I mentioned my reading challenge in my previous post. Last year, I pledged to read 50 books; I only ended up reading 40. Not bad, but not my goal. Although, to put it into perspective, my reading goal in 2011 was only 20 books, so I doubled my reading in 2012. This year, I hope to read 60 books.

2013 Reading Challenge

Jaena Rae has read 0 books toward her goal of 60 books.

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I love Goodreads because it keeps track of the books I read, as well as provides a breakdown by number of pages. I’m a sucker for numbers, as much as I dislike math. According to my stats page, I read 9,534 pages in 2012. Will I break 10,000 in 2013?

I read a bit of everything. Chiefly fiction, and mostly classics, although recently I have added more contemporary works to my repertoire, thanks to wonderful friends and colleagues with great recommendations. I also find myself reading more children’s fiction and young adult titles. My nonfiction titles have mostly been school textbooks, although I just started reading “Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews,” courtesy of my friend Adam. Ray Bradbury, “the Great Shout of the Universe.” What a label! I love it.

Again, in the spirit of novelty, I want to tweak my reading challenge this year by including another stipulation: I must write a short review of each book I read. And by short, I mean 200-300 words. Nothing too crazy. I have to remind myself I’m a full-time grad student who works full-time hours. But writing a review will help me to stop and reflect on what I’ve just read. Last year, too often I found myself speeding through books and just forgetting about them, not because they didn’t resonate with me, but because I felt like I had a million other things to do. I couldn’t afford to spare just 10 minutes to muse over what I’d just read.

What a total crock. It’s a huge disservice to the toiling authors I greatly admire.

If anyone has any recommendations, please pass them along. Conversely, I can offer my suggestions too. And won’t you join me on my yearly literary expedition?

Anyway, you’ll hear back from me again after I finish “Listen to the Echoes.”