My Reading Year

I set myself a goal to read 52 books this year. Ideally I'd read a book a week, knowing full well I'd encounter some books that demanded to be read in one sitting and other books that I'd put down for whatever reason: to play with my son, to do laundry, because there's a cedar waxwing in the tree outside the kitchen window, and I might not get back to it for a few hours, or even several days.

I established a few rules for myself, too. Here's why: there are hundreds of books in my personal collection I've still never read. I want to read those books, but sometimes I go to the Library, and don't you know, I get a little...well, crazy, and I walk out with a stack of books I have no hope of reading through, and meanwhile the books I actually own and make room for in this dwindling living space languish on the shelves.

My fiancee and her daughter are both avid readers. They have their favorite books just like I do. I'd like to read a few of of their top picks, which are among the books languishing.

There are books I've always wanted to read, classics like Catch-22 and Heart of Darkness, and more modern hits like The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But if I go to the Library or Bookstore, all I've done is add more books to my collection to put me further away from reading these classics.

So here are my rules for my Reading Year:

1. I can only read books in my house, from my accumulated titles, or books Amanda and Jada own and recommend. This means I can't borrow books from the Library or go on shopping sprees at Used Bookstores or Barnes and Noble. There are extenuating circumstances. For example, I borrowed an Erotic Poetry anthology from the Library to do research for a reading where I would be a featured performer. And I did go to a Used Book Sale at the Library, but many of the books I bought ended up as gifts. The other books are disqualified from this year's Reading Year. I have to wait until 2014 to crack them open.

2. No re-reading. A good portion of my yearly reading are re-reads, those tried and true book friends who never disappoint: Cannery Row by Steinbeck, In Watermelon Sugar by Brautigan, The Black Cauldron books by Lloyd Alexander, and Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury. I read at least parts of these books every year on a sort of seasonal schedule, and while I think there's nothing wrong with that the point of my Reading Year is to read new material, and to reduce the catalogue of unread books in my collection. So, no re-reading. Sorry, Montag, Doc, and Taran. I'll see you guys next year when I read you out loud to Henry.

3. Graphic Novels and Trade Paperbacks count as reading material. Look, I love comics, and there are some damn beautiful comics being made in the world these days, and I'm reading them, and counting them. I have several in my unread collection as well, so they fulfill established criteria.

4. Half the books I read, at least, have to be listed on the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels. Here's the why on that: I own a lot of the books on that list. I want to enlarge my Cultural and Literary Vocabulary, and reading these books is a good way to do that. Restricting my reading to books I own is a good way to finally read these classics which I want to read but neglect, because I constantly bring new books into the house, which I also don't read.

5. In an effort to enlarge my Cultural and Literary Vocabulary, I want to read books by authors, or books with subject matter, I don't typically seek out. To that end I'm reading Young Adult fiction that my step-daughter loves, or that my fiancee remembers loving as a young girl herself. I'm also reading selections from international writers, books by Mexican, African, Indian, and Native American authors. It's easy to get swept away by a genre and find you've read a hundred books by dead or living white guys. Read what you like, that's fine and I'm not judging you, but if part of my goal is to enlarge my own point of view then I have to seek out points of view that are outside my purview.

6. The point is to have fun. If I start a book and I don't like it, I can put it down for something new. There are SO MANY good books out there, which means there are likely SO MANY clunkers out there, too. I don't have to finish every book I start.

And here's my list of books I've read so far:

Beowulf: A New Telling, Robert Nye
Animal Farm, George Orwell
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi
O, Pioneers, Willa Cather
The Sea of Grass, Conrad Richter
The Anthologist, Nicholson Baker
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark
Habibi, Craig Thompson
Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon, Matt Fraction and David Aja, et al.
The Devil's Arithmetic, Jane Yolen
Like Water for Chocolate, Laura Esquivel
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
Whirligig, Paul Fleischman