As I mentioned in my post about goals for 2015, one of the things I will be working on is the 2015 Reading Challenge. The list started circulating on social media and a few friends jumped on board so I decided to go for it, but under my own terms. Anne even set up a group on Goodreads so we can discuss our progress.
I’ve decided to allow myself to use a book to satisfy more than one category (trying to finish 52 books would mean not being able accomplish much else) but I will still be aiming for a minimum of 26 books, but more likely 30ish. (In 2014 I finished 36). My primary challenge, however, is to use it to clear off some of my “to read” piles while holding to another goal I have in mind: “spend $0 on books and DVDs in 2015.”*
I realized I was going to need to track my progress so I made a spreadsheet in Google Sheets to share and made a copy for myself to track what I actually read. I’ve already selected a number of the titles for the categories — some I knew right away and others I wasn’t sure where they’d fit at first but I knew I wanted to read them.
One example of the latter was Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. It’s been on my “ought to read” list for years and I happened to pick up a copy among my splurging this year. I’ve filed it under “a book written by someone under 30.” Another recent splurge was William Gibson’s Zero History which I filed under “a book with a number in the title” though purists would argue that zero is a mathematical concept and not a number.
I’m having a tough time with some categories though, most because they are so broad — I could easily find a book of short stories or a non-fiction book or a funny book — so I may just fill those in as secondary categories.
I had to ask my Mom for “a book your Mom loves.” Oddly, I know what my Dad’s favourite books are (and I am reading one, H. Beam Piper’s Little Fuzzy, under another category “a book with non-human characters”) because while she is a voracious reader, she reads a lot of series and I really wanted a single book.
I’ve already tentatively filled nearly half the 50 categories, including the trilogy (I found the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness at the McPherson Library before the break) which is where I am planning to start!
*I realized I spent more than I intended on books in 2014 — in part due to wanting to fill out the Blackwood Book Box, and in part just splurging. I really don’t want to keep buying STUFF, and books are stuff… so… I vow to read what I have and use my library cards for what I don’t have.