15 Things I Learned from Reading 100 Books in a Year

After reading 100 books in a year, I learned a lot about myself, my reading habits, and why I won’t read that many books in a year again anytime soon.

This post contains affiliate links.

15 Things I Learned from Reading 100 Books in a Year

I like using a 5 star rating process for my books

When I first got serious about reading, I was not interested in the process of rating my books. Instead, I decided to use a really simplified version. If I would recommend the book to the right audience, I would give it a star. If I wouldn’t recommend it, no star.

Originally, I was afraid that I would overthink a 5 star rating process, but about halfway through the year, I realized that I craved a more nuanced rating system. I wanted a way to tell a “WOW” book from a “good, but just okay” book.

Now that I’ve reached the end of the year, it has been incredibly helpful to see the exact star rating for each book at a glance – especially since I read such a large volume of books! I’ve also learned that it isn’t difficult for me to go with my gut instinct on my rating. I don’t overthink it like I thought that I would.

My 5 Star Rating Process:

• 5 stars – LOVED IT
• 4 stars – Like it a lot
• 3 stars – Happy I read it, but not a wow book
• 2 stars – Glad it is Over
• 1 star – Hated it or DNF

I don’t enjoy reading printed books.

While reading 100 books in a year, I only read 5 books in print – and 2 of those were books I read aloud to my kids. My favorite way to read books is using my Kindle Paperwhite.

4 Reasons Why I Have Fallen in Love with Reading on my Kindle:

1. Easy to Hold – When I read a print book laying down in bed, it is always a little awkward. One side is great, but the other side is annoying.
2. No Light Needed – With my Kindle, I can read in any lighting. This is especially handy for reading in bed while my husband is sleeping.
3. Private – I read a lot of romance. Sometimes the titles are something stupid like “Dating My Brother’s Best Friend” or “Snowed In WIth A Millionaire.” I made those up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they are real books. And don’t even get me started on the cover images!
4. Travel Friendly – I can carry my kindle in my purse, regardless of how many pages are in the book. Plus, I can take as many books with me on vacation as I want.

When I sit down to read, I want to escape into fiction.

At the end of the day, when I am ready to relax, my book has to be fiction. And I really, really, really want it to be romance. Nonfiction does not provide for me the same level of escape as fiction. Some memoirs might come close, but I really don’t enjoy sitting down to read nonfiction books.

I like nonfiction audiobooks.

This is noteworthy for 2 reasons.

1) I have never been a big nonfiction reader. In 2021, I read 1 nonfiction book. In 2022, it was 3. In 2023, I read 20!! The fact that I was enjoying nonfiction last year is shocking all on its own.

2) But it really has to be audiobooks. Like I said earlier, I don’t enjoy sitting down to read a nonfiction book, but I will enjoy listening to one as I do other tasks. I am a huge fan of podcasts, and they feel like listening to a podcast.

I prefer to listen to audiobooks faster than normal speed.

Of course this depends on the narrator, but I rarely listen to audiobooks on normal speed. At a minimum, I listen at 1.5x. Most of the time, I’m at 1.75x.

Fantasy books aren’t for me.

I mostly read contemporary romance, but decided to try fantasy romance by reading A Court of Thorns and Roses to see if I liked it since fantasy is becoming super popular among romance readers. Sadly, it wasn’t for me.

I Don’t Like Fantasy Because…

1. World Building – I don’t enjoy learning about the different creatures, plants, language, and magic that makes up a fantasy world.
2. Battles – I’m sure not every fantasy book as epic battle scenes, but I didn’t enjoy the ones I read.
3. History – I especially don’t like learning the history of conflicts. Characters talking to each other about who is mad at who because of things that happened 100s of years ago is super hard for me to concentrate on.

For the fans of ACOTAR who will care: I listened to the first 2 books in audio. Yes, the second book is better than the first. 😉 I also listened to the 3rd book, but I quit halfway through when I realized I was bored. I see why others like it, but it isn’t for me.

I should read more chapter books to my kids.

In my year of reading 100 books, only 2 of them were books I read aloud to my kids. (I don’t count picture books towards my reading goals.) I value reading to my kids, and I enjoy the nightly ritual of snuggling on my bed and reading a chapter together.

As Grace and Noah are getting older, their bedtime routines are often running later than Isaac’s. Sometimes Grace is busy with homework, and it doesn’t always work for us to read together like we used to. But… Isaac is still just 6. I should prioritize reading to him, even if the older two don’t listen along.

Reading books by authors I “know” is really fun.

