With just hours remaining left in 2009, I think it’s safe to say that I cut it pretty close this year. In fact, were it not for a last minute remembrance of a book I had to read for Sunday school and a handful of young adult books, I don’t think I would have made it. Even as I type, my apartment lies in ruins, the Christmas tree still up, and my eyes are more than a little tired from the marathon reading I’ve done the last two days to make it. I’ll definitely be taking a little bit of a break in January.
Still, 100 books in one year is nothing to be ashamed off (even if some of them were painfully short). This is the first year I’ve ever bothered keeping track of what I read, and I’m very glad I did. I noticed things about myself as a reader (that I tend toward pop fiction far more than is probably good for me) and that will help me to be more deliberate about my choices in the future. I have to admit, it was also fun to glance over the list from time to time and remember what I was doing when I read that: such as reading The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn on my lunch break when I worked at a daycare in early ‘09, or reading through all those bridal books in February right after Nick and I were engaged.
So this will definitely be a tradition I keep up, although I may try to be much more deliberate about my pacing next year so it doesn’t all bunch up in the end like it did this year. But at the same time, I want to be careful that I always read for pleasure or for knowledge, never just for the number on the list. Honestly that wasn’t always the case this year, but it’s one more thing to improve upon.
Also next year, I’ll be joining the Classics Bookclub over at 5minutesforbooks.com. 12 books in 12 months, in addition to the ones that I’ll inevitably be reading for my real-life book club with a former professor, the Saturday morning book club for my husband and myself, and of course, whatever catches my eye at the library.
With that said, time for me to go clean up the apartment. And since I’m done remembering what books I’ve read in 2009, I leave you with a video to remember some of the other things that happened this past year. Enjoy!