My reading goal for 2021 was 100 books, just like last year. Last year I managed 88. This year, I just finished my 76th book, so it is not looking like I will hit my goal of 100 books read. Until 2017, I spent decades reading and barely cracked 45 books a year. After 2017, I’ve hit as many as 130 books in a year. Indeed, my four year average even if I stopped reading at this moment, is still over 100 books per year. So I’m happy with my pace regardless of whether or not I actually hit 100 books or not. That said, with the end of the year approaching, with the holidays coming up, along with our annual holiday vacation, I’ve started to plan my reading through the end of the year. Here is what is on my list to tackle:
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
- All About Me by Mel Brooks — I’ve mentioned this before.
- My Dad’s Funnier Than Your Dad: Growing Up With Tim Conway in the Funniest House in America by Kelly Conway
- Journey to the Edge of Reason: The Life of Kurt Gödel by Stephen Budiansky
- I Heard the Owl Call My Name by Margaret Craven
- Professor Maxwell’s Duplicitous Demon: The Life and Science of James Clerk Maxwell by Brian Clegg
- Just Enough Liebling by A. J. Liebling
- Letters of E. B. White by E. B. White
- The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon — at least get a start on this one.
Currently, I am reading the first of Martha Wells Murderbot books, All Systems Red. It’s a short book and if I like it enough, I may read others in that series.
This is a lot to tackle in the last 21 days of the year. I think I can get through at least 7 of them; the last three may get pushed into 2022 in favor of other books. We’ll see how that goes. The butterfly effect of reading is a relentless force on my reading life and makes things unpredictable.
Is there anything you are looking forward to reading before the year is out? Let me know in the comments.
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If you find yourself running out of time to hit the goal of 100, just read some of the Mr. Men books and you’ll get there in no time! 🙂
Michael, I’m pretty sure I’m not going to break 90 books, but I’m okay with it at this point. I had to look up Mr. Men. Now I get it. 🙂
They are fun books, just FYI.
So many books! I’m rereading Meditations this month, too. It has been a while since I’ve read it, and it seems so different to me today at 57 than it did in my 30s. I guess it’s true that the great books grow right along with you. One to savor for sure. Enjoy the reading and the holidays!
Thanks Bob! The edition of Meditations that I have has an introduction by Gregory Hays that is just as fascinating as the main text, and almost 60 pages long itself!