Reading All of the Books

I've always been a bookworm.

In fact, I have several memories growing up that include laying on the couch late at night (usually in the summer months) to finish a book - with my mom laying on other couch reading her own book. So, it's pretty obvious where I picked up the habit.

Goodreads has a reading challenge each year. You designate the number of books that you'd like to read in that year, and keep track of your progress on the website. Of course, when compiling my 1001 list, these reading challenges came to mind.

75 books seemed like a good number. For several years, that was the goal that I set for myself. But the first few years was during graduate school, and it was tough to find time to read actual books. Now, if I had counted research journals and publications instead, I'd have met my goal in no time.

This year, I decided to tackle the goal again. To be honest, I did choose some books that I might not have read otherwise, but knew that they'd be easy and quick reads (and therefor make it easier to reach my goal). I also got a subscription to Kindle Unlimited. You don't get a full section of Kindle e-books, but there's a fair amount to choose from, and that's where I found most of the books that I've read this year. Of course, I'm a frequent patron of the local library as well.

Anyway, I have not only met, but EXCEED my goal of reading 75 books in one year. In fact, we're in mid-October, and I've read 90 books so far. Since I was able to reach my original goal early, I've increased my goal and hope to have read 100 books by the end of the year. Since there's still more than two months remaining, it is a very realistic goal.

While I'm not done yet, here are a few of my favorites so far:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (Jan-Phillip Sendker)
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)
Life and Other Near Death Experiences (Camille Pagan)
Yes Please (Amy Poehler)
Chocolat (Joanne Harris)
The Memory of Us (Camille Di Maio)

I would highly recommend all of these books (and many more, but these are the top of the list). I've got 10 more books to read this year, and I'll compile a Top 10 list when it's all said and done.

There is actually more than one reading goal on my 1001 list. The other goal, aside from the 75 books in one year, is to finish the Wheel of Time series. Those books are very long, however, and take some time to read -- so I will focus on reading those after I've met my goal of 100 books. I don't want to rush through them at the expense of missing important details! 

I hope to report back soon, this time to tell you that I've read 100+ books in 2016.