The obsession some people have with the number of books they’ve read in a certain period of time.

I understand keeping track because you think it’s neat to see how much reading you were able to accomplish throughout the year. That’s cool. I don’t do it myself because that doesn’t matter to me personally, but I can see why it would appeal to some people. Especially if they’re someone who struggles with motivating themselves to read and wants to look back at how much they’ve improved. That’s awesome!

But some people take it WAY too seriously and even get really competitive about it. If you’re a BookTok user, you know what I’m talking about.

Goodreads and other book-tracking apps give a “wrap up” at the end of the year, telling you how many books you’ve read and other analytics for the year. And people get really toxic about it. I saw it a lot on BookTok and some on BookTube. And even in a real-life book club I was in (and have subsequently left).

I will never understand why people make reading into a competitive sport. It makes no sense.