I only read 13 books in December and that's fine

[@kyrilson71]

The obsession with number of books read on booktube is annoying. It's better to focus on quality reading, pages read and enjoyable experience.

[@jennamakesbugs]

Numbers themselves are probably useless, but reading purely for escapism tells you a lot about yourself and can motivate your future reading to be more productive. The exercise of reading can be beneficial just for itself even if you are not reading anything worth retaining. There are certainly less healthy ways to wallow than reading piles of crappy books.

[@eimajtl]

I don't think page count matters much at all, and is just as arbitrary as tracking books read - people just need to focus on the joy of reading and not much more.

[@kyrilson71]

@ True, I agree. But people will try to cram books that have low page counts to meet their silly book count goal. So it seems to cheapen the "accomplishment". At least with page count, they won't shy away from regular or longer books. But yes, no metrics at all but just enjoying reading is the best way to go.

[@jennamakesbugs]

@@kyrilson71 I just don't think we should discourage people from reading even if they have to use silly games to motivate themselves. Eventually you read enough predictable, formulaic books that you seek out something with more substance. Everybody is on their own path, whatever the journey, and our annoyance with how other people travel shouldn't be used to shame them into staying home. Even if that was not the purpose of criticizing.

[@kyrilson71]

@@jennamakesbugs oh for sure!! The more people that read the better. 😊

[@AndreyPietrowski]

Slow reader here. I (fortunately) stopped worrying too much about numbers as if it were a competition. I started to enjoy my reading much more. I accept my natural pacing. Cheers from Brazil, Olly!

[@voltairedentotalenkrieg5147]

I've read 96 pages of Moby Dick since the 13th of December.

[@GentleReader01]

I set a 2025 goal of half the number of books I’ve read in recent years, because I want to re/read some big thick books without pushing myself in any other direction. It’s working well so far.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

That sounds like a good plan!

[@MMjones6459]

Picked up May The Wolf Die from your review. I haven't started yet, but looking forward to reading.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Hope you enjoy it

[@PokhrajRoy.]

You’re doing great, Olly!

[@eimajtl]

ONLY? That's a hefty amount.

[@simonleduc4876]

I read 19 books in 2024 :P

[@ginaNC]

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@katsnoveladventures1863]

Happy New Year, Olly! 🎊 One of my favorite reads in December was Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. Nice wrap up! 😊

[@michaelcolbourn6719]

That's a lot I usually read between 3 and 6 depending on their length lol

[@TheFrighterionCollection]

Hi, Olly! I'm just getting my own channel up and running, and I was directly inspired by your videos. I've watched a lot of BookTube over the years, and yours is by far my absolute favorite. You also inspired me to read All the Sinners Bleed and Cold in July (read a lot of Lansdale over the years, but missed this one). Also, all (or most of) the 87th Precinct books are on Kindle Unlimited, so I've been going through those, too! Keep up the excellent work! --Brian

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Good luck with the channel, Brian, I’ve subscribed. Glad you’re enjoying my recommendations!

[@TheFrighterionCollection]

@@CriminOllyBlog 😃Thanks so much, Olly! I REALLY appreciate it!

[@FromRussiaWithBooks]

your low number is what some people read per year 😅

[@gonesavage]

*decade

[@FromRussiaWithBooks]

@@gonesavage indeed 😂

[@robertreed3033]

@@FromRussiaWithBooks I read 17 last year .

[@Lourdes-nc3sp]

13 books is great. My ADHD decided I was only allowed one book in December 😂 but hey, I enjoyed it, so I'm not mad. P. S. And happy new year!

[@Seriousreyn]

Adhd can be Fun that way. You either barely read one book a month or read 4 in a day. There is no in between.

[@Lourdes-nc3sp]

Indeed 😅​@@Seriousreyn

[@Fantumh]

I want to say I read, maybe in one of her biographies, that she came to expect that her dairies, or cahiers, would be published after her death. I have it too, but I've so far have read very little of it. I'm just not at a place in my life to take that journey. Too bad.

[@gingerbibliophile]

You say 13 like it’s not a big number. 😅 some of us are only mortals sadly. Thats an interesting mix you got in for December!

