Shoot for the Moon

He says:

   For two years now I’ve challenged myself to read 52 books a year. In 2011 I met that goal and it was a blast. I always said that I enjoyed reading when people asked what I did with my free time, but in reality I only read a few books a year. It was great to really put a dent in my “to read” list.

   This year I made even more of an effort to clear my bookshelves. I’ve all but forbidden myself to check books out at the library until I read all of the backlogged books that I own. I still check out a few that seem too good to pass up, however.

   The year is approaching its halfway point (2st of July, I believe), and so far I’ve read 52 books. It feels great to be done with the challenge aspect, but I don’t plan on stopping there. This is already a personal record, but I’m going to go all out and shoot for 100 (maybe 104) books by the end of 2012.

Notable books include:

Proudest Achievement: The Stand by Steven King (unabridged) approximately 1000 pages. I came to
find out that the abridged version was 600 pages and was probably better for it.

Best Book: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is hands down my favorite classic. Man’s descent into hell has never been so fascinating.

Worst Book: The Good Earth by Pearl S Buck is a story about a peasant who toils to increase his station in life and succeeding while never learning a single lesson about his flawed actions or to appreciate where to he came from. I was angry with this book which is supposedly a beloved classic.

Most Interesting: The Art and Science of Dumpster Diving by John Hoffman got me strangely motivated to go out and find those hidden treasures. Luckily this passed, but the take away message of wasting less is still valuable.