The library of New Bedford, MA has set up a program to encourage reading: if you read 50 books in one year, they will give you a prize (and you will be entered in a drawing for more prizes). Pretty cool.
Of course, that leads one to wonder, how many books have I read this year?
Well, since I've been keeping track on Goodreads, I had a place to look. Last week it looked like I had read 37 books in 2010 (9 days to go!). Since then, I've been finishing up the half-read books lying around the house and got two more up there. If I'm lucky, I might hit 41 or 42 by the New Year, but 40 is more likely.
I have to admit, too, that a lot of those books are comic books (some of them are huge though -- the Walking Dead compendium is 48 issues, or over 1000 pages), and some are children's books. But in my defense, I read a lot more comics and kids books that I don't put on Goodreads because I don't feel they are all worth noting.
So 50 books next year? Hard, but doable. Cancel that New Yorker subscription!
My other thought about reading next year was to have a year of presidential biographies. That would cut down on thinking about what to read and there are plenty I have wanted to tackle for a while: Edmund Morris on TR, Grant's autobiography, American Sphinx, John Adams... Of course, those are big books so I might have to aim for 30 or thereabouts (or read a lot of quickie thrillers in between).
(Feel free to "friend" me, or whatever, on Goodreads, btw.)
4 comments:
I love my New Yorker subscription but it does hamper one's ability to read books.
What about the Mark Twain autobio? I'm kind of curious about that one (partly because of the timely Morgan Library exhibit I saw in October) but it's a huge one as well!
The Mark Twain sounds very interesting. Actually, one reason I am interested in Grant is because it's supposed to be so well written and entertaining that for years people thought it was ghosted by Twain.
Wow J - I am impressed! My somewhat pathetic goal for 2010 was to get back into reading. I set a low bar - 1 book per quarter. I am not sure I made that, though. I am increasingly guilty of the half-read book. I have been having a hard time really getting into books, though I think that part of it is not exercising the reading 'muscle'. This year the only novel I read and finished was "When Will There Be Good News", excellent by Kate Atkinson. Read about 2/3 of "The Piano Teacher" by Janice Y.K. Lee until I misplaced it and lost momentum. And I mostly read "Raising Happiness" by Christine Carter - good parenting book but I can't say I read it cover to cover. Then in Nov with the eye surgery I started doing audiobooks and that cut further into reading time... If there is a way to share your GoodReads I am always interested in recommendations!
Parkside -- you should see my list. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, zombie comics, etc.
I thought you were in a book club? If you join Goodreads, we can meet up there.
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