New Year Reading Resolutions: Less Romantasy, No TBRs, & More

I make reading plans and resolutions often (more often than most people do, probably), and I hardly ever keep them. For example, a few months ago I decided to only read physical books and nothing else. But then a book came out and I didn’t want to wait, so I caved. At one point, I decided to only read books in my native language (guess how long that one lasted).

However, I feel like this year, I’ve done more reflecting on my reading habits than ever before. I had many reading slumps, bad reading periods, and a ton of DNFs and all of that has taught me plenty.

1. Read less or no romantasy

My journey into romantasy started about two years ago when I discovered the ACOTAR series. And ever since then, I’ve been trying to find a book that would capture my attention that much. But what I always forget is that I read the ACOTAR series while I was in a hospital, very scared and sad, and I needed something relaxing.

That is what I realized this year: that I liked ACOTAR back then, and it helped me then, but that romance fantasy is definitely not my genre. I tried so many different titles, from BookTok darlings to the more obscure, indie stories, and nothing ever felt quite right.

After trying very hard to like Divine Rivals and Fourth Wing, Once Upon a Broken Heart, and many more these past few months, I’ve decided that it’s time to stop trying. If a book comes along that seems genuinely interesting, I’ll probably give it a go, but overall, I’ll attempt to stay away from the genre.

Anyway, when I need a fix of drama, romance, and fantasy, I’ll probably go for fanfics. Those rarely disappoint and they’re so low-commitment that I don’t even mind when I don’t like something.

2. Read only what I feel like reading

Starting a blog and a bookstagram has been bad for my reading habits. At first, I read books I liked and wanted to read but soon enough I started forcing myself to read books that others would care about, that were popular. This did not turn out that well for me, because I ended up in a reading slump.

So, in this next year, I’ll do my best to read only the books I’m genuinely interested in.

3. Don’t overdo it

Along with reading books that were popular, I forced myself to read a lot, so I would have something new and interesting to post about every day. And again, it didn’t end well (see: reading slump). I do read a lot (last year I finished 120 books based on my Goodreads tracker), but people change and life affects how much we can read. This year, I tried to push myself to reach the same number, and it didn’t work. I probably read about half that, but that’s okay. Next year, I won’t set up any reading challenges or TBRs. I’ll simply read what I want and when I want it.

4. Reading and liking e-books more than physical books is fine

I grew up (as most of us did) on physical books. When I was a teenager, I really hated the notion of e-books, thinking they would completely replace “real” books. At the time, I collected and loved paperbacks and hardbacks, kept them clean and safe, and refused anything to do with digital novels.

But then I took a huge break in reading during my university days, and when I was back, the physical books were still there, but so were the e-books. Still, I refused to cave. Until I discovered fanfiction and started downloading it from AO3 like there’s no tomorrow.

After that stint, I realized that it’s much harder for me to focus on physical books and that I read them much slower (and feel like they’re more of a chore). But again (a recurring theme, you’ll see) because I started a bookstagram account and this blog, I thought I needed beautiful shelves lined with special editions and gorgeous covers.

Why I like ebooks

While this didn’t put a large dent in my wallet, mostly because I didn’t go on huge hauls, it did leave me tired and burnt out. One of the problems, that I already knew about, is that I have ADHD, which means interests come and fade quickly. So if I want to read a book, and I have to wait for it, by the time it arrives, my interest will have disappeared. With e-books, there’s no such problem.

I also don’t have a lot of leisure time, and you can conveniently read e-books while you do the laundry, or wait in line, wash dishes, or cook dinner. You can’t really do that with physical books.

There’s also something about reading on your phone or e-reader that’s just compelling. You could make a point here about our addiction to screens as a society, but I am not in the mood for psychoanalyzing myself. E-books work better for me, so I won’t force myself to read physical books if I don’t feel like it. And that’s completely okay.

Final Thoughts

So, those would be my reading resolutions for the next year, and pretty much a quick overview of what you can expect on my blog moving forward. Sure, I might be swayed to read a romantasy book or buy a beautiful special edition I’ll never read at some point in the future, but that’s also okay. It’s important to be kind to yourself, especially about insignificant things like these.