Pressureless reading

This year, my approach to reading has deviated slightly. Having been on Goodreads since 2012, I have used the annual Reading Challenges to ‘encourage’ me to read more.

Looking back over the years, I missed my target more than I met it but I have also consistently read over 40 books a year since 2019. Last year, I met my target of 55 books and started this year optimistically with a target of 60 books. I have read 24 books so far and, according to Goodreads, to get back on track, I need to read 12 books. That’s definitely not happening. I haven’t felt as driven to read and keep up with my target.

I am reading longer books and taking my time with it, although I did finish Neneh Cherry’s memoir A Thousand Threads over a weekend - it was that good and a quick and essay read. Her music is part of my teenage life soundtrack but, in a weird way, I also connected with her because of her African-European heritage. In reading the book, I found that she grappled with similar things that I grappled with when making sense of identity.

Two other books I got through relatively quickly were Haruki Murakami’s What I Talk About When I Talk About Running and Seth Godin’s The Practice: Shipping Creative Work. I am still, however, plodding my way through The Pan-African Pantheon: Prophets, Poets and Philosophers, which I started early last year. I am now trying to read at least 2 to 3 essays a week to finally finish reading it. It is dense in a way that challenges me.

Murakami is one of those authors I had heard about for a long time as an author to read. When I eventually started reading his writing, I kicked myself for having taken so long, although it does mean that I have a long list of his books still read. I absolutely love the way he writes fiction and was worried his non-fiction wouldn’t appeal, but it did. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running makes me want to write more, which is refreshing because, often, when I read something I really enjoy, I end up doubting myself.

The Practice, I have had on my Kindle for a while and finally dipping into it, it felt like I was reading it at the right time. I have been languishing in a bit of a creative dip, trying to figure out what to do next, and this was, I hope, a push in the right direction, for me. Funnily, I am constantly asking my guests on the podcast what their creative practice/routine is, which is probably a symptom of my creative lethargy.

What I took away from The Practice was to focus on the process/the practice and not to be so vested in the outcome. It took me back to when I was writing my book Listen To Your Footsteps. Granted, it was during lockdown and, therefore, easy to do but I blocked off an hour every day after my journaling to focus on the book.

And with the podcast, the focus has been on getting into studio every week to record without worrying about how many people will listen or watch. And just like that, last week, we published episode 90. It could have been more if I was more consistent especially between 2021 and 2023 but it still feels like an accomplishment.

I seem to be in a reflective space, reading and processing at the same time. Another book I enjoyed was Brian Eno’s A Year with Swollen Appendices: Brian Eno’s Diary. His reflections on technology, particularly, were fascinating because he was writing in 1995. He also wrote a bunch of essays in the Appendices. There is a bit of everything - cooking, creativity, justice, art and art criticism, etc.

I will keep reading without putting myself under any pressure to reach a target. And I will keep working at showing up regularly for the things that I want to do, even if it is just for myself.

Easy

Kojo