will be interesting to see if
halfway through the year anything does change.
But let me know if you have any recommendations
in terms of books for the goals that I have
spoken about. Obviously be aware that I have
a ton of books that I do actually want to
get through but any sort of essay collections
or poetry collections you think might be useful,
I'd love to hear from you. Thank you so much
for watching and I'll catch you in another
video. Bye!