As I was working on my goal of reading 100 books in a year, one way I increased my reading was by listening to audiobooks of authors that I know. Some of them were friends, others were reality TV stars, and others were people I had followed on Instagram or podcasts for years.

In most of these audiobooks, the author read the book themselves – which was extra fun. Some of my favorites were The Lazy Genius Way by Kendra Adachi, Don’t Text Your Ex Happy Birthday by Nick Viall, and The Great Sex Rescue by Shelia Wray Gregoire.

I really like talking about books.

Half the fun of reading as a hobby is talking to people about what I am reading. I used to love sharing books as my “Awesome of The Week” on the Sorta Awesome podcast. I still love sharing recommendations on Instagram (click here to follow me!).

Beyond sharing recommendations, I truly love deep diving a book with my reading buddies. Venting about what I don’t like, gushing about what I love, and sharing favorite quotes is so. much. fun.

Reading is just part of reading as a hobby.

There is so much more than sitting down and reading books that can be part of having a reading hobby. Like I said, talking about books online or with my reading buddies is a huge part of my reading hobby. I haven’t experimented with annotating my books, but many people adding that into their reading hobby.

Other parts of the reading hobby I enjoy: adding books to my TBR (to be read list) by listening to book themed podcasts or finding recommendations on social media, tracking my reading, and researching books in my TBR to pick my next read.

I hardly purchase any of the books that I read, but it is widely said in the reading community that reading books and buying books are two totally different hobbies. That’s not me, but I support it. LOL

Hyped books are being hyped for a reason.

As I was increasing the audiobooks that I read, I also looked for general fiction books that everyone was buzzing about. I read The Invisible Life of Addlie LaRue, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and The Fault in Our Stars. Each of them were excellent, and got 4 or 5 stars from me.

Even when I tried the extremely hyped fantasy series ACOTAR, I could tell they were good books even if the genre wasn’t for me.

I understand DNFing without prejudice.

I heard the phrase “DNF without prejudice,” but I didn’t truly understand what it meant until this year. If you are quitting a book, isn’t it always going to be because you are not enjoying it? Apparently not!

My friend Meg was raving about the fiction novel Cutting Teeth. I started listening to it on audio, but I didn’t get very far before I was forgetting who was who. The book is about a daycare, and I couldn’t keep straight which kid belonged to which parent.

I decided to stop listening to Cutting Teeth – not because I didn’t enjoy the book, but because listening to it wasn’t working for me and I thought reading it in print might be better. This was the first book that I can say I DNFed without prejudice.

I don’t think I read crazy fast.

As I have talked to more and more friends who read a ton of books every year (like 100-200+), I’ve come to the conclusion that I must not be a very fast reader. One of my dearest friends read 194 book last year, and that didn’t include a single audiobook. Even if I was reading the exact same number of hours as her, I don’t think I would make it through that many books.

I took a quick reading speed test online, and the results said I read around 285 words per minute. The average person reads 150-300 words per minute. So while I am faster than some, I’m not reading at an above average speed.

When I am at my lowest, I’m drawn to TV rather than books.

As I look back at my year of reading, the times when I was not feeling well physically or emotionally I watched more TV. You would think that if I was laying in bed all day, I would get so much reading done, but most of the time I didn’t read at all.

Maybe binge watching a TV series is easier on the brain than reading a book? I’m not sure, but when I’m feeling sick or really sad, I would rather watch something than read.

I don’t want to read 100 books in a year again.

I am extremely proud of myself for reaching this goal, but I don’t feel like reading 100 books in a years is something I need to do again.

Having a reading goal that was such a big stretch for me, put pressure on my reading and made me limit my other media consumption. I felt like I couldn’t take reading breaks. I didn’t have time to watch some TV shows I was interested in. Plus, I got behind on the podcasts I like because I was prioritizing audiobooks.

This year, I am looking forward to reading a lot – but also being able to watch TV without any guilt lingering at the back of my mind.

Want to Increase Your Reading? Look into Audible and Kindle Unlimited:

• Try Audible & Read More Books
• What is Kindle Unlimited? The Ultimate Guide and What to Read

Looking for Book Recommendations?

• My Best Reads of 2023
• My Best Reads of 2022
• Romance Starter Pack, Part 1 – Sorta Awesome Podcast ep. 392
• Romance Starter Pack, Part 2 – Sorta Awesome Podcast ep. 393

What have you learned from your reading life lately? Are considering reading 100 books in a year?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. At no cost to you, I may earned a commission from your purchase. All images are my own, except for the top image which comes from Pexels at Pixabay.