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Kylie Capps shares advice for setting a reading goal
FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Kylie Capps set out with a realistic goal to read more in 2023 and ended up finishing more than 100 books. Here are her tips for those who want to read more in 2024.
DALLAS - Most of us start the year with big dreams and a big goal. But most of us never accomplish that.
That is not the case for FOX 4 Weather Meteorologist Kylie Capps... a.k.a. the FOX 4 bookworm.
She set out with a realistic goal to read more in 2023 and ended up reading 102 books.
Kylie said her original goal was to read 50 books throughout the year. By the middle of the year, she was already there.
"I think it was August when I checked my little tracker, and I was like, ‘I’m at 70! I could read 30 more books. I could make it 100,’" she said.
So how did she find the time with her crazy TV news schedule?
"A little back story… I’ve always loved reading. When I was a little girl, I truly was a bookworm. But I feel like I kind of fell out of that in high school and in college because we were forced to read for school. And then with my friend time it was just, ‘I’m going to binge watch this Netflix series.’ So now, actually a girlfriend invited me to join a book club at the end of last year. And the first book that we read in that book club – it was our January read "Lessons in Chemistry" – and when I picked up that book and read it from cover to cover I thought to myself, ‘I REALLY miss reading,’" she said.
That was a pivotal moment for Kylie, realizing she was wasting her time binge-watching shows when she could be reading instead.
"Instead of turning on Netflix, Hulu, or whatever, I was opening a book and found myself really letting my brain check out. That was a way to escape for me and I fell back in love with it again," she said.
Kylie used the Good Reads app, along with recommendations from friends, to pick out her books.
"I kind of just kept adding things to my Want to Read list and then slowly but surely made a dent in that Want to Read List," she said.
Kylie’s 2023 Top 5 Books
1. "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus
2. "The Nightingale" by Kristin Hannah
3. "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
4. "The House is on Fire" by Rachel Beanland
5. "The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector's Story" by Hyeonseo Lee
Honorable Mentions:
"The Storyteller" by Jodi Picoult
"The German Wife" by Kelly Rimmer
"The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue" by V.E. Schwab
"Razorblade Tears" by S.A. Crosby
"Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros
Kylie said her favorite book of the year was "Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus for a few different reasons.
"I loved that book," she said.
It was the book that got her back into reading. It’s also about a woman who was a chemist in the 1960s. So, she was able to relate to the story about a woman in a STEM career and historical fiction is her favorite genre.
"What was so fun for me was watching her break down those barriers and the storytelling is phenomenal," she said. "I read that book so fast."
Throughout the year there were a few books that she didn’t finish. For example, one was not what she thought it would be.
"I ended up just swiping to the next one," Kylie said.
She does read both traditional and e-books.
"I will say I was very against an e-reader or a Kindle for a very long time. Give me the book, right?" she said.
But eventually, she realized e-readers are great for traveling and reading in bed.
So, what’s her goal for 2024?
"I’m thinking maybe 125 or 150," Kylie said.
We’ll let you know if she hits the 200 mark next December.