At this time in 2008, I set out to read 52 books in 52 weeks throughout the year of 2009. Now that it’s time to look back and summarize I can only say that I failed miserably. My efforts derailed early in the year when I changed jobs in February 2009. The job, that ate my brain, consumed most of time from February to nearly mid-May and then sucked up November as well. However, I can’t blame my failure entirely on the job, after all there would have been plenty of time left in the rest of the year to catch up.
I think the biggest reason for my failure is that it turns out I don’t like the self-imposed pressure that comes from setting a goal like this one. Often I found myself thinking, I should be reading, and it began to feel like a homework assignment instead of something I normally enjoy doing.
I gave audio books a try, but I found that they only worked for me when I was doing really mindless house work like vacuuming or dusting (and clearly, I don’t vacuum or dust enough judging by the list below). I tried listening to audio books at work or while working on a knitting project , but I either became too involved in what I was doing and was not listening and often had to go back and listen again or I was too involved in what was happening in the book and made errors in my work or knitting.
If the goal was to purchase 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2009 then I probably would have made goal. I seem to be surrounded by books I purchased, but have not read, yet. What did get read was:
Living Dead in Dallas
I think the biggest reason for my failure is that it turns out I don’t like the self-imposed pressure that comes from setting a goal like this one. Often I found myself thinking, I should be reading, and it began to feel like a homework assignment instead of something I normally enjoy doing.
I gave audio books a try, but I found that they only worked for me when I was doing really mindless house work like vacuuming or dusting (and clearly, I don’t vacuum or dust enough judging by the list below). I tried listening to audio books at work or while working on a knitting project , but I either became too involved in what I was doing and was not listening and often had to go back and listen again or I was too involved in what was happening in the book and made errors in my work or knitting.
If the goal was to purchase 52 books in the 52 weeks of 2009 then I probably would have made goal. I seem to be surrounded by books I purchased, but have not read, yet. What did get read was:
Living Dead in Dallas
The King's Gold
A Room with a View (audio book)
Angels & Demons
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
Altogether Dead
From Dead to Worse
Death of a Gossip (audio book)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Holly’s In-box
Dead and Gone
The Lost Symbol
The Woman in White
Club Dead (audio book)
Persuasion (audio book)
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run –True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Fool
To Have and Have Not (audio book)
The Stupidest Angel, A Heart-Warming Tale of Christmas Terror
That’s it, that’s the list. 23 books.
Now here’s the part where I try to rationalize it and make myself feel better: 23 books is not very much, but there are people (and you know you know a least a couple of them) who probably didn’t read a single book this year. Not really working so well right now, have to try again later.
While I’ve never tracked how many books I read per year in the past, I’m sure this is my lowest total in years. I always want to try to read more each year, and 52 books in 52 weeks is a great goal which I think I would like to try it again sometime in the future, but for right now I think I’d like to just get back to reading for enjoyment .
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
Altogether Dead
From Dead to Worse
Death of a Gossip (audio book)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Holly’s In-box
Dead and Gone
The Lost Symbol
The Woman in White
Club Dead (audio book)
Persuasion (audio book)
Whatever You Do, Don’t Run –True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide
Darkly Dreaming Dexter
Fool
To Have and Have Not (audio book)
The Stupidest Angel, A Heart-Warming Tale of Christmas Terror
That’s it, that’s the list. 23 books.
Now here’s the part where I try to rationalize it and make myself feel better: 23 books is not very much, but there are people (and you know you know a least a couple of them) who probably didn’t read a single book this year. Not really working so well right now, have to try again later.
While I’ve never tracked how many books I read per year in the past, I’m sure this is my lowest total in years. I always want to try to read more each year, and 52 books in 52 weeks is a great goal which I think I would like to try it again sometime in the future, but for right now I think I’d like to just get back to reading for enjoyment .
