I love to read. That may actually be a bit of an understatement.
I can become obsessed with reading–so caught up in a good story that I eat, think, and breathe it. Stories have shaped me, made me who I am and who I am becoming. I am a little bit of Anne of Green Gables, a good portion of Emily of New Moon, a dash of Elizabeth Bennet, with a pinch of Jo March thrown in for good measure.
Because reading is so important to me, I have made reading goals throughout my adult life. My first year teaching I resolved to read all of the Newbery Award winners. ( I read all but four that I could not find in print anywhere.) My husband and I are reading through a list of the 100 Greatest Novels of All Time that we found online. Dickens, Tolstoy, Austen–we love our challenges!
The Challenge
This year I decided to make an outrageous reading goal: I would read 100 books in 2015.
This roughly translates to 2 books a week, which is a reasonable goal for my pace of reading and the amount of time I can dedicate to it.
I will be reading fiction and nonfiction, adult and young adult literature. Because I am a middle school teacher, I try to read a good amount of young adult fiction so that I can better recommend books for my students. I find it extremely helpful to have a solid grasp of both current and classic young adult books so that I can help students find a book that fits their reading interests. Oh, you enjoyed Harry Potter? Have you tried the Percy Jackson series, the Charlie Bone series, or the Lockwood & Co series? Or, you loved Wonder? Have you ever read Out of My Mind? So, you may notice quite a few young adult lit books in my posts.
Posts
I will be posting monthly updates to let you know how I am coming on my Read 100 challenge. Look for them in the Monthly Goal Update posts.
I will also write reviews of many of the books I read, giving an overview of the plot or argument as well as my honest opinion of the book.
I would love to hear about the books that you are reading and the reading goals you are setting!
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I have always loved to read and in the past have devoured books. In more recent years, my interests have been many. I fell away from reading a bit, and I’m finding my way back. It helps to have a stack of books recommended by friends waiting for me. I like the idea of the Read 100 Challenge. For now, I’m going to have to adapt it to something more like Read 52. That’s a good place to start though. Thanks for the challenge, and from looking around your site a bit, it looks like you post what you’re reading each week. I’ll be checking back for recommendations! Thanks!
A Read 52 Challenge sounds like fun–one book a week! I would love for you to come back for recommendations! I post those each Saturday, and it’s one of my favorite posts each week. It’s such fun to write about great (and sometimes not so great!) literature. For an English teacher, that’s the dream!
My husband’s grandmother kept a journal listing all the books she read. When I came across this about 10 years ago, I decided to do the same thing. Then I found goodreads.com and now keep record on both. (On goodreads, I can also keep track of things I WANT to read).
A few years ago I noticed that I’d read 44 books during the year. I figured that if I just upped that a little, I could do 52. That has remained my goal for several years. I have gone over to 59 and 60.
But I realize that when I read MORE books, I am reading more “fluff” than substance. Sometimes a week later I can’t remember anything about the plot of a book. I have decided to read one classic, non-fiction, or religion book for every four novels I read.(I love cozy mysteries, but do’t read any of the YA fiction out there.) I am behind schedule this year having only read 3 out of 19 (I also pre-read for a couple novelists), but plan to read The Brothers Karamazov over the summer which I think will more than make up for some of the classics I am missing.
I love that you found your husband’s grandmother’s reading journal! What a great gift and way to know her better. I have been meaning to get on goodreads–I will check it out!