A book a week

Inspired by this blog post, I’m going to read a book a week in 2013.

That’s about it. Rules after the break.

I love to read. When I was a kid, I would spend entire days reading a book. Seriously, even for special occasions. I remember getting into the car while reading a book, reading in the car, getting out on the other end (some party my parents were invited to), finding a quiet corner to read, reading for the duration of the party, reading on the drive home, and reading before bed.

These days, I still love to read, but a lot of my time is taken up by stupid things like work and reddit. So, I figure that if I set a big goal and tell everyone about it, then I won’t be able to back down. What do I hope to get out of this? Best case scenario is that I learn a lot about the world and about myself. Worst case scenario is that I get some serious bragging rights. Either way, I’ve got nothing to lose.

The Rules:

• When I start a book, I need to finish it in a timely manner. No chipping away at a book over the course of months. No finishing a book I started in 2012 (or in any other year). If I finish a book before my deadline, I can get started on the next week’s book without penalty.
• I have to read the book cover to cover. But any book I read cover to cover counts. That means that using a reference book (looking up a word in the dictionary) doesn’t count, but reading a reference book (reading the dictionary from A to Z) for my general edification does count.
• There is no need for all the books to be massive, world changing epics. I’ll probably read Green Eggs and Ham and count it as a book for one of these weeks. I’m too busy to read War and Peace every week. And while we’re on the subject:
• It’s my challenge, so they’re my rules. If I say it counts as a book, it counts as a book. If you don’t like it, go read your own 52 books a year.

That’s about it. I’ll update this page with a running list as I start putting away books.

The List

1. January 7th – Ender’s Game (finished 4-Jan)
2. January 14th – Vagabonding (finished 9-Jan)
3. January 21st – The Underachiever’s Manifesto (finished 20-Jan)
4. January 28th – A Clash of Kings (finished 25-Jan)
5. February 4th – The Signal and the Noise (finished 3-Feb)
6. February 11th – Rework (finished 10-Feb)
7. February 18th – How To Archer (finished 18-Feb)
8. February 25th – X-Rated Shots (finished 24-Feb)
9. March 4th – Immersion Guides’ Mandarin Phrasebook (finished 2-Mar)
10. March 11th – Bad Baby Names (finished 10-Mar)
11. March 18th – A Storm of Swords (finished 16-Mar)
12. March 25th – The Taming of the Shrew (finished 20-Mar)
13. April 1st – The Elements of Style (finished 26-Mar)
14. April 8th – The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to San Francisco (finished 7-Apr)
15. April 15th – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (finished 15-Apr)
16. April 22nd – Much Ado About nothing (finished 22-Apr)
17. April 29th – A Feast For Crows (finished 28-Apr)
18. May 6th – King Lear (finished 6-May)
19. May 13th – And to Think That I Saw it on Mulberry Street (finished 12-May)
20. May 20th – The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins (finished 19-May)
21. May 27th – A Dance with Dragons (finished 23-May)
22. June 3rd – Outliers (finished 30-May)
23. June 10th – Rhyme’s Reason (finished 5-June)
24. June 17th – Horton Hatches the Egg (finished 17-June)
25. June 24th – The Black Swan (finished 24-June)
26. July 1st – Heart of Darkness (finished 1-July)
27. July 8th – Yertle the Turtle (finished 9-July)
28. July 15th – The Picture of Dorian Gray (finished 15-July)
29. July 22nd – Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore (finished 20-July)
30. July 29th – John Dies at the End (finished 28-July)
31. August 5th – One Way Forward (finished 31-July)
32. August 12th –The Action Hero’s Handbook (finished 4-Aug)
33. August 19th – Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth (finished 17-Aug)
34. August 26th – Gertrude McFuzz (finished 26-Aug)
35. September 2nd – As a Man Thinketh (finished 2-Sept)
36. September 9th – The Big Brag (finished 9-Sept)
37. September 16th – One Hundred Years of Solitude (finished 15-Sept)
38. September 23rd – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (finished 23-Sept)
39. September 30th – Little Bets (finished 28-Sept)
40. October 7th – The Old Man and the Sea (finished 6-Oct)
41. October 14th – Kindle Welcome Letter (finished 14-Oct)
42. October 21st – The Startup of You (finished 19-Oct)
43. October 28th – The Lorax (finished 18-Oct)
44. November 4th – The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (finished 3-Nov)
45. November 11th – Call for the Dead (finished 5-Nov)
46. November 18th – Spies Among Us (finished 17-Nov)
47. November 25th – Read ‘Em and Reap (finished 24-Nov)
48. December 2nd – The Tao Te Ching (finished 29-Nov)
49. December 9th – The Best 50 Bar Drinks (finished 9-Dec)
50. December 16th – Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (finished 16-Dec)
51. December 23rd – MacBeth (finished 23-Dec)
52. December 31st – Howl (finished 29-Dec)

Tags: books, library, photos