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In 2021, I read 12 books. In 2022, I’ve well exceeded 365.
When I tell people that my reading increased 2,941.67% this year, their first response is usually to ask me how, as if I could slip them a pill or offer them some glib advice about the moral imperative to log off.
As I’ve written in the past, the secret for turning an internet-brained person like myself into a reader is the constant trickery of replacing one compulsion with another. I’m an internet culture reporter, for goodness’ sake, and detangling the latest online discourse is my full-time job. I’ve just managed to send my brain worms burrowing in a deceptively productive direction.
I wake up early to read. During my lunch break, I read. I get off work before most other people, so I have time to read before I hang out with them. I read before bed, and then I fall asleep watching videos about books so I’ll know what I want to read the next day. When I first broke this down for my best friend, she asked if I ever give my brain a chance to just sit there and rest. The answer is no. I prefer for my brain to be filled with chatter at all times, like so many of my peers who grew up with internet access. My chatter is just Instagrammable.
Rather than fixating on how you can hack your life to become an Olympic book marathoner like some kind of Silicon Valley self-help monster, I’m just going to tell you what I actually enjoyed. I am what the online book community calls a “mood reader” — I read so fast because I pick up books that fit my exact fancy for the moment, and I must finish them before said mood dissipates.
Rather than just telling you about the 50 books I gave a perfect 5-star rating to this year, I’m going to recommend some of my favorite novels I’ve read recently based on the extremely specific mood I was in when I read them.
For When You Feel Yourself Getting Older And Gaining More Responsibilities But You’d Sooner Die Than Use The Word “Adulting”
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews
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For When You’re Wishing You Paid More Attention In High School English Class Or Just Miss Tumblr
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
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For When You’ve Spent Too Much Time Online And Want To Remember What It’s Like To Feel Human Emotion Without Having To Touch Grass
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
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For When You’re In The Mood To Manage An Esoteric Meme Instagram Account
The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
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For When You’re Tired Of Hearing About “Unhinged Literary Women” But Not Actually Tired Of Reading About Them
The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
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For When You Just Want To Read Some Beautiful Sentences
Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman
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For When You’re In The Mood To Read About Love But Not Ready To Turn On The Hallmark Channel
You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
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For When You’re In The Mood To Be Unsettled But Not Actually Scared
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield
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For When You’re In The Mood To Be Actually Scared
The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias
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For When You Want To Seem Cool To A Young Family Member
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
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For When You’re OK Leaning Into Existential Dread
No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood
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For When You’re Ready to Succumb To BookTok Recommendations
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
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For When You Need To Escape To Another Weird Little World
Bliss Montage: Stories by Ling Ma
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For When You Wish Sally Rooney Wrote Slightly More Interesting Books
Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor
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