Another Month of Reading More, Scrolling Less
Image made by me using ChatGPT
I felt the month of May flew by, maybe the end of another Football season and the build-up to the much-anticipated FIFA World Cup could be a reason why, at least for me anyway. Despite this month going by quickly, I managed to continue chipping away at my 2026 reading goal of reading 30 books for 2026. This is, of course, my first year of committing to a reading goal and at first I thought 30 would be too high, but it seems 20-30 is the average I see amongst users on book tracking platforms like Goodreads, Fable and StoryGraph. I would rather a challenge too, as I want to push myself.
Using both Fable and Goodreads as my two book logging apps, I can easily keep tabs on how I am doing. Goodreads feels outdated but is very popular amongst readers, and despite its flaws, it remains simple to use. Fable, despite its smaller community, has a focus on connecting readers with its book clubs and chat rooms and with a fresher UI compared to Goodreads, I decided to use that too. The photo above is my monthly recap of May from Fable. In May, I found myself reading a variety. Despite Piers Morgan being a very controversial gentleman, I found his book rather insightful into the world of politics and the crazy stuff going on in the US. Another book I read was by Ant Middleton, another controversial gentleman, but with Ant serving in the UK forces for many years, I wanted insight into his mind and his advice on how to achieve things. This read was brilliant. Last on the list is from someone whom I had not really heard about, but Andy Wilman was the man who created the Top Gear people love today and the more recent show The Grand Tour. This was my favourite read of all, it had everything.
For the most part, I am on track to hit my goal. I am a little shocked to be doing this well, but I am thankful, and with some recent changes and habit adjustments, I am actually now confident in hitting this goal. In the past week, I have been speaking to a colleague at work who told me about a series of books and now films called The Hunger Games (yes, I confess I have been living under a rock as I have not read any of the books or seen any of the films). After her talking them up, I gave in and have added all the books to my read list and the films to my watch list. As of writing this post, I am 75% through the first book, so it should be finished very soon. Then I can either watch the first film or read the second book; I am still unsure of the order to do them in. Another part of my reading list includes many books by Jeremy Clarkson; these feature articles he wrote for various newspapers (The Sunday Times) in his early career, during his years on Top Gear, and even now in his farming era. I found his more recent books very enjoyable, and despite his older books possibly being outdated and maybe no longer relevant to today's world, I want to read them regardless. Lastly, I have a big list of Stephen King novels to get through. I am loving Pet Semetary and IT, but both I have yet to finish One of the book clubs I am a member of in Fable is dedicated to books by Stephen King, so that will get me into reading more from him.
Safe to say, I have many, many books to read, so I am definitely not short on inspiration. With my financial situation and current lifestyle, I had to make sacrifices and adjustments, and reading is something that has actually benefited a lot from it. I cancelled most of my streaming subscriptions, keeping to just one compared to the 4-5 I had at the start of the year. Honestly, I am glad I don't watch TV as much; I enjoy using the time to be productive, outdoors, or, in the event I want to crash on the sofa, I actually enjoy grabbing a book and relaxing. I have also set time limits on the very few social media platforms I have and have deleted some too, so instead of doomscrolling and wasting time reading what is often fake news or petty drama, I am reading. I also make sure, regardless of whether I have already read that day or not, I read at least one page when I am in bed. Doing this helps me get off my phone earlier, and most of the time I read more than one page. I have also found that it helps me fall asleep quicker, but that could also be the Magnesium Vitamin doing its thing. Lastly, I now bring my Kindle everywhere. It's so easy to carry in a small pocket compared to a heavy book, and it is easy to pull out to read if I am waiting around or stopping for coffee.
Going forward for this Month, I want to try to take advantage of my recent changes and see if I can read 4 books for the month. I am pushing myself that little bit extra. Not to the point of burnout or something I can't maintain, but just a small push that brings me out of my comfort zone.
This month I would like to explore the Book communities Hive has to offer, as this is an area I have not really looked into as yet. I would also like to sort out my bookshelf at home and have a physical pile of books to read and a finished pile of books that I can maybe swap out, give away to charity or, if it is a book I really like, then maybe a showcase area on my shelf.
With that, I conclude today's post, but I will leave links to my Fable and Goodreads below. Thank you for reading.
Disclaimer: all images are my own unless stated otherwise
!PIMP