Just 10 Minutes: How I Actually Started Reviewing All the Books I Read

I only have one reading goal for 2024, but it’s a big one: to write about every book I finish as soon as I finish it. I read a lot of books — more than 100 every year — so this is a fairly big commitment in terms of time and energy. It’s also something I’ve been struggling to do for years. Even though I write about books for a living (at least part-time), post regularly on Bookstagram, and write a weekly newsletter that is mostly book reviews — well, last year, I still only reviewed 50% of the books I read.

Sometimes I finish a book, and I just don’t have that much to say about it. But much more often, I finish a book and find I have a whole lot to say about it — and that feels overwhelming. It’s often so overwhelming that I just don’t bother. After all, it’s much easier to just start a new book than it is to take the time to untangle my thoughts and feelings about whatever I just read. For years, I’ve let the overwhelm and the pressure to write a polished and thoughtful review scare me away from reflecting on everything I read.

But 2024 is going to be different. I have read 29 books so far this year, and I have written about every single one of them. Every. Single. One. Honestly, it’s the single greatest reading achievement of my life. It has transformed my reading life in ways even I did not anticipate. I’m making all sorts of connections between books that I wasn’t making before. I’m thinking more deeply and more critically and more joyfully about what I read. I’m also really enjoying the actual act of writing. I used to dread sitting down to write a review — not because I don’t like doing it, but because it always felt like An Event. Now it’s just what I do. I know we’re not that deep into the year yet, but it’s already become a habit. I’m committed.

If this sounds simple: it is. Sometimes all it takes is a simple set of parameters to make something that felt impossible suddenly feel easy. I am still in awe that this system is working as well as it is. Maybe it will work for you, too.

Sometimes I don’t start writing the very second I finish a book — I go for a walk, make dinner, fold the laundry. But I don’t let more than a few hours go by. I used to finish a book and spend the next three days thinking about it. I’d muter about it to myself while driving and compose reviews in my head on walks. But actually writing about it immediately? If I put it off for an hour, I could put it off for a day, or a week, or three months, by then, I’d have forgotten most of what I wanted to say.

I don’t let that happen anymore, and it’s such a relief. I’m catching all those thoughts on paper instead of letting them slip away! But this only works because of the other two rules I’ve made for myself.

Don’t ask me why it took me so long to realize that immediately reviewing a book publicly is a lot of unnecessary pressure. Maybe it works for some people, but it doesn’t work for me. When I’m thinking through my own reactions to a book, I don’t want to be coherent or polished. I want to gush and rant and repeat myself. I want to write paragraph-long sentences. I want to let the writing take me where it takes me, not worrying about how it sounds, not pausing to fix all the spelling mistakes and typos. I can’t do this kind of writing on a platform like Goodreads or Storygraph.

My immediate book reflections are full of spelling mistakes. They are raw and rambling. They don’t always make sense, but they always capture everything I’m thinking and feeling about a book. Often I discover something new about the book or myself while writing them because I’m not preoccupied with how my sentences sound. It is glorious.

I love writing and sharing book reviews. I love shouting about books to the world. This new process has reminded me that I also love journaling about books — just for me — something I haven’t given myself permission to do in a long, long time.