In the Beginning

This blog is my attempt to rekindle my spark for reading.  I study literature and want to pursue graduate studies in the same field, but right now I struggle to finish the books I begin.  Things always seem to get in the way and I get distracted.  So I've made myself a resolution for 2010.  My goal is to read 100 books this coming year. 

I understand the reality.  I'm a college student headed into my senior year, I'm working part time, and things are bound to get hectic.  But I'm still committed to this little experiment.  My inspiration is my favorite professor, who mourns the loss of the love for books and reading.  I'm out not so much to prove him wrong, because I think what he says is unfortunately true.  Rather, I'm trying to prove that I'm not one of those people.  I don't want to be one of those people.

I've made myself a bargain.  A rating system that looks like this:

50 Books = Bronze
75 Books = Silver
100 Books = Gold

I think that's reasonable.  This is going to take a huge time commitment.  Luckily I'm taking lots of literature classes so I can also factor those books.  Otherwise, it's going to be random choices from my bookshelf and the library.

I'm going to have to do something that I've always done:  read multiple books at once.  The first series is:

Dostoevsky, Fyodor.  The Brothers Karamazov.
Kostova, Elizabeth.  The Historian.
Larsson, Stieg.  The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Walls, Jeannette.  The Glass Castle.
Woolf, Virginia.  Mrs. Dalloway.

Whew!  I read a recommendation that said when you're attempting to finish a large sum of books you should "read paragraphs and not words."  But I don't want to be that type of reader either.  I don't want to do this just for a title, to say that I read a shitload of books.  I want to enjoy the process and really take in what I'm reading.  So that's going to make it a bit more difficult for me.  I want to read a lot of books and take my time, both at once.

But, I've been thinking about this for a while now, and I think I'm ready.  I want this to be more fun than a chore.   

It starts tomorrow.  I wish myself luck and determination.