Book Goals 2019

The Success of 2018

I read more books in 2018 than I have in a single year since college. This was aided by a couple things: I read to the boys a lot (four of my books were read aloud to them), and I listened to audio books instead of podcasts.

Because of those two factors, I read twenty books over the last year. They are, in the order that I read them:

1. Blankets
2. Five Little Pigs
3. The Time Machine Did It
4. Ready Player One  (re-read)
5. Norse Mythology
6. Leviathan Wakes
7. Caliban's War
8. Abaddon's Gate
9. Marley & Me
10. The Comeback
11. Pro Cycling on $10 a Day
12. Ask a Pro
13. Gironimo
14. Sideways Stories from Wayside School
15. The Rider
16. Wayside School is Falling Down
17. American Gods
18. Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger
19. Odd and the Frost Giants

For a lot of people, twenty books in a year isn't a lot, but for me, it's an investment of time that I've historically devoted to tabletop games, video games, movies, television, and podcasts.

There are some interesting trends as I look at the list. I clearly got heavily into James S. A. Corey's Expanse series early in the year and inhaled the first three books. That was followed by a summer re-connection with my bike and a desire to read bike stuff for a few months. I'm still working through a couple different bike books, and have no intention of stopping! They're terrific fun. Phil Gaimon, in particular, is a hilarious and gifted writer, and I enjoy his books very much.

The last couple months of my year were absorbed almost entirely by American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. What an incredible novel. It was interesting to read sandwiched in between a couple of this other mythological books, Norse Gods and Odd and the Frost Giants. Odin and Loki factor so heavily into all three... I loved them all.

Goals for 2019

I'd like to up my reading to a full 24 books this year, to round it out to two books per month. I'm currently working through Dune, Neverwhere, Draft Animals, French Revolutions, and All The Answers. That's five right there. This year should be a cinch!

But I'd like to up the ante by also spending at least a little time every day reading the Bible. I bought a beautifully bound edition on Kickstarter a few years ago, and I bought it to read--not to sit on a shelf. My dad is reading through it as well, so that should provide some motivation/accountability.

I can do this.