Saturday, January 28, 2017

12 Books in 2017

I read books off and on. It seems easy to get distracted from a mission to read in a world where I can check Facebook, Instragram, e-mail, read news articles, watch Netflix, or do actual productive things (maybe).

I realized that in 2016 I didn't read that much, but what I did read, I enjoyed. It was a pleasant accomplishment, of sorts. So I thought in 2017 I would make it a conscious goal...read 12 books in 2017.

This goal gives me a natural pacing (a book a month, without a restriction say June slips away), and this blog commemorates the commitment.

I realize the goal is nothing big...some people read ten fold that amount in a year, but based on recent reading pace, life pace, and being a dreadfully slow reader, this goal is a nice start. (Note, not counted in my count is the books I read aloud to children which often contain pictures -- these get read often...we're talking about reading for me, fiction and non-fiction, various lengths).

**Update: The challenge was met! Here's the 2017 Books I read and related post**

2017 Books, and related posts:
1. You Will Not Have by Hate by Antoine Leiris (2016; memoir)
2. The Old Man and The Sea by Ernest Hemingway (1952; literary fiction)
3. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (2012; contemporary fiction)
4. Memoirs of A Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada (2016, contemporary literary fiction)
5. Nurtured by Love by Sunicki Suzuki (1969; non-fiction)
6. Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (2016; memoir)
7. Divided By Faith by Michael O. Emerson and Christian Smith (2000; non-fiction, sociology)
8. The Throwback Special by Chris Bachelder (2017; contemporary fiction)
9. The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens (2014; contemporary fiction/suspense thriller)
10. Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World by Michael Lewis (2011; non-fiction, economics/contemporary history)
11. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan (2016; fiction)
12. Mr. Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (2012; fiction)