On Reading Lists and Goals
The past two years of setting reading goals and reasons behind the picks
The first time I set reading goals was when I was in my late 20s. What fueled that reading list was probably the feeling of deep shame over how many classics I had yet to read. I typed up a lengthy list of classic titles I believed I should read by the age of 30. It was absurdly ambitious. I never bothered to lay out a plan to complete the list. My life soon became consumed by work. And even though I was still reading regularly enough, that list and its ambition eventually faded from my mind.
I don’t remember trying to form another such list again. Maybe only mentally. One summer a few years ago, for example, I set out to read one children’s book a day for a couple of weeks. I think I did pretty well with that challenge. But I never sat down to type a bunch of classics to read before a certain age into my computer again. I no longer have that list. It disappeared along with everything else on the laptop I was using at the time.
A couple of years ago, I began feeling like my reading lacked direction and that I wasn’t reading enough critically acclaimed contemporary novels. The number of classics I had read in my late 30s was still nothing to brag about either. But I feel less ashamed as I get older about not having read some of the classics and so-called "important” books.
So in 2023, I just started setting goals for myself. It was very simple, and I realized that, for the first time, I had just come up with something very doable. My goals in 2023 were to read five Pulitzer Prize–winning books and five Booker Prize–winning books. I completed those goals within the year, making sure along the way to not take the project too seriously and to be flexible enough to still enjoy it. That meant allowing myself to follow my mood and to change the books in the list as I went along. But it was also important to me to challenge myself, or else these won’t be worthy goals.
So in 2023, I read the following books:
Pulitzer Prize Books
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Less by Andrew Sean Greer
A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley
The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Booker Prize Books
Milkman by Anna Burns
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
I chose Milkman and Lincoln in the Bardo because they had been described as experimental. They were challenging but not a pain to read. They were also such powerful books. Milkman was intelligent and thought-provoking. And I found Lincoln in the Bardo strangely engrossing and moving.
I chose Gilead, Olive Kitteridge, and A Thousand Acres partly because I already owned those books. I also had never read any books by these authors. I ended up being so floored by all three of them in different ways.
The Remains of the Day was also something I had wanted to read for years. I sensed it was going to be a challenging read because I had heard people describe it as boring—one of those books where nothing much happens. But some have also praised it to high heavens. I finished reading it in just a few days actually and thought it was brilliant. It’s a good thing I didn’t try to read it in my 20s or early 30s. I think I came to it at the right time in my life.
I had read Louise Erdrich’s The Round House many years ago and found it very engaging. An interview she gave about The Night Watchman also fascinated me. Plus, I had wanted to read more literature by Native American authors. I enjoyed most of the book but found it disappointing in the end.
Less seemed really fun and like it would be a lighter read than the usual award-winning novels. It turned out to be a lovely read.
Later in the year, when I was beginning to get nervous about not achieving my reading goals, I dug deeper into the lists of Booker winners. I ended up choosing Moon Tiger and Hotel du Lac for several reasons. Their lengths were manageable, firstly. Secondly, most of the award-winning books I had been reading up to that point were published after the year 2000. What a waste to not go further back in time and read authors whose works I knew little to nothing about. I also did a bit of research into Lively and Brookner and their Booker-winning books before I decided to read their novels.
I was initially skeptical about Hotel du Lac until I saw the author’s 1984 interview about the book in which she was asked why she never wrote about “the more horrific or frightening aspects of this century.” I loved her reply and decided on the spot it was going to be the book I would read that year: “I write very small books. This has to be said. And it has to be acknowledged. I can’t take on world affairs in the very small compass that I set myself.” I didn’t love the book, but the writing is undeniably sharp. And I appreciated the hawk-eyed observations and acerbic tone. I do want to continue to explore her body of work, though, as I like the way she thinks.
I was intrigued by Moon Tiger because it had been described as experimental. It was also nominated for the Golden Man Booker in 2018 and respected by a number of literati, including Ishiguro and Martin Amis. I had heard Lively’s name for a long time but never looked into her books. The novel turned out to be the most beautiful discovery of the year for me. The book—the atmosphere, the main character, the heartbreaking story— continues to stay with me to this day.
To be clear, I also read books beyond my annual reading goals. I usually average about two books a month. But I love having an annual reading project now that I’ve figured out how to be realistic. I loved the sense of accomplishment so much that I set myself reading goals again for 2024.
Last year was a bit different. My goals were to read three International Booker Prize–winning books, three Thailand S.E.A. Write Award–winning books, two books in French, and two classics. I didn’t set out to read books that weren’t originally written in English, but that was what ended up happening: none of the books on the reading goals last year were originally written in English. Only five of the books in the reading goals were translated into English. The other five books I read in their original languages of Thai or French.
I decided to incorporate Thai-language and French-language books into the project because I’ve been reading mainly in English for most of my adult life, even though my mother tongue is Thai, I fell in love with reading in Thai, and I didn’t enjoy reading books in English until I was about 13. My French is not fluent, but good enough to enjoy a book. I try to maintain the language as much as I can through reading. It’s constantly a challenge to read in French, but a challenge I find rewarding nonetheless.
So these were the books I read in 2024:
International Booker Prize Books
Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi, translated from the Arabic by Marilyn Booth
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated from the Bulgarian by Angela Rodel
Flights by Olga Tokarczuk, translated from the Polish by Jennifer Croft
S.E.A. Write Award (Thailand)
Poetry collection: ไม่มีหญิงสาวในบทกวี | Mai Mee Ying Sao Nai Bot Kavi (No Women in Poetry) by Zakariya Amataya
Short story collection: อัญมณีแห่งชีวิต | Anyamanee Hang Cheevit (Gems of Life) by Anchan
Novel: ตลิ่งสูง ซุงหนัก | Taling Soong Sung Nak (High Banks, Heavy Logs) by Nikom Rayawa
French Books
L’Anomalie | The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier (2020 Goncourt Prize winner)
Andromaque by Jean Racine (play)
Classics
The Iliad by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
The Odyssey by Homer, translated by Robert Fitzgerald
In the next post, I’ll do a quick review of these books and go more into why I chose them. See you.