12/02/2006: "Rethinking Books"

Rethinking Books

For many years now, maybe dating back to high school, I've had as one of my New Year's Resolutions the goal of reading two books a month. Some people think that this is too lofty a goal while others think it too shallow. Unless I am able to read a butt ton of books in the remaining weeks, I will fall short of the goal by several. So far I've only read sixteen books. I guess right now I am less concerned with the number and more troubled by the statistics of the books, namely the genres. I've read two historical, ten contempory, only one classic, and three nonfiction/essay. So, for those of you who love numbers, the percentage breakdown is: 12.5/62.5/6.25/18.75. That's way too many contemporary. Now granted, the last book that I read could probably be defended as a historical novel since it's about the story of the nativity, but Elizabeth Berg, my favorite author, is slotted as contemporary most other times, so I kept her there. I think this year I will focus less on number of books and more on even dispersement of genres. I don't have a plan for how to do this yet...I will have to consider this more heavily. Any suggestions?