Seven years ago (wow, it’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging that long!) I wrote a post called The Reader in Me, inspired by a book, an author, and another blogger. The goal was to write 100 facts about my life as a reader, but I only got to 48. It was so much fun to revisit that list and see how many of those items are still true today. Since this blog is mostly a reading blog at this point, I figured I would try to add some more new details about my readerly life this time around.

1. I asked for a subscription to the Book of the Month Club last year and have loved picking out one new book a month ever since.
2. In 2021 I discovered The Currently Reading podcast, which has changed my readerly life. My TBR shelf on Goodreads has over 350 books on it, which is insane!
3. I love suspenseful, fast-paced thrillers. Catherine Ryan Howard is one of my new favorite authors in this genre.
4. I love buying books for all of my nephews, most of whom enjoy reading right now!
5. My 9 year old nephew has agreed to buddy read one book a month with me this year and I couldn’t be more excited!
6. My 3 year old nephew is the only child I’ve ever met at that age who can sit and listen to multiple books read in a row, multiple times a day. It makes my readerly heart so happy!
7. There are many readers in my office, so I love discussing book recommendations with them all. Since I don’t need to keep a lot of books around my house once I’ve read them, I love bringing in my past reads to share with others.
8. 2021 was my best year of reading ever, and December 2021 was my best reading month ever (thanks to a medical leave where I had endless time to read!).
9. I realized recently that I own over 40 e-books on my Kindle that I haven’t read yet (thanks to Amazon sales!). These are top of my TBR this year.
10. My permanent bookshelves are filled with books with special meaning to me and books that I am willing to reread time and time again. Not many books end up on these shelves.
11. In 2022 I’m using a new Google spreadsheet to track my reading. It was created by Katie, one of the hosts of The Currently Reading podcast, and it’s incredible! I can’t wait to see my end of year stats.
12. I often say I don’t like Historical Fiction, but I really do. I don’t like to get bogged down into gory historical details, but I love a fictional story set in a different time period, especially if it involves powerful women doing good work.
13. Midway through 2021 I began to create a collage of my monthly reads, showing the covers of the books I’d read that month.
14. I strongly dislike when someone, usually on Instagram or FB, posts something like, “I”m on page x of this book and I’m just not into it. Should I keep going?” I think we shouldn’t look to others to help us make these decisions. I have no problem putting down a book that I’m not into, even if someone says to keep reading it. My taste is unique to me and no one can 100% predict what I will or won’t like.
15. The Currently Reading podcast Patreon hosts an Independent Book store every month, who recommends 5 books. I try to buy one book each month off that list to support these Indie bookstores when I can.
16. I prefer to read nonfiction in the morning, and fiction throughout the day or in the evening.
17. As much as I read, I only recently started to read just before I go to sleep at night.
18. I don’t like to read subtitles on movies, because I’m usually playing a game on my ipad while watching the tv.
19. When I started checking out library books last November, during my medical leave, it was the first time in over a decade I had checked out a physical book from the library. I’ve been using library e-books for years, but they don’t have access to everything in that form and I’ve learned how to put both formats on hold.
20. This year, thanks to Laura Tremaine’s Secret Stuff, I’m participating in a virtual book club.
21. Each month I have a Zoom meeting with other Currently Reading patrons to discuss what we’ve read that month.
22. I am not a fan of The Classics. I read a few in high school, which made me hate reading for years! I recently read a few more, and while I finished them, and recognize that there is value in the way my brain has to work differently to read older language, it is not enjoyable nor educational enough for me to do so willingly!
23. But for Laura Tremaine’s book club I read Frankenstein in early 2022 and survived!
24. I feel like it’s cheating when I count a middle grades book or a book of poetry on my books read list for the year, because they are usually so short and quick to read. But I still do it!

So I was able to write 48 ideas on my first list and have now added another 24 here. Maybe by 2025 I will read 100 facts about my life as a reader. What are some of your readerly facts?