[@Mick_Holland]

13 books in a year would be decent going for me 🙂, I'm currently reading and thoroughly enjoying 'True Grit', so a version of this set on Mars might be interesting. Thanks to you @criminolly, I bought a copy of Highsmith's diaries - so that's me busy until June! 😂 Cheers👍🏼

[@ununpopular]

Awesome. Big fan of Nathan Ballingrud. I really recommend his story collection "Wounds". One of the stories in that collection was made into a pretty damn freaky movie (also called Wounds) with Dakota Johnson and Armie Hammer.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I didn’t know that about that movie!

[@markreadsbo]

The problem with books Read thing on social media, apart, from reading is not numbers. It is not a very good measure of how much you have read for example, reading a 1,000 pages can be upto 10 books or as little as 1 book.

[@ToddsBookTube91]

Looks like you had a nice December!

[@Seriousreyn]

Only 13? I read 23 last year. Lot of Pratchett. Loved it.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Excellent!

[@clarepotter7584]

I reread Elizabeth Edmondson's 'The Frozen Lake' I like her mysteries, her writing style and the pace.

[@constancecampbell4610]

I saw the miniseries of Thorn Birds a few years ago and got so irritated with the priest. He kept touching her in suggestive ways and then scolded her for her romantic expectations. Arrgh.

[@thomasrobach3552]

I'm happy when I read 30-50 books per year. I mean 'really' read, with my eyeballs. But I listen to way more audiobooks so I get maybe 150 books done.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Audiobooks help so much!

[@GregHarness]

"The Thorn Birds" isn't my kind of book, but I'll admit that the miniseries turned me off from wanting to read it. I was in high school at the time, and the series was just overly syrupy for me. I contrast this to the miniseries "Centennial" which made me immediately read the novel by James A. Michener.

[@francesmeyer8478]

Loved "Centennial" both the book and the series..🇺🇸

[@Wreckedsaint-nk5ub]

I'll be lucky to finish ONE book this month. Because I'm reading Jerusalem by Alan Moore.

[@GentleReader01]

It’s good to have your 2025 reading taken care of like that. :)

[@CriminOllyBlog]

Oof! I’m still building up to that one

[@CriminOllyBlog]

😂

[@oldmanshreds]

I had some thoughts about 2025 reading goals. Approaching it with, what do I really want to read? That became a 45 book list of various stuff. Plus, theres 10 books on queue in the library, so I will read them also. Lets see how this goes. Theres still 919 books on my TBR 😅

[@DDB168]

I can understand watching the TV, the cricket (in Australia) is being beamed into British lounge rooms. 🏏 Or were you watching re-runs of Neighbours and Home and Away? 🤭 I had a feeling The Thorn Birds would wear you out. 🐑🐑 Favourite read for December: Breaking Twitter by Ben Mezrich.

[@CriminOllyBlog]

I did used to enjoy the soaps!

[@katiecook6006]

The Long Walk alt title: "Ripped My Heart Out at 16 or 'Ripped My Heart out at 40 with a Teen Son For Entirely Different Reasons"😂 I also just finished Bubba and the Cosmic Blood Suckers by Joe R. Lansdale and if you want to read something bizarre... 😂

[@CriminOllyBlog]

That’s a great title!

[@M-J]

Great video 🤗 wonky title 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@tramasrarasoddplots]

I dunno how many books I read in 2024 but I'm pretty sure it's less than 12. 😅😂😂😂 it's like 8 or 10 and most of them are novellas.

[@Seriousreyn]

But did you enjoy them? That is the true metric

[@cumbrianrambler7715]

Read the best books once per year, every year. The best books are worth reading 20 times. I'd rather read 3 good reviews from someone than see they've read 500 books. Read for the love of words, not to tick off numbers.

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

What? I read more rhan you in December? I read 15 books and never again. I only read so many to catch up with the 100 books in a year on Goodreads. I was a bit behind last year. I normally read 9-11 books a month. Hapoy New Year.

[@SuperStrangSshadow]

And sorry for the spelling. Not easy to write with the phone, lol