A Lofty Goal

So, it's 2014. You may think I'm a bit late to the New Year's party, but do consider that I was madly preparing for three author presentations that I gave on January 10-11, and then collapsed with a cold that had been barking up my shins for some time. But hey, I'm here now, and who hid the champagne?

Anyway, for the past few years, I've set reading goals, thanks to Goodreads and their niggling little, "Don't you want to set a reading goal?" question. Last year, I exceeded my goal--not 75 books, but 81 books!--so I know that giving myself a challenge does work.

(Yes, I know that some of you breeze through 200 books a year without even blinking. Goody for you. I'm a slow reader.)

But alongside my shiny new 82-book goal, I've decided to set a secondary goal: Read all the books on my To Be Read shelf this year.

Now, I'm not talking about the Goodreads "To Read" list, because that would be insane--I drop books onto that list a half dozen at a time. I'm talking about the shelf(ves) in my home office that contain the 50-some-odd books in my library that I haven't read. Physical books. Sitting there, staring me in the face each day, taunting me with, "Thought you were gonna read me. Someday."

So my stated public goal here is to read every book on that shelf--or at least, give every book a decent shot. Let's say 50 pages. If I can't get into the book after 50 pages, I'm donating it. Why keep a book that I will clearly never read? And since it's very hard for me to admit defeat to a book ("confound it, I will read you, I WILL, even if it's torture!"), I expect that the vast majority of these will get read. (And yeah, they count toward my 82 books. Sheesh.)

If you'd like to look at my 2014 TBR Shelf, it's right here. And here's another, perhaps less attainable goal: I'll blog each book I read off that list. I know. Wow.

First book off the shelf that I'm reading: Stefan Bachmann's The Peculiar. So far, I love it.

BLOGFROGS: What are YOUR reading goals for the year?

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