Thoughts & Things

Reading: Catch Up On Old Releases or Read 2017?

As a total bookworm, I read a lot. This year I have been on something of a roll. Over the last few years, reading has become harder as my health has declined, and so I have read less overall books per year than I might have when I was healthy. Books have always been my heart and soul, so this has been particularly painful. This year, I have managed to read more in between January and July than I did in all of 2016, and I am ready to keep tackling books. In my renewed fervour for books and reading, I have run into a dilemma: Do I catch up on older releases, or do I read everything from 2017 as it comes out?

Despite being a long time reader, there are many books I have not read. There are countless classics I missed out on while growing up, and just as many things that have been released in my lifetime that I failed to read as it was released. A person can only read so much. When there are hundreds of thousands of books released every year, on top of all the millions of older books, somehow my Goodreads book total of 834 (which I am sure is missing books I read too long ago to recall the titles and authors of) seems like a piddling number.

On the one hand, I have a lot of catching up to do. I think we all do. As I said, there are millions of books out there. I have read under a thousand, which hardly counts for anything, despite my being a bookworm. The only Jane Austen book I have ever read was Northanger Abbey, and it was ten years ago. The only Oscar Wilde book I have ever read was The Canterville Ghost, and I read it for the first time this year. The only thing I ever read of Charles Dickens, despite being very aware of his work acting as a social commentary of 19th century London, and being incredibly relevant to my interests both in literature and history, is A Christmas Carol, and that was probably fifteen years ago--I have read more about Charles Dickens than I have read works written by Charles Dickens. I have only read poetry from Margaret Atwood, I've never read LM Montgomery outside of the Anne of Green Gables series, and I haven't read anything at all by Alice Walker. Other than classics, there are tons of more current authors I have never read anything from. I have never read a book by Dan Brown, Nora Roberts, James Patterson, or Nicholas Sparks. I have read a few things from Stephen King, but it really is very few, especially compared to the bulk of his work. The list could go on all day. There are so many things that I haven't read that I feel like I should be reading to get a well rounded experience out of books and life.

On the other hand, new books are constantly coming out, which makes me feel like I am not only behind on books in general, but as if I have fallen behind the book community that feels like it's my home. Since I last posted about books, I have read two 2017 releases, and I am on my third, but that totals for three books for the entire year. I have managed to miss out on many big releases I am dying to get to. This past weekend I made an entire blog post about 2017 books on my to read list (which you can see here: "2017 Book Releases on My To Read List"  ). These are only the ones that were on my mind at the time, the ones I have wanted to read most. This doesn't factor in that there are dozens of others that have caught my eye, and hundreds more that I would probably enjoy that I know nothing about yet. Plus all of the upcoming 2017 releases! This also doesn't account for what seems to be an endless list of series that I have not read the first book of yet, but have new releases within those series released this year. How am I supposed to stay caught up on all of these new books if I am reading nothing but previous releases?

I've realised that ultimately, in order to get the best experience possible, I can't stick to one or the other. I need to read a mix of current releases, as well as older releases, and classics. Maybe I need to dive into one of those series that is ongoing, or revisit older series I abandoned that are still releasing new volumes. I have to come to terms with not being able to have it all, no matter how much I read. For now I need to tackle what I can, and try to get the best mix possible.

(I have committed to blogging daily with Give It 100. This is Day Eighty-Six. Eight days of leave taken total.)