Wednesday, January 1, 2014

New challenges for the New Year

Like many of you, I track carefully all the books I read, and have been doing so since 2005.  In 2012, I read 53 books, which was the most I've read in any year since grad school.  Last year, I hoped for 60, but I lost focus because of my work and got derailed.  Instead of finishing books, I started many and finished few.  This year, things will be different in my life beginning in June, and I'll have much more time to read.  I think 60 is a realistic, attainable goal.

But I also want some different kinds of challenges, so I've decided to do the 2014 Mount TBR challenge.  I keep ordering used books that I want to read, but invariably I put them aside after they arrive so that I can find and purchase new used books.  The TBR challenge will help me finally catch up on those books.  I settled on the "Mt. Vancouver" level of 36 books.  That leaves room for me to read other things (likely new purchases or spontaneous library borrowings) but still make real progress on the books in my house.  I also wanted to get away from the Kindle and Nook by creating a list of physical books.  The Kindle and Nook are great in some ways, but they create a powerful temptation to download things immediately that might not make sense after the heat of the purchasing moment passes.  I suspect next year I'll decide to do a TBR for the books I've downloaded on both devices but haven't read/finished.

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