I don’t tend to do New Year’s resolutions. In short, I think they’re silly.

Yet every year I start coming up with resolutions in terms of my reading and the way I write about it. Some of those that I’ve attempted at, and failed:

1. Daily blog posts (absurd notion)

2. Monthly blog posts (more realistic, but not something I’ve ever managed to do consistently for an entire year)

3. A blog post about every book I read in a year (I haven’t even come close to this)

4. Only reading books I already own

5. Only reading books I already own OR from the library

6. Basically, not buying even more books when I already own so many

7. Only reading good books

So I’m not doing any of these this year, although I like the idea of all of them. Instead, now that it’s over a month into this new year (sand in sieve, am I right Bradbury?), I’ve decided on my reading rule for this year:

Don’t worry: I know Kendall Roy from Succession isn’t a role model. But one of his funniest moments in the third season is when he says the rule for his birthday party’s playlist is “all bangers all the time.”

So yeah, that’s my rule for reading this year. Only bangers.

Which raises a question: when it comes to books, what qualifies as a banger?

What books are bangers?

I found this list on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/banger

• It doesn’t give any clear definition of what a banger is. Also, I am not entirely sure what I’m defining as a banger, but I think my general rules are:

• I like the book

• It’s a page turner

• It’s hard to stop reading

• It has good reviews or I’ve heard good things or otherwise it has gotten good hype

• It has some kind of literary value (this part is debatable)

I’ve read 5 books so far this year, and started reading another

And now, here are the books I’ve read so far:

1. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Garbrielle Zevin

2. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

3. The Institute by Stephen King

4. Sleep Donation by Karen Russell

5. The Match by Harlan Coben

And books I’ve started:

1. Ulysses by James Joyce

2. The Trees by Percival Everett

3. The Passage by Justin Cronin

I rarely know with any certainty what I’m going to read next, but a few books I intend to read:

1. The Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas

2. The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

3. Circe by Madeline Miller

Books I started in 2022 that I should finish because I think they might be bangers:

1. The 7th Function of Language by Laurent Binet

2. The Song of Ulysses by Madeline Miller (I started this for a book club but haven’t finished it yet.)

Now, let’s take a look at which of the books I’ve read so far are bangers:

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Garbrielle Zevin

Definitely a banger. I’d sum it up as “what if A Little Life was less sad and easier to read and about video gamers?” This is the book that inspired this rule. What if every book I read was this good, I thought, as I read it.

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

Absolutely a banger. I’d been meaning to read this for years. I didn’t love The Goldfinch, but this is I think my ideal type of book: a page turner with literary value and a lasting cultural impact.

The Institute by Stephen King

Almost a banger. Not his best, but lots of great elements. (I am writing something separate about this.)

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell

Not a banger, unfortunately. I felt duped by this one. There was a blurb from Stephen King on the cover saying it gave him nightmares, but I don’t understand how that could be. There wasn’t any nightmare fuel in this book. I didn’t dislike it, but it wasn’t a banger.

The Match by Harlan Coben

I think this qualifies as a banger but I’m not sure. I had read the first book in the series and so I knew what I was getting into.

What’s next?

More bangers. Probably some of the ones I’ve listed above. And then there’s my other goal for 2023: write a banger.