2024 Reflections

Hello 2025! 

Not to go off on a tangent here but is there a statute of limitations for when we should stop saying happy new year? Come on, it’s mid-January and at this point, saying "Happy New Year" feels like showing up to a Christmas party with a Valentine's Day card. Honestly, we need rules. Like, after January 7th, it should be illegal to start a conversation with 'Happy New Year.' By then, we’ve all accepted our fate, and no amount of forced cheer is going to fix the fact that we’re back to the grind.

Now that I have gotten that out of my system, here are some brief reading reflections of 2024:

• Grand total of novels read in 2024? A resounding zero. That’s right, not a single one—just short stories. It’s not that novels and I are on bad terms; we’re just… taking some time apart. Plus, my attention span is terrible and any attempt at reading a novel puts me to sleep. 
• My delusional reading goal for 2024 was to conquer 1,000 short stories. That was doomed to fail before I even started.
• Despite my loft ambitions and the tumultuous year that left very little time for reading,  I somehow managed to read somewhere between 150-200 short stories. (Don’t ask for exact numbers—at some point, I lost count and just rolled with it.) Honestly, considering how my reading habits have been circling the drain for years, this feels like a monumental feat. Cue imaginary applause.
• 2024 also marked my most prolific year on this blog, with 120 posts, most of which were reviews. I’ll take my pat on the back now, thank you.
• Discovered some amazing short-story writers, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Lucia Berlin and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah. I look forward to reading more of their work.
• Rediscovered some old favorites like Bradbury, O. Henry, Updike, Murakami 
• I read some of Donald Barthelme's work before but 2024 was the year I fell headfirst into his wonderfully weird world. I have come to really appreciate his ingenuity and satirical brilliance. He was my most-read author of the year and now holds a secure spot in my top five short-story writers of all time.
• Best short story read in 2024: A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" by Gabriel García Márquez
• Worst short story read in 2024: Late, Late Show by John O'Hara

And there you have it—a year of short-story adventures and just enough success to not give up on reading entirely. Here’s to 2025, where I’ll probably set another delusional reading goal and regret it by February. 

Cheers